Journal January Entry 16: The Book

Journal January — Day 16

Prompt: Write about a time you surprised yourself.

I surprised myself last August.

I’ve been carrying this book in my mind for three years — planning it meticulously, revising ideas over and over, waiting for the “right moment” to actually write. And for 36 months, the words wouldn’t come. Not fully. Not with conviction. Not with the urgency I knew the story needed.

Then my husband and I went to Dallas for two weeks. It was supposed to be a simple trip: a change of scenery, some quiet time, a little reset. What I didn’t expect was how it would change everything.

The first afternoon, I sat down, laptop open, and the floodgates just … opened. Words came faster than I could write them. Ideas I’d been circling for years finally connected. Structure, voice, chapters — they all aligned in a way I hadn’t dared imagine. By the end of the week, I had written 18 chapters. Eighteen. Chapters I had thought might take months, maybe even years, to form.

I couldn’t stop staring at the page. Stunned. Not because it was perfect. Not because it was easy. But because I had forgotten what it felt like to trust myself this fully, to access something I already knew but hadn’t yet claimed.

That week reminded me that sometimes, timing isn’t about planning. Sometimes, it’s about presence. About giving yourself space to create without expectation, and then watching as the work you’ve carried quietly all along finally emerges.

I surprised myself, not just at what I produced, but at the reminder that I am capable of more than I sometimes give myself credit for. That my ideas, my voice, my vision, are enough. That when I show up fully, I can do what I once thought impossible.

And it felt exhilarating.