BONUS: Walking meditation - Possibility Artwork

The Stories Writers Tell Themselves

Writers are exceptionally good at telling stories, and not all of them end up in our books.

The Stories Writers Tell Themselves is a limited audio series by novelist Katherine Collette about the stories writers make up about rejection, comparison, success, failure and what everything means, and what happens when we start to see those stories a little differently.

Ten stories, plus a bonus walking meditation for writers. Listen from the beginning or start with the story that sounds most like yours.

All Episodes

The Stories Writers Tell Themselves

BONUS: Walking meditation - Possibility

August 13, 2026 • Katherine • Season 1

0:00 | 8:09

BONUS - A walking meditation for writers: Possibility

A walking meditation for writers and creative people who need to get out of their heads and back into a sense of possibility.

Put your headphones on, head outside and walk. This meditation is about where you’re going, what you’re creating, and continuing to move towards it even when you can’t see exactly how everything will unfold.

I'm Katherine Collette, a novelist. I write books for children and adults.

I also help other writers write their books.

For more:

Join the waitlist to be the first to hear about ways to work with me when I open them up again
Follow me on Instagram @katherinecollettewriter
Download my popular Story Threads resource
Check out my latest book (it's for kids) The Girl Who Cried Bird

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Start walking. Take a deep breath in and let it go. It's just you, your breath, and one foot stepping in front of the other. Let your shoulders relax. Let your jaw soften. You're not walking to arrive at some predetermined place. You are walking to meet what's already unfolding. You are stepping into the version of you that's been waiting. Let that self rise up inside of you. Let yourself meet yourself. Feel your feet on the ground. Every step you take is proof that you are here, you are doing it, you're in motion. You're not behind. You're not standing on the edge of something that's already passed you by. The most interesting parts of your creative life haven't even happened yet. Mary Oliver famously asked, What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life as you walk? Consider this question. This is your life, your one wild and precious life. What do you want for it? More connection or creativity? More of an audience? More opportunities? More adventures. More moments where you surprise yourself. Things are unfolding in your favor. Everything you've done so far has brought you here. Every strange interest and detour, every disappointment, every success. None of it is wasted. All of it is part of the person walking here right now. Walk like a person who doesn't need to rush. A person who understands that not everything is happening today. A person who knows that they are becoming what they imagined. Let it be easy. You don't need to force the future into existence. You only need to keep moving towards it. So let yourself think bigger and imagine more. And as you walk, try this. Imagine the thing you've been hoping for, been working towards, that sometimes feels far away. Imagine that it already exists. It is part of your life. You don't have to wonder if it's possible. It's simply true. Your work exists in the world, your ideas resonate. People see themselves in what you create. Interesting things keep happening. One thing leads to another. Take a moment and look around. What is here? What has become ordinary that once felt impossible? How does it feel to wake up inside of it? Stay there a moment. Let yourself get familiar with it. Let it feel normal. Maybe there are readers replying to something that you've written or invitations arriving. Maybe your work takes up more space in your life than it does now. Now imagine someone walking towards you. Maybe someone is walking towards you. Imagine telling them about the thing that you're making, what you've built, the thing that you've become known for, this book or idea or project, this strange little thing that became bigger. Tell them. What makes you weird is what makes you connect. Your curiosity is more trustworthy than fear. The world is changed by people who are willing to share what they see, by people who say the thing or make the thing. You're making something so specific. The universe had to assign you to it. You don't have to be the best. You're the only. You don't have to compete, you just have to create. You can be fierce in your pursuit and gentle in your practice. Imagine you are not walking alone. You are surrounded by every version of yourself that got you here. The dreamer, the one who lets possibility bloom before there is proof. The worker, the one who keeps showing up, the doubter too, the one who whispers, maybe I can't, maybe I'm not the one. Let the doubter walk beside you. They've always been part of this, but they don't get to decide where you're going. Then there's the witness, the one who sees how far you've come and remembers the things you've survived and learned and loved. Breathe in and breathe out. You're still walking. That is all you have to do. You're not following a path, you are carving one. You are the dreamer, the worker, the creator, a constellation of instincts and ideas, and curiosities and courage. Introduce yourself to yourself. You are already on your way.