Elizabeth Gilbert, 2024 elizabethgilbert.com
Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of ten books — including EAT PRAY LOVE and BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR — which altogether have sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
In BIG MAGIC, she tells a remarkable story about an idea she lost. Even if you’ve heard it before, it’s worth hearing again. And if you’ve never encountered it, you’re in for something rare. The story is that powerful.
In the early 2000s Gilbert conceived a story where she conceived a novel with a very specific premise:
It would be set in the Amazon rainforest.
The protagonist was an American woman.
She worked for a large industrial or land‑development company.
She became romantically involved with a male coworker.
The plot involved corporate wrongdoing and environmental conflict.
Gilbert loved the idea. She outlined the story, researched Brazil, and even began writing early chapters.
However, her mother became gravely ill and needed long‑term care. So, Gilbert stepped into a major caregiving role. This wasn’t a brief interruption — it consumed her time, energy, and emotional bandwidth for a couple of years.
She describes this period as one in which writing became impossible. The novel simply went dormant.
After her mother’s passing and when she was able to return to writing, Gilbert attended a writers’ event and met Ann Patchett. They became friends. Patchett mentioned that she was working on a new novel. Gilbert asked what it was about.
Patchett described a story with:
an American woman
traveling to the Amazon
working for a large corporation
becoming romantically involved with a colleague
facing moral and environmental dilemmas
Gilbert realized it was the exact story she had abandoned.
She interpreted this as the idea “moving on”
She didn’t feel robbed. She felt awe — as if the idea had waited for her, then eventually found another writer when she couldn’t take it forward.
Patchett’s novel became State of Wonder.
Gilbert uses it to illustrate her belief that ideas are like “energetic organisms” seeking human collaborators. She doesn’t claim this literally or mystically — she uses it as a metaphor for the uncanny way creativity often works.
What do you think about this? Have you ever had a similar experience — an idea that arrived, lingered, and then seemed to drift away?