Confluence

Behind a writer's curtain

There are times in life, in the pursuit of goals, dreams, or love, when things just converge and align perfectly.

In a way that you could never manufacture or design. Arguably (and for a writer or any creative, this is hard to swallow), in a way that you couldn’t even contrive or make up.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been experiencing this more and more. Mostly, it’s an encouragement that I’m on the right track. It can also be an intimidating marker—a signpost that lets you know there’s no turning back now.

I’ve been working on Book 2 of Westville for the past few months. I’m incredibly excited about how it’s shaping up, and the bold direction it’s headed in. In late March, I wrote a new cold open for the book—a three-chapter intro that drops us in Arizona, just south of Navajo lands, at Canyon Diablo, a famous meteor crash site that has been studied and excavated for decades. I posted this here on Substack and you can read it now.

About a month after I originally wrote that intro, I found out about a work training I needed to attend in Phoenix, AZ—where I’m sitting now, in a Crowne Plaza lobby, writing this. Which, as it happens, is only two hours south of the exact location I based the cold open of the book in.

So, tomorrow before my flight home, I’m driving to the exact site where Westville Book 2 begins, to do a little on-site research and revise with that in mind for even more authenticity. You might be wondering why we are dropped in the desert, many miles away from the titular town of the series. Good. Keep wondering. You’ll find out when you read Book 2 in its entirety come October!

That unto itself seemed a happy enough accident—that I’d conveniently be dropped into the location I wrote about, having no clue I’d be able to do so when I wrote it. But even in the past two weeks, there have been innumerable little ‘nods’ that I can’t help thinking are the confluence of work and life, affirming my direction and the pursuit of telling this story to completion.

When I was looking up the location of the crater I’ll be visiting, I noticed that the observatory on site is named the Lowell Observatory—the namesake of my actual hometown, upon which Westville is based.

Weird, right?

Then, the night before I left for this AZ trip, I had just gotten home from a late-night work meeting and was still a little wired. I turned on Netflix, which I rarely do—especially to watch something random. I had nothing in particular in mind. I ended up choosing the current ‘number one,’ a docuseries called The Tylenol Murders, about the rash of deaths from people taking Tylenol laced with cyanide in 1980s Chicagoland. As it happens, the first victims were members of a family with the surname Janus.

If you’ve read Welcome to Westville or have seen some of the in-world documents and lore I’ve posted, you’ll know about Janus Global Logistics, an antagonistic, shadowy corporation.

Again, weird.

When I got to AZ yesterday, I parked in Tempe, just about 10 minutes from my hotel, and decided to hike up a butte by ASU. As I made my way to the trailhead, I passed an architectural curiosity—the Tempe City Council Chambers building. It happens to be an upside-down pyramid building, looking like it fell from the sky and stuck itself into the ground.

Recently, I’ve begun work on another story connected to my West-verse, involving a certain West Michigan pyramid corporate building just off the highway. Immediately, a new connection and inspiration was drawn in my mind. I’d already connected Arizona to Westville with the prologue of Book 2, which was initially inspired by a random inkling I had to make Casey’s sister live in AZ with her litigator husband, who works for the state specializing in Navajo and Native peoples’ affairs. That little nugget may or may not eventually play into things.

All of this to say: I can’t help but be struck at times by the meandering connections that are made by the subconscious mind of a writer.

Or maybe—it’s something more.

One more little happenstance occurred last night at the opening session of the conference I’m here for. A video was shown of artist Alicia Keys reading an excerpt from her book More Myself:

"You attract more or less of what you want by how you choose to interact with it, as well as what you believe about yourself. Do you truly feel you deserve what you’re asking for? Are you worth it? How you answer impacts what comes your way."

I just think that sometimes, when we’re chasing something that aligns with the good gifts we’ve been given, there’s a drop of just the right inspiration, confirmation, or information right into our lap.

That’s not to say there won’t be times when you feel stuck or blocked. There will be. I’m feeling that a little myself right now.

Those are the moments it’s all the more important to stay focused and keep your eyes forward.

To keep pressing.
To keep typing.
To keep meeting with people.
To keep building things.

There’s always a breakthrough.
And there’s always, eventually, a confluence.

I hope that was encouraging to you in some way, and also just a fun insight into the creative process. I absolutely cannot WAIT to have Book 2 out. I know, I know—Book 1 is still having its moment.

But this is gonna be good.

Believe that for yourself too—whatever it is you’re chasing.

Ryder