The Ripple Effect Is Real
How past connections created a perfect Saturday.
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I had the best time Saturday.
Ever have a day like this?
I was at a bookstore. A passerby simply would have seen a group of people listening to me give a book talk, answer Q&A and later sign copies of Saving Vincent.
But that glance would have missed the feeling in the group. Van Gogh fans! Book lovers! It was fun to share tidbits about Vincent with people touched by his tortured, talented soul. There’s something about sharing moments with others that get it that makes one feel seen.
And then to witness how they get how invaluable Jo’s role was in saving Vincent’s art — just terrific.
The perfect synchronicity of that particular collection of individuals that chose to spend part of their Saturday at a specific bookstore to hear about Jo van Gogh lifted my entire weekend.
Perfect place, perfect time, perfect preparation.
Do you ever wish you could make this happen . . on purpose?
How it all started
For me, Saturday’s event all started with a sister author, Dawn, offering to introduce me to a bookseller to possibly do a book signing. Dawn has a friend named Kelly who works at Belleville Books, which is about 30 miles from me.
Or wait, no, it started with Belleville Book owners Rob and Steve who decided they should move from Vegas to live near family in Illinois and ended up driving along Belleville’s Main Street and saw a vacant building (once a bank) and had the thought that they could renovate it and open a bookstore there.
Or wait, better yet, it started with Dawn and me doing a talk together (along with co-presenter
) at the tenth anniversary conference of WFWA (Women’s Fiction Writers Association) in 2023. We worked for a year with three other authors —Tamatha Cain, and Roxana Trabulsi —all of us pouring heart and passion into our craft talk, “How to Portray the Past Truthfully without Harm.”Hold on. No, it began because we all originally met on a weekly Zoom meeting of an historical fiction affinity group in WFWA where friendships and creativity bloomed from the sheer fun of it all.
Nope. . . come to think of it, it had to be because a handful of us in WFWA decided to start the affinity group in 2020, which led to more and more people joining as word-of-mouth connected histfic writers.
Or oops, if I’m really being honest, maybe it all started on a trip to Amsterdam in 2016 where I first learned about Jo van Gogh (the star of my historical novel) and how she dedicated her life to ensure her brother-in-law would not die in obscurity. Yes, that must be it! For the trip planted a seed of inspiration that surfaced a few months later when they idea of writing a book gut-kicked me so that I ended up retiring to write it. Then realizing I needed HELP I reached out to the Author Accelerator book coaching reservoir and partnered with coach Sheila who suggested I look into WFWA.
Yes, that’s it, right? The reason Saturday was great.
Phew!
Except.
Vincent’s role
Actually, if Vincent van Gogh had not had the passion to stick with his unique artistic vision, the group on Saturday would not have been together at all. For his creations weren’t merely a function of physical paint, brush, ink, canvas or any other combination.
They came from beyond the paint as his brother Theo said.
Instead of being motivated by money (Vincent could have applied his talent to matching more commercially acceptable art), or celebrity (curtailing his off-putting and erratic personality), he chose to follow his own creative impulse.
The artist begins with a blank canvas. Creates something out of nothing. Without the thoughts and feelings of the artist, there would be no art. It’s their particular creative mind expressing itself that draws us to it.
And that’s what we feel.
Across the ages.
This is the connection a group of strangers felt on Saturday who came together to hear more about a man—and the woman who saved him—because his paintings have touched them in some way.
Love.
Mind the wake
Like the bow of a boat slicing through water and creating a wake with rows of expanding waves behind it, our lives crisscross paths and connect with countless people many of whom we will never know.
You’ve just read my silly attempt to trace synchronicity.
I do know one thing. Looking into the eyes of each person who stopped for me to sign their book gave me a chance to ask, “When did you first hear about Vincent?” I saw each person light up with a personal Van Gogh story:
A high school class. A multi-media immersion event. A parent who hung a Starry Night poster on their bedroom wall.
We grin.
It’s a connection, following as a consequence of all those other connections. And it’s giving me a nudge: Pay a little closer attention.
I’m creating a wake.
That’s why I had a good day Saturday.
P.S. Thrilled to share Saving Vincent just won another award! The 2025 IPPY* Bronze Medal Winner in Popular Fiction.
*IPPY is the Independent Publishers Association.
My book
Saving Vincent, A Novel of Jo van Gogh, is about the woman that would not let Van Gogh die twice. This biographical historical novel is based on a true story.
In the early twentieth century, a timid widow—and sister-in-law of the famed painter—Jo van Gogh takes on the male-dominated art elite to prove that the hundreds of worthless paintings she inherited are world-class in order to ensure her young son will have an inheritance.
Book Recommendations about connections: paranormal and (not so normal) family
Order Raquel Levitt's The Seer here
Trust your intuition even into danger
Imagine being born with the natural ability to see the particular hue of color each individual emanates like the radiation of an aura. Imagine, too, that you are a young girl who becomes acutely aware that people can hide their evil intentions behind a fake exterior as you learn to discern which colors indicate honesty, and which ones reveal deceit. As you get older, your ability to read people compounds into a bodily experience of literally feeling what another is feeling when in danger. Here is the rich inventive premise Raquel Levitt has created in her absorbing paranormal novel, The Seer. This intriguing historical novel skillfully intertwines a lot: observations about class, women’s rights and relationships, the consequences of betrayal, the accountability for taking action when another person’s welfare is at stake, a lovely love-at-first sight and more. What I loved the best: Levitt’s smooth and seamless writing delivers a powerful theme to trust your intuition.
Order on Jennifer Weiner's website
Fresh and humorous
The bright blue book cover for The Summer Place is a cheerful illustration, looking every part the typical beach read, but it is not. This brilliant, complex family saga takes on several characters’ points of view, adds in cliffhangers and interlacing secrets, all with a solid structure so that the reader never gets lost. Secrets are such a wonderful literary device; misunderstandings and flashbacks kept me hopping. The narrative is fresh and humorous even as it takes a realistic look at grief and family bonds.
It's true and gracious that you identify all the many people who converge to create this meaningful launch. But you leave out yourself--an intrepid woman who believes in the story she has to tell and DOES it. Brava, Joan!
So much happens when we write a book. I call it fairy magic! We connect with people whom we have missed. I just met with my Grade 7-9 teacher, who always believed I'd be a wrier. Love this post, as usual!