I finally found the one
after 413 tries
A Love Letter to Deep Souls didn’t start out this way.
During its ten years in development, this book shape-shifted and was continually redefined. For quite some time it was called If School Sucked for You, Maybe You’re a Creative Genius. Even though I thought that up, I had a problem with the word sucked. It just kind of bugged me, like a wrong word in the middle of a poem.
Even back in 2018, I was inclined toward love (see rows 10 and 11 in the image below).
Gratefully, my deep soul friends never tire of brainstorming. I recall more than several title generation sessions with David Eyman and quite a few title ideation discussions with Nicole Crane.
As you can see, there are hundreds more where these came from!
Looking through dozens and dozens of manuscript drafts on my computer, I was able to identify the working titles through the all the years. This book took many different forms, it began as a tool for creative thinkers, then parents, and then moved closer to its current state.
School is mentioned in these titles because, early in my research and teaching experience, I noticed a pattern: the most innovative thinkers throughout time, including my own students, had some kind of rub with school. They may have sat quietly bored, but often they rebelled in some large or small way—or checked out. Educators often had a hard time placing them in the appropriate classrooms. Many were moved from special education to gifted, but rarely vice versa.
This is not to say that all innovative thinkers are poor students. Many of the most eminent, like Thomas Edison, were indeed. But there are millions more who did just fine in school while gritting their teeth. Or, they made deals with teachers like my friend Randy who skipped the boring classes and just took exams which he aced.
But, ultimately, this book is not about school.
It is about a certain category of people who I call deep souls. They commonly have intense strengths which may or may not be understood by those around them. Deep souls are different than “the norm” and their strengths can be confusing—to themselves and to others. They often wonder if strengths are really strengths.
This book is a communication to prove to deep souls, through stories, research, and understanding, that the way they think really is immensely valuable. It is for this reason, and in this spirit, that I knew at last that it had to be a love letter.
About the art in this post: My next book, A Love Letter to Deep Souls, comes out right here on Substack February 14th, 2025. Become a paid subscriber today to read it and connect with a community of deep souls.