Mrs. Tuesday's New Look - How to Trust Your Intuition



A couple weeks ago I was making some edits to Mrs. Tuesday's Departure, after a friend kindly handed me a short list editorial corrections that I had missed when I proofed the manuscript.

Lesson learned: make sure you have a fresh pair of editorial eyes read through your manuscript before going to publication. Truly. Your own eyes will not catch the words that you left out, but which your author's voice will insist are still there.

But that's for another post.

When I finished editing the manuscript, I made another editorial decision, as you can see above, I decided to change the cover.

Those of you who went through the agonizing two (or was it four?) weeks of endless back and forth about which of a dozen cover variations I would choose, may recognize the above cover as one of those early choices.

Choosing the first cover entailed endless polling of readers and emails to friends. I won't even confess how many 'covers' I printed out and lined up on the dining room table, so I could more easily visualize what they would look like on the paperback version.

And yet.

As much as I thought the cover 'we' chose was beautiful and more practical for the thumbnail view on Amazon.com, I didn't have that 'yes' feeling.

When I decided to change the cover this time, it took me all of five minutes to choose this cover. I consulted no one. Yet I felt absolutely at peace as soon as the decision was made.

Yes, this was my original choice, way back when, which was voted down for various reasons.

And yes, I take perverse satisfaction in going back and finding that I've chosen it all over again. Without reservation or second guessing or consulting another soul.

That is when I really know I've made the right choice. When I feel that wonderful sense of 'yes'.

Which is why this post is really about something much deeper than Mrs. Tuesday's new look.

It's about learning to trust your gut or intuition or simply to trust yourself without a care to what others will say. That's when you will know that you are truly on the right track.

It's an important reminder for me. In the past, I've made decisions where I failed to trust my intuition, failed to act when I heard that internal 'yes'. I let fear, disguised as 'being practical' stop me. 

Now I want to reclaim that place.


Comments

Mariellen said…
I'm liking it. And i really resonate with that feeling of yes. l

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