Feeling more contented and alive than I have in a very long time.

And that’s saying something — especially in a moment like this.

A moment when old systems are cracking.
When empires (literal and figurative) are wobbling.
When something new is clearly trying to take shape, even if none of us can quite see what it will become yet.

And somehow… right in the middle of all this…

I already have nearly 800 pages of notes for a story that’s been quietly longing to be told.

It’s about these times — hidden inside a novel.

The wild part?

It all started flowing the moment I stopped trying so hard at the things that didn’t really want to happen.

You know that feeling?

When you push and push and push at something (with all the best intentions)…
And it just won’t move.

Then one day you ease up.

And something else rushes in with ease and joy.

That’s what this has been like.

This story is full of:

Family tension.
Crazy, dark political divides.
Love that persists despite fractures and fear.

And yes — a little ghosty-boo historical romance (because of course 😉). Get a psychic medium astrologer to write a book and these things beg to be told.

It’s set in 1760s Florida, a time when everything felt uncertain, dangerous, and divided — when people were trying to live ordinary lives while history roared around them.

And what keeps striking me is how familiar it all feels.

Different clothes.
Different landscapes.
Same human struggles.

Which is why I’ve always believed something deep in my bones:

Fiction is often the truest way to tell the story of our times.

Because nobody would believe it otherwise. 😉

When we say it plainly, it sounds unbelievable.

But when we live it through characters — through love, fear, hope, tension, and tenderness — our hearts recognize the truth instantly.

Stories remind us:

Humans have always lived through upheaval.
They’ve always loved in uncertain times.
They’ve always found beauty alongside danger.

And somehow… that makes today feel a little less lonely.

A little more survivable.

A little more human.

I don’t know exactly where this story will go yet.

I just know it feels like a gift.

The kind that arrives when you stop forcing and start listening.

So I’ll ask you what I’ve been asking myself:

What’s calling you to create right now?

Not what you think you should be doing.

But the thing that keeps gently tugging at your heart.

The story.
The idea.
The dream.
The spark.

Even (especially) in times like these.

Much love,
Lori Randall Stradtman