What if your life has been preparing you all along?

Last evening, I had a conversation with my youngest son, who just turned 33. We were talking about how his high school co-op course in screen printing became the first glimpse of the career he would eventually build in the print industry.

It reminded me of my own beginning in publishing. I failed the typing test at Holt, Rinehart & Winston, but I asked for a second interview anyway. That seemingly insignificant moment became the doorway into a career that has now spanned 46 years.

I've often wondered if there are any mistakes in life, and perhaps none in our vocations either. Looking back, it's remarkable how ordinary moments quietly shape who we become.

And over the past six months, something even deeper has been emerging.

After spending the last seven years alongside writers and their books, I've come to realize that writing isn't simply about finding the right words.

What if writing isn't teaching us who we are, but helping us remember?

The moments that stay with me aren't when someone crafts the perfect sentence. It’s when words emerge that feel less like something they've invented and more like something they've finally allowed themselves to hear.

Perhaps that's why writing can feel so transformational. So cathartic.

Not because it changes us into someone new, but because it returns us to who we've been all along.

And maybe, just maybe...

that's one of the reasons we're here.

I'm curious...

Have you ever written, spoken, or created something that made you think, "I didn't know that was in me?"

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What if your life has been preparing you all along?