When I tell you this blew my mind… It BLEW. My. MIND.
Now, before I sit down to edit any client’s book, I have a little ritual I partake in. Goes a little something like this…
I take a few deep breaths. Maybe I move my body around a little to release any stagnant energy. And I go to my crystal collection. I pick out whichever crystals feel supportive for the particular book I’m working on. Each time, my little crinoid fossil star wants to be included when I’m editing.
Every time.
Considering I’m a bit of a crystal junkie, I feel like I should have known the significance of this little star-shaped fossil, but I didn’t. I just liked that they were ancient fossils in the shape of stars and they were quite affordable, so I got a few.
Right before a recent book reading—not to be confused for reading a book, but an intuitive reading for someone’s book—this crystal was like, “Pick me!” Just like normal.
When I do the intuitive readings, I share which helpers (crystals, plants, songs, etc.) come along and what their properties are, and I realized I never actually looked up what these little crystals meant.
And when I looked it up, I found this:
“Fossils are thought to be a wonderful tool to assist you in moving from the old to the new and to be receptive to the fresh, innovative forces that are available to you. Fossils may assist you in your quest for transition, transformation, and personal growth, helping you to understand the process of change. They may also help you instill quality and excellence in your environment.” – Source
Um, WHAT? I didn’t even know this, and I love how supportive this little fossil is for the work I do—which is literally to take something and transform it into its best form. I take books and content from their previous form to a polished form while offering a fresh perspective on how to elevate their words and stories.
And me being me, I do my best to instill quality and excellence in everything I do, particularly when it comes to my work.
But how cool is that? That the stone I’ve been selecting for my editing work is perhaps one of the most perfect stones I could have found to support me in it. What a fun discovery about a little stone that’s been part of my work process for the past couple of years!
I also love that these crinoid star stems—which stem from ancient fossilized sea lilies—have also been known as fairy coins. I’d believe it. 😉
Are you a crystal junkie like me? What crystals do you feel drawn to all the time? And have you looked up their spiritual/metaphysical properties yet?
Imagine your skin tingling from head to toe, your heart hammering on in a dancing rhythm, your breathing quickening in excitement, and your brain lighting up and expanding with possibilities…
I can count two times in my life when I got this excited about a job offer…
The first was for an internship for a local news broadcast station right out of college. I’d met a producer while working as a media intern for my university’s sports department. After helping him out in the TV production van for a televised basketball game, he invited me to apply for the internship for the news station. He thought I might like it.
I remember walking into the newsroom and feeling the buzz of everything—and immediately felt how excited I would be to work there. I remember when he said, “It’s safe to say you got the job!” And I felt like crying because it felt like such an exciting opportunity to grow into and learn from. I remember thinking, “This feels like Disneyland!”
Yep, that excited.
Ended up completing the internship, then was offered a part-time evening production assistant job a handful of months later. And I loved working there, I truly did. Every bit of it.
But then I realized, several months later, that I wanted a job with 9-5 work hours so I could still do theatre in the evenings—for what I felt was a balanced life where I could still be creative and have a steady job. So, I loved working in the newsroom, but my other creative passions were calling for my attention.
My Disneyland needed a shift.
Around that same time, I got another invitation for a full-time job from one of my other part-time gigs that sounded like a great fit for me. That job allowed me to stretch my wings as a baby magazine editor, which I loved. That was pretty lucky!
And the second tingles-inducing job offer came a couple of years into my New York adventure…
It was a secret desire. One I wasn’t sure I could do because my career trajectory thus far hadn’t necessarily or obviously pointed to a career in my desired field. But I had privately shared it with my intuitive coach at the time, and I had written it down in my Evernote as a potential business idea. But the niggle of the idea had always been an interest of mine…
A psychic even predicted it was coming. “Watch out for August. Editing work will come in then,” he said.
While not all of his predictions were correct, this one was.
At the end of August,a book editor—the one who had helped me edit my own book back when she was a budding book editor herself—reached out to me and said she wanted to expand her stable of editors for her business to provide a more thorough editing experience… She thought I might be interested.
Y’all… When she offered me a spot in her stable, I HAPPY DANCED MYSELF OUT. I’m pretty sure I cried. It came out of left field, and it felt like the perfect job for me. Came to discover I loved learning from her and working with her. I loved learning the process of book editing, and couldn’t wait to dive into more in-depth editing types for books. And I’m blessed that I still get to work with her from time to time!
A (literal) handful of books I’ve worked on. Delighted to have a section of my bookshelf dedicated to books I’ve helped to edit or proofread!
Book editing became my absolute favorite job. I get utterly lost in the work while editing—helping the narrative become clearer, polishing up the errors and mistakes, offering words of encouragement when desired, and providing constructive criticism. I still lose time in this work since I’m having so much fun. That could be why I started my own editing business… 😉
Never have I loved a job so much—which is saying something because I’ve been fortunate enough to have loved all of my jobs to some degree.
But it was those excited tingles, that sense of my whole body just buzzing as if I’d been hopped up on a dual coffee-sugar rush—only it didn’t have a crash. Only up and up from there!
That excitement felt like the biggest YES I could have felt when it came to my work.
Reminds me of that saying… If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.
Not that you can’t say yes to things that don’t spark the living daylights out of your veins… You can also feel at peace or a general contentment to know if a decision is right for you.
The trick is to notice what your unique yes/no feels like in your body, so you can make those aligned decisions for yourself.
My hope is that you can find something you feel excited to say YES to very soon.
Not entirely sure what was driving me, but I just knew I wanted to be excellent at typing. All in all, I was a little obsessive with knowing the keyboard inside and out; it was my favorite class for that semester in middle school. It felt easy, but still like a challenge that I knew I could master. Something I knew I could be efficient in. (Do I sound like a projector yet?)
How funny is it that now I find such solace in closing my eyes and let my fingers fly over the keyboard, not having to look down. Knowing instinctually when I make a mistake, and my little right pinkie knows exactly where to pop out for the backspace button so I can keep going without missing a wink.
(Not to say I don’t make mistakes when I’m typing, but they are often minimal. Still proofreading this piece!)
The Bluetooth typewriter keyboard my love gifted me on my last birthday—one of the rare gifts that made me cry happy tears.
And I just realized… my playing field is the keyboard. I love to play here, whether or not I’m looking at it. I can watch the TV and keep typing without having to look at down. Or, like I said before, close my eyes and tune in and see what wants to come through them… My fingers know exactly where to sit so I can hit any key I need to from any point.
And being able to type without looking is so helpful for automatic, channeled writing (how this post started!)… That way I just let the words flow without having to worry about where the keys are on the keypads. I just know, my fingers know—it’s practically second nature to me. So, I’m really grateful to my younger self who found such passion and pleasure in mastering something that would serve her for her entire life…
Aside from choir and theater, my computer classes were my favorite. I loved creating things on computers: I loved writing, especially. I spent my free time writing books on my dads’ computers. Then I learned to and loved building websites. I loved coding. I loved making graphics.
Truthfully, I should change that to LOVE because I still love doing these things, and more—where knowing the keyboard landscape further serves me. And those I work with for that matter!
Somehow this is what’s magical to me right now.
And why is this playing field making itself known now?
Perhaps it’s because I’ve been watching a bit of Grey’s Anatomy this week as my recent obsession with Shonda Rhimes has taken root, and I wanted to see her work at work. Which has been very fun from a writer’s perspective.
And an epsiode I watched, one from the first season when Meredith is wondering if she’s cut out for the job as a surgeon… And she ends the episode talking about how she “loves the playing field”.
And it came to me… This is my playing field. Having a keyboard and a computer in front of my to fill the page with words, stories, pretty photos, or graphics. This is my playing field and I love it. And the thing is, it’s not my only playing field, because I also have my imagination as well…
But this is the playing field that helps me to concretize the playing field of my imagination into something real. Something I can save or print or share online. That’s pretty cool!
While I love writing long hand, especially for journaling… Something about typing on a computer keyboard just brings me peace. Doesn’t even matter what I’m writing.
Because it all feels like play to me. When I’m writing my novels, blogs, or even social posts for my business, something about writing on a keyboard is endlessly fun to me. It’s not so much about crafting the perfect sentence or using big or extravagant words… Just the act of putting words on the page through my fingers. I love it.
Maybe this is why the blank page never frightened me. One of the biggest blocks and fears for many writers is the blank page… but for me, I can look at that page and see possibilities instead, and my fingers itch above the keyboard just to add something to it.
When you know something that well… it’s easier to play in it—to explore and experiment. What a delight that is!
What is it you’ve mastered that’s changed or served your life in ways you couldn’t anticipate? What is your “field” for your work, and how can you see it more as a place of play than just a place to do the work?
No matter what work you do, if you can look at the work through a lens of play…
This is a story about the moment that would change my life forever. A moment that seemed both inevitable and unexpected all at once.
You see, I had built a pretty comfortable life post-college after my hustle of a dance of various jobs in the years following. Eventually, I landed a full-time job in a communications position that didn’t feel life-sucking but felt rather exciting in different ways. I felt truly seen and appreciated by the organization… Needed might be a better term. I felt needed.
This job allowed me to barely afford an apartment in downtown Salt Lake City where I could walk to work (a dream back then) and I could live solo in the most bustling city available to me then. Plus, I got to use skills I was naturally good at, which felt like I was being useful in a way I liked.
Not only was happy with my job, but I filled my evenings with rehearsals and performances for a couple of the local community theaters. In essence, I was doing everything I felt I wanted to do! I could use my skills as a writer and editor at the office, then turn on the glitz, glam, voice, and show in the evenings with other artistic folks who are just as off-beat as I am.
(If you haven’t met that side of me, hello starshine!)
So much of this time I wouldn’t change for anything. I met wonderful people, had a job I enjoyed, and got to engage my creative gifts quite a bit. It felt very balanced. And I was content, if not happy, with how I was living.
That’s why this felt so… jarring.
Since I was (and still am) a very efficient worker, I’d often start my mornings with inspirational readings from a couple of email subscriptions to boost my energy and spirit. Primarily, at the time, I read the DIY Daily, which was chockfull of inspiring entrepreneurial folks, doing all kinds of cool things with their lives, making waves, and doing things I thought were quite revolutionary at the time. It also catered to musicians and other artists as well, so it hit all the notes that felt compelling to me. As I’d read these articles, important life questions would be presented, but there were a couple that really stuck out to me.
Keep in mind, at this time, I was very content with work, loved living on my own, loved the show I was in at the time as I had been recently cast as Rapunzel in Into the Woods, and was fresh off a dream role experience as Doralee in 9 to 5: The Musical.
Things were GOOD in my book.
So, I sat back in my spindly office chair pondering these questions from my little cubicle. Closing my eyes, I took a breath and asked myself:
When I look at my life, could I see myself doing what I am doing now for the rest of my life and be happy doing it?
Nope.
I knew in my bones that would make me feel stagnant… And being in motion, though scary, is far more fulfilling to me than staying in the same place, doing the same things, over and over again, until I return to the ethers.
And this question surprisingly got to me:
Would you want your boss’s job/life?
Now, don’t get me wrong… I very much respect and enjoyed working for the bosses I’ve had—they are tremendous individuals who’ve done great work, continuing to grow and expand into new arenas. But at that time… When I thought about the kind of life they had in Utah where they were executives at their organizations, had loving families in the suburbs of Salt Lake, yada yada yada…
I felt a visceral “no” throughout my whole body.
I don’t want that.
I’ve never wanted that.
So, that made me schlump forward.
What the heck did I want then?
Because it certainly wasn’t that kind of future in Utah.
In a flash, I felt different versions of myself clamoring for attention.
I thought of the 12-year-old girl who wanted nothing more than to grow up so she could move out of the house and live independently without the chaos that comes with growing up in a blended family of divorce, despite how supportive and loving it was still.
I thought of the 16-year-old me who so badly wanted to attend Juilliard in New York City, but upon realizing the cost of such a venture, opted to get her bachelor’s degree at a state university, attended a summer program at Berklee instead (still ridiculously expensive), then go from there.
I thought of the 19-year-old who, after studying voice and music since childhood, switched gears from a voice performance major to an English literature major, excusing away the shift with a lock jaw diagnosis over the summer. But really she just didn’t like the environment, hated the idea of losing the enjoyment of one of her main forms of expression, and felt like if she had to do college, she wanted to be challenged in something she was actually interested in learning more about.
(Also a secret until now: I put in the change order for my degree before my jaw locked shut… I still remember it clicking like a stuck typewriter at the meeting with my student counselor.)
And I thought of my 25-year-old self at that present moment, who was committed to a 9-to-5 job, in an office, five days a week, where—though doubly fulfilled through community theatre endeavors—was often exhausted, falling into binge-watching TV shows to relax (not knocking it… it works), and feeling like there was only so much I could do from that space. I could feel the ceiling and the time crunch all around me, especially when I realized that wasn’t all that I wanted out of life.
Okay…If that’s not the life for me, what is?
What is it I most desire to do?
Like a beacon of white, I saw the words in my mind:
New York City.
And I knew…
It was something that had been on my radar forever. Movies and TV shows based in New York (verrrry glamorized, by the way… wait ’til you see the cat-sized rats, the tiny and pricey apartments, and the smelly streets/subways… and the pandemic made it worse).
I had visited at age 16 with my performance troupe, falling in love on day one, and deciding then and there that I would live in New York one day.
New York was always something on the horizon. Maybe. Someday.
When I decided to make the leap, I labeled the guise of wanting to move to New York as wanting to pursue my performing ambitions. And sure, those existed to a degree and were relatively true at the time. But honestly?
I just felt in my soul that that was where I needed to be. I needed to move to New York, even though the reasons weren’t entirely clear why.
First night in NYC
And literally one year and ten days later, I stepped into the first room I rented in New York, just a block away from the Port Authority Bus Terminal—right near Times Square (why this was not an ideal place to live, but also why it was, is a story for another day).
But it took that moment to sit back. It took assessing my life, looking at it how it was, and anticipating—if I stayed on that track—how it might look if I kept going down that path… And then asked what it was I truly wanted.
Have you ever done that with yourself, lovely?
I think it might be worth it.
Actually, it is worth it. You’re worth it. Go ahead.
Take a deep breath and ask yourself:
What is it I most desire to do?
I hope something that stirs your soul comes to mind.
***
Originally published on magicwithmikael.substack.com
We had a strange visitor the other day. A visitor that made me immediately grab for a swatter.
It flew like nothing else we had seen in the apartment. We’ve had moths, mosquitos, flies… But this looked different. Like a small beetle or something. Since it decided to camp out so high on our wall, we couldn’t get a really good look at it.
And our evening quickly turned into a bug-watching night.
“I’ll grab the binoculars,” my love said before disappearing into the bedroom.
“Will we be able to see it since we are already so close?” I asked, glancing up at the little bug on the lime green wall above our LED upright lamp.
“One way to find out!”
After going back and forth, getting dust from the unused binoculars caught in my eyelashes, seeing wobbly views from shaking hands from trying to adjust the knobs and dials on the little seeing contraption, changing positions all over the room, my love announces from the couch that he can see it! I take the binoculars and continue to stand in the middle of the room.
All I can see is a blurry green wall and a fuzzy little brown dot. Still I couldn’t make out what the little bugger was. “Why can’t I see this thing?” I ask, needing to brush more dust from my eyelash, because I’m sure that wasn’t helping either.
Again, another back-and-forth dance resumed with my love and I continuing to change the dials and knobs until he says he can see the little thing crystal clear. I take a look through the binoculars, still to no avail.
I try to change my position, from across the little bug, from right beneath it at a funky angle so I can sit on the couch (but then subsequently tweak my neck), to lying down on the pillows next to me before I can see. Closing one eye, leaving the other open…. Just trying to see.
What my love hadn’t told me was that the dial only affected the right eye, so I started believing my astigmatism was at work and why I couldn’t see the critter clearly since the right lens is zoomed in about twice the size of the left.
(I felt like a real dork when I realized it was the binoculars doing that, and not my “everything-looks-bigger-over-here” astigmatism in my right eye.)
“Aha!” I finally yell, triumphant!
A lady bug! A little yellow lady bug was our unexpected guest. Still, it was hard to see her, and my massive hands were shaking around the tiny binoculars they dwarfed.
We even debated what color the lady bug looked like because it certainly wasn’t red. Yellow? Brown? Tan? We landed on yellow; I had thought it was a hornet at first since I had caught a flash of yellow when it flew away from the wall only to land two feet away from it’s original spot.
Want to know why I finally saw the lady bug clearly?
I had to sit in the exact position, in the same spot on the couch, that my love was sitting in. Any other position or perspective from the room could not provide the clarity of sight with the binoculars that that singular spot could.
Then, of course, I refused to move from that space as I observed the uncommonly colored lady bug as it perched on our wall for a while. We both decided to see what spiritual messages the yellow lady bug might carry (you can discover that here).
And, as I got to thinking—whilst trying to make a little spa for the lady bug to play in, have a drink or a fruity snack from—this was an incredible example of perspective and how no one will see things the way you do. They can wear your clothes, they can learn to move like you, work in a similar job as you…
But they cannot see what you see or the way that you see it.
Your perspective is uniquely your perspective. No one else will see the world as you do. No one else will experience the same things as you even if you’re doing the same activities. Because they are simply not you.
Your perspective is unique. Your thoughts, your feelings, your experiences, your upbringing, how you view things, what triggers you, what makes you smile… So many fractals that just make up pieces of you will effect your perspective.
And with that in mind…
With your perspective, you get to see the world through your own personal lens. And that means no one will communicate the things you yearn to express in the way you do (and will).
So, why (if you ever doubt yourself because other people might be doing what you desire to do) would you ever worry about not stepping into your light and sharing your perspective and being concerned about sounding like someone else? Because you won’t!
The entire make up of your life experiences make you you. Just like someone else’s experience will determine their own perspective.
Just like my upbringing in Utah in a very religious family-centric community colors my perspective, your own experiences will provide a certain type of lens for your perspective.
This is why your voice matters, why each voice matters. This is why your unique story matters. Only you can tell your story in a way that no one else can.
You may think other people have done it before, but they haven’t. They haven’t done it as only you could do it. Only you can.
We all have our own personalities, paths, and yes, perspectives, too.
And when you share your perspective—your voice and stories—then others can relate to and understand you better. It’s when you share the details that make you you that people can also see themselves. How we are alike. How we are different. And how our differences create the kaleidoscope that makes life so interesting and dynamic.
It’s when we share our perspectives that we can more easily step into each other’s shoes, even if just for a moment… For a little perspective. 😉
Now that’s quite the connection to make.
So, I challenge you to embrace your unique perspective, insights, and stories…
You never know what your light can do in this world when you express your unique perspective, or who you might inspire through the stories that only you can share.
Who knows… A lady bug, or other creature, might visit to share their wisdom with you too.
Have a wonderful week, lovely.
(The lady bug ended up staying for almost three days… I hope they liked the snack and water I left for them.)
From my working chair, not so long ago, I found myself on an Instagram page of another book editor. And they were killing it.
(Or at least that’s what it looks like on social media, and we all know how much of that is just appearances…)
I was totally into what they were sharing. Thought their social media game was on point. Looked like they were #bookedandblessed in every pun imaginable. Discovered we had quite a bit in common… And then I noticed they were 20 years old and started their business around the same time as me.
Cue my mood crashing, as a 30+ year-old, who only recently decided to pursue an editorial business after years of trying to identify the the skills I most wanted to use to help people. (And who has also had a decade-plus of professional experience this young person has not had, but that certainly wasn’t coming to mind at that moment.)
I fell into the comparison trap… hard.
The comparisonitis. I drank the compareschläger (as Marie Forleo calls it). The whole bottle, probably. Tears were shed, though I strongly suspect the full moon played a part as well in heightening emotions. Either way, my confidence tanked, the comparisonitis the culprit.
This surprised me, honestly… I am solidly in the “the only person I compete with is myself” camp. Cheering people on as they rock what they’re doing is one of my very favorite things.
Most of the time, I have no reason to compete or compare myself to anyone else because I know everyone is their own unique person, meant to do great things in their world with their gifts and talents. I think that is one of the most beautiful things in this world!
And I still found myself comparing my business to another book editor’s social media profile.
Because I’m human. And humans tend to fall into the comparison trap with each other, even without trying to.
The Reality Check
Calming myself down, especially with thanks to my partner, I remembered that this person is not me. And I am not them. And though we are similar, we do not do our work in the same way. They can rock their social media game while I wish I could bag social media all together. All they are doing that I wish I was doing… I don’t have to do it and I do not have to do it like them.
I can release my grip on the compareschläger, put my head down, listen to what my own heart has to say, and then put in the work to do the work that I actually want to do.
Because, once I sobered myself up, I realized that this instance of comparisonitis gave me a glaring billboard for the work I really want to do.
The book editing and copyediting is the work I truly want to do.
You don’t compare yourself to people who are doing things you have no interest in… You compare yourself to the people who are doing what you truly want to do.
This is why comparing yourself to others and looking at where you get jealous of other people can actually be a helpful tool. It may not feel good in the moment; however, it can point you in the direction of where you most want to move in.
How to Use Comparison to Find Your Direction
Start to notice when you get jealous of someone else or find yourself falling into the comparison trap. And ask yourself why those feelings are arising.
You’re jealous of that woman who can work from the beach on her laptop? How can you create that feeling with your own work from where you’re at until you can make that a reality for yourself?
You find yourself comparing your achievements to peer who seems much further along than you? What is it about what they have or are doing that you seek?
Odds are, because there’s something there, something you desire on a much deeper level, that you haven’t achieved yet… Or maybe even something you haven’t acknowledged that you want.
I have a feeling you’ll find your own aha moment in asking why the feelings of comparison and jealousy come up, especially if you’ve been questioning your purpose, direction, or next steps. I know I did.
Find out what the desire is—the desire hidden deep underneath the mask of comparing yourself to another—and start moving toward it.
So, you may see a refocus from me on sharing more about the book editing and copyediting work. I love the intuitive side of my business, and I don’t want to let it take away from the editorial side of things that I utterly love doing… My intuition supports my hard-earned editing skills, and it thrills me to no end to see how I can help others with these gifts.
And I plan on using any social media stalking of other editors for inspiration and ideas, not comparison. If it start falling into the comparison mire again, I’ll know to pull myself out before it gets too far. Because we all know that can work against you rather than for you.
Remember that only you can do the work you were put on this earth to do with the gifts that only you have. No one can do it like you do… So keep going, especially when comparison comes along to try and derail you. Let the comparison be fuel for you to pinpoint the next steps for you to reach for your dreams.
Want to join me in putting down the compareschläger, putting your head down, listening to your heart, and doing the work you really, really want to do? See you there. <3
I can look at the absolutely tangled, jumbled mess of a necklace’s chain, and with my fingers pull the string this way and that until–voila! The necklace is untangled and returned to full glory so you can wear it proudly again.
Where I untangled a knot…
Just a couple of years ago, a one-time gig employer had a massive floor of costumes and a necklace she irritatedly swore up and down “had been tangled for ten years.” No less than seven minutes later, the necklace was gleaming in the light, dangling from my finger completely untangled. Her jaw dropped. “Do you mind if I bring you back to my house to fix the rest of my necklaces?”
How editing is like untangling knots
It looks at the big picture while also diving into the details to make sure everything is aligned and correct in your content. Editing takes what’s there, makes a few adjustments, offers suggestions, and smooths out the errors. In the end, you have your beautiful, compelling, and kink-free content ready to be presented to the world. And you’ll feel pretty confident putting it out there too, knowing that it’s exactly how it’s meant to show up!
Just like untangling a necklace or a knot, editing is a precise art.
I just love taking piece of writing and making it truly sing by untangling the knots, smoothing the clunky language, and polishing it up. I can get lost in the best way while working with words. Honing in on the message, stripping away the unnecessary, and correcting any unsightly spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors… All while maintaining your true voice and making sure the message shines through without any discrediting or unprofessional distractions.
And sometimes while untangling something, you have to work with what you can hardly see… And that’s where my intuitive skills come in to help fill the gaps between what’s not on the page and what should (or shouldn’t) be.
Untangling text is my specialty.
Many of my previous colleagues and employers can attest to what I do. A few keep me on speed dial for when they need a final proof since they know I deliver impeccable editorial feedback time and time again. Like the lady whose necklace I fixed, they wanted to keep me on standby for their projects that need editing. I’m honored to be their go-to proofing person, and I love having on-going relationships with clients so I can get to know their style and so the knots get easier to spot and smooth out as we work together.
It’s such a delight when I get a message that says, “Hey Mikael, can you proof this for me please?” Because that tells me that they trust me, love my feedback, and value my contribution to their work–and that’s the best feeling in the world.
Plus, the clarifying process of editing and proofreading is my absolute favorite way to help people. It’s within my zone of genius, and I’m stoked to offer my skills in this way… It’s one of the core reasons The Intuitive Editor was born!
Do you need an eagle-eyed proofreader or insightful editor to help untangle the knots of your content or your book?
In case you’re wondering who is behind The Intuitive Editor, look no further.
My name is Mikael (pronounced Mih-kehl, she/her), and I am the editor & writer behind this purple curtain.
And I cannot wait to help you make your content shine. Whether it’s a book, a website, articles or blogs, your resume or cover letters, I’ve literally done it all! With more than 12 years under my belt as a professional writer and editor, I have a plethora of experience writing and editing that spans a number of industries and styles.
Not only that, but I’ve spent the last six years honing my intuitive abilities since they came roaring onto the scene with my Saturn return—my most attuned psychic abilities include clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairsentience (clear feeling), and claircognizance (clear knowing).
This means I can see straight into the heart of the matter and channel what’s there—whether its your business, book, or message—so we can strip away what’s unnecessary, clarify what’s there for more impact, and proof & polish it all to how it’s best meant to serve you and your audience.
With the technical editorial experience combined with crystal clear intuitive insights, I help you to elevate your writing to new heights while also offering suggestions to further improve your writing skills. And because I enjoy this work so much, I aim to make it an enjoyable experience for you as an author too. (I, too, am a writer and understand how scary it can be to hire an editor in the first place.)
What matters is that I help your words shine through in your own voice so you can make the impact that you desire to make and reach the people that resonate most with your message. I’m here to help make your writing sing with confidence & heart while also keeping away those distracting grammar/punctuation/spelling mistakes that make you look unprofessional.
Your words are what represent you… And I can help you to make them sparkle and shine from the inside out. Let’s talk.
My grandmother used to sit with me when I was very little, and she’d read me stories before bed—or even at my insistent request.
I knew very quickly that I wanted to be able to read them for myself.
One day, she started reading to me The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It didn’t have pictures, but I was enraptured nonetheless. I remember looking at the page, filled with so many words I hadn’t seen before, astounded I could still see what was happening in my mind as my grandma told me the story (my clairvoyance working for me and clearly wanting to play).
After that fateful moment, I declared to myself that I was going to learn to read this book. I was spellbound by the words and the story, and I needed to know how to read them. And I was determined to show her that I could read it by myself.
At the tender age of four, I ran to my grandmother, grabbed her hand, and said, “Grandma, grandma, come here! I want to show you something!”
And I began to read that very same book to her like she had read it to me. I finished reading the first page out loud to her before I looked up and saw tears in her eyes. I knew they were good tears. And thus began my love of books and stories. Especially those that contained a bit of magic, adventure, and fantasy.
From a love of reading grew a love of writing stories. From writing stories, my writing abilities grew and grew. From writing and gaining professional writing experience grew another skill that I would later discover is one of my absolute favorite ways to help people: editing. Making writing better. Making stories come to life. To make them shine.
Hi there, lovely reader… I have a story on my heart I want to share with you today.
I remember asking as a young child, wandering around in a brick church with a white steeple, “Why isn’t there a picture of God?”
I remember going from room to room, looking at each of the paintings and artwork, pausing always in front of the framed images of Jesus Christ and wondering…
If he’s God’s son sent to earth, then why isn’t there a picture of God here too?
I wanted so much to understand what God looked like, that He was the one who made all things possible. He who we were made in the image and likeness of. If we were made in his likeness, why can’t we see Him?
“Mikael, stop being so difficult,” I was told when I asked for the third time.
“Why isn’t there a picture of God here?”
When I stopped to imagine what I feel God might look like, all I felt was a cosmic cloud. He didn’t look like anyone I knew, but His presence was felt more than anything.
As a grown adult now, I know that I can see and find God everywhere. To quote one of my very favorite musicals:
“To love another person is to see the face of God.” – Les Miserables
With that in mind, I’ll tell you another story from church around this same time period.
I was in primary class, probably no more than 4 years old, and the teacher asked us, “What are things we must do every day?” We had to act out the action or activity in front of the class. Kids got up and acted out showering, eating, praying, dressing, and other basic day-to-day activities.
Of all the things to come into my head, the movie in my mind showed me Beauty and the Beast. The part right after the Beast has transformed back into a human, and Belle approaches him and finally sees him for who he is. The love that shines in her eyes upon seeing him as himself. The gesture of Belle’s hand running through his hair in a caring caress is what stood out. Loving someone. Yes, I thought, that’s something we need to do every day. I felt so excited to share what had come to me.
When it came to be my turn, I stood up, all excited that I found something so wonderful to remind everyone of. As close as I could replicate from the movie, I mimicked Belle’s hand gesture through my own hair and did my best to put a loving expression on my face like hers.
“Yes, Mikael, we must comb our hair every day!” the teacher exclaimed, kind of exasperatedly as another kid had already acted out grooming.
Immediately, I shook my head and said, “No.” That is not what I meant. Instead, I threw myself even further into the action hoping someone else, anyone else even among the kids, would recognize that I was imitating Belle loving the Beast. I think I even tried to act it out with another kid, touching their hair and looking in their eyes like Belle had to the prince.
For some reason, that was the only action I could think of to express what I felt was important for us to do every day.
We needed to LOVE every day.
Why couldn’t they see that? What was I doing wrong? Couldn’t they see that I was acting out a scene? Couldn’t they see the expression of love on my face? How could I make them see?
No one ended up understanding, and I was told to sit down to let someone else have a turn. And no one else acted out what I was trying to say, but I felt it was so important that it was said. However, I don’t remember saying anything to the primary teacher after, instead feeling ashamed and defeated that I couldn’t communicate what I yearned to express. I remember feeling stupid because no one could understand me. That my message hadn’t been clear. Like I had done something wrong.
That’s why there was no picture of God in the church halls I went to years and years ago. Because, at the heart of it all, God is the highest expression of love. And love shows up everywhere.
The essence of God—or however you wish to name a greater power—is with us all of the time and can be seen in a rosebud, a friendly face, a sunrise, a book or movie, family, friends, significant others, or anything that stirs anything within us. God lives within us all as the love and light that created us all. God simply wants to experience love through us in our human bodies.
God is there, even if we can’t see. What matters is that we believe in the highest frequency and vibration of all—love. That’s what God is. That’s where God resides. And that’s all found within you too. Because we were made in His likeness, our core, too, is love.
If you believe in Love, then there is no higher power than that.
