Tumblr Post #17 (October 2017)
Last June, I conducted a little experiment with manifestations. Attempting to buck my skepticism with speaking [or writing] things into existence, I pulled out my trusted journal and wrote down everything I hoped to accomplish with this book. I also wrote about this experience in a blog post titled, “Manifesting the Glow-Up.” The list wasn’t long, but boy was it dense. Here’s a little exert from that post:
I wrote about how this book will be on someone’s list of top books that every Black woman should read in her lifetime; how it will be praised by Oprah and picked up by a major New York City publishing house; how it will be so moving that Heben and Tracy will want to interview me on their Another Round podcast; and how it will be canonized as a vital piece of literature of the Black Millennial Renaissance of the early 21st century.
Tall order, right?
Well my thoughts were simple: if I were going to take a swing at this manifesting thing, why not go as big as I can? I had nothing to lose but my pride, remember?
So a year and four months later, I’m here give a little update on this whole manifestation thing.
I’M IN OPRAH MAGAZINE!!!!!
Me!
This one right here!
But here’s the punchline: It’s not for this novel. Hell, it’s not even for my writing at all. I’m in Oprah Magazine because of this:
One of the magazine’s art directors found my Etsy page back in July and commissioned me to contribute an original piece for their November 2017 issue.
ME!
Remember that secret commission I had been working on during “A Thought on [Un]Certainty”? Well this was that. I’ve known that I was going to be a magazine contributor since August, but it wasn’t until the issue was actually published that it became real for me…and honestly it still feels a little surreal to have my name and face associated with THE Oprah Winfrey—and only one year after my original post.
Which brings me back to the idea of manifestations. Aftern this mind-boggling experience, it was only fitting that I ask myself:
Is it starting to work?
Does the manifestation exercise actually have merit?
Has all of my skepticism been proven moot?
To be honest, I still don’t know. And that’s not the skeptic talking, because I actually have evidence this time. I have the Carfax…but only sort of. Yes, I’ve been recognized by Oprah. But that recognition was for my collages, not my writing, which was the original intent of that manifestation.
But now that I think about it, this could be the start of something. Ok, so what if my blog and this novel hasn’t been recognized yet…I’m only on chapter eleven after all. I’m still working on something that hasn’t been completed yet. But you know what has been completed?
My artwork.
I have 17 completed collages that are out for the world to see— finished products of my imagination. They are what I have presented thus far and the Powers-That-Be sought it fit that those products and thus my imagination could be associated with Oprah.
So, in a way, a component of that manifestation did work, even if it wasn’t exactly the way I intended.
There’s still time though. Time to perfect this novel to the best of my abilities before I submit it out for the world to read and critique. Still time to get positive and negative feedback. Still time to edit and re-edit, submit query letters, and receive rejections until the right agent comes across my book. Still time to improve the novel until the story is satisfactory. Still time to prepare for Oprah.
Because I’m running no race. I didn’t put a time-clause on the manifestation after all. So I’m taking my time and running my own race.
Oprah would appreciate that.
NANCEY B. PRICE 