I want to thank Soph Newman | The Ex Good Girl, the marvelous diva behind The Good Girls Guide to Manifestation on Substack, who set me on this path.
A childhood of manifesting
Before I tell you what I’m currently manifesting, you should probably know that I’ve been doing this since childhood, only I didn’t know it.
As a girl, I bargained with the universe: if I could walk a whole block without stepping on a leaf, I’d get asked to the movies that afternoon.
If I nailed a cartwheel, I’d ace the upcoming spelling test.
When I was home alone in the evening, I made another bargain: if I could close the living-room drapes without freaking out, my parents would make it home safely. The picture window was floor-to-ceiling and at least 25 feet wide, so this was no small feat.
If I managed to close those curtains without panicking, my parents wouldn’t get into a car crash and die on the way home.
Yes, I believed I could negotiate with the universe—if I followed the rules.
My current bargain
In a slightly more intentional version of the practice, I’m currently manifesting 20 readers for my novel on NetGalley.
Love & Other Incurable Ailments follows an overanxious overthinker named Serenity, a box of love letters rescued from a dumpster, and one very questionable decision to follow those letters 900 miles from Michigan to Ocracoke Island, NC, convinced they might lead her to the stranger who wrote them.
“Witty and raw,” it’s a story about anxiety, magical thinking, reinvention, and what happens when a woman who has spent her life trying to fit herself into the world finally considers the possibility that maybe she doesn’t have to try so damn hard.
I’m not asking for 20,000 readers.
I’m manifesting modestly.
Twenty seems entirely reasonable.
The book is currently free to read on NetGalley. If you’d like to be one of my 20, click here to request it:
Love and Other Incurable Ailments
What’s NetGalley?
NetGalley is where reviewers, librarians, booksellers, and voracious readers can request books before they’re published. You can read on your Kindle, download the free NetGalley Shelf app (iOS and Android), or try a Kobo eReader. And, yes, the books are free, although NetGalley will ask you to review the book. That’s kind of the whole point. Your reviews and feedback are essential to publishers, authors, and other readers. Join today to help books succeed!
And if you are one of those 20 people who reads Love and Other Incurable Ailments, please know that a quirky writer who once tried to bargain with the universe using cartwheels and drapery will be ridiculously happy that you did.
I don’t know whether manifesting actually works. But I do know that wanting something, saying it out loud, and taking a step toward it can’t hurt.
If you’re curious about the story behind all this, read my Substack post on the unintentional manifestations from my childhood.