5 signs you’re writing with intuition

Work is love made visible.
— Kahlil Gibran

When you try to think your way through creative decision making, you’re making your life harder, because you’re not using your intuition. 

You know this, because it doesn’t feel good.

Learn how to invite your intuition to your work, and your work becomes much easier.

Your whole body knows how to write, not just your head. Your nervous system, your gut, your five senses, and your cognitive processing know how to work together really, really well. We forget this! 

I call this writing with your whole mind. 

Writing with intuition is thinking and feeling at the same time. 

This is what we love about writing, right?

Writing with intuition is how we make love visible in our work.

Here are five ways to know you’re writing with intuition: 

You feel clarity.
You aren’t spiralling out with questions like “Why this?” or “What does that mean?” or “Is this good?” Intuition doesn’t feel like confusion. It feels clear and on track. It comes as an answer. You see the details, you hear the dialogue. Your intuition doesn’t ask you questions, it speaks to you in statements.

You lose track of time.
When you write with intuition, you enter a state of calm. You feel an abundance of time. You forget how long you’ve been writing. You have the just-right amount of time to finish the sentence you’re working on, moment by moment. Sentence by sentence. The present moment is always available to you when you’re writing, whether you have 10 minutes or 2 hours, and it feels like having no sense of time at all.

Your dreams are more active.
You may not know exactly what they mean, or remember all the details, but when you wake up you notice that your dreamtime was alive. You may have asked yourself a question about your work before you went to sleep and had an insight about the answer upon waking. An active dream life is a sign that your conscious and unconscious minds are in a conversation. This is good, because dreaming is where your intuition can do its best work.

You see the world metaphorically.
The things you see and hear during your normal, everyday life are feeding into your work. You notice things as signs and symbols, as support, or as material that fits perfectly into the story you’re actively writing. You integrate your creative life with your real life, and it feels seamless and rich.

For instance: you see a strange-looking tree trunk that appears split from itself, maybe from a lightning strike. Suddenly, you know that the story you’re writing is actually two separate stories, or that you need to tell it from an alternate point of view. 

You feel love.
You’re in touch with a sense of wonder, awe, and gratitude. You have an abundance of ideas, yet you feel balanced and connected to your creative energy, not overwhelmed. Intuition feels expansive. It has a quality of wholeness to it. You leave your desk at the end of the day feeling filled, not drained. You might feel tired after a writing session, but it’s a good tired, like coming home from a long trail hike with your best friend. You look forward to going back to your desk tomorrow.

If any of these signs feel familiar to you, yay! This should affirm that you’re writing with intuition. Track these signs for yourself as you notice them, to train yourself and make it happen for you more often. 

If you used to feel this way and don’t anymore (or you don’t know what I’m talking about but gosh, this sounds magical) — I hear you. Sigh — it’s too easy to lose these connection points when we’re overcommitted and stressed, have a serious health condition, or have been in an urban setting for too long. 

Work with me in person in British Columbia this summer.

Writing with Intuition Retreat
August 7-12th 2026.
Hollyhock Centre, Cortes Island

I’ll teach you how to learn from your dreams, your tarot cards, your own body. 

Your teachers will also be: pine trees, bioluminescence, wild blackberries, bald eagles, blue whales, and the waning crescent moon.

You’ll learn embodied writing techniques you can use every day, so you can live a deeply connected writing life when you go back home. 

Expect deep rest and inspiration.

This is a special retreat for writers who are done overthinking and ready to feel the love. 

It doesn’t matter what you’re writing, or what creative phase you’re in. This is open to everyone who is interested in writing with more intuition.

If this is you, meet me there.

With love,