There’s a sentence I can’t stop thinking about lately. It’s only six words long, and it’s one of those things that just makes you stop and say, Ohhh. Yes. That.
I was at Hank Phillippi Ryan’s book launch recently, a lovely evening full of people celebrating a writer who has earned every bit of her success. During her remarks, she told a story about the early days when she was halfway through her very first novel and not at all sure she could finish it. She confessed this to her mother, probably hoping for reassurance.
Her mother said, “Well, dear, if you want to, you will.”
That was it. No pep talk, no “of course you can.” Just a simple statement that put the whole thing back in her hands.
She didn’t start writing fiction until her mid-fifties. Twenty years and seventeen books later, she obviously finished that first book, and many more. She’s still going strong, still improving, still competing only with the version of herself from yesterday. Clearly, she wanted to.
I’ve been reflecting on that sentence ever since, because I know how many roadblocks I put in my own way. They tend to sound like this:
I don’t have time.
Everything else comes before my writing because people are needy.
I’m not good enough to do this next thing.
I’m too tired. My brain is fried. Maybe next month, when things calm down.
(Things never calm down. I’ve written a lot of books, and I’m still waiting.)
What gets me about “If you want to, you will” is that it doesn’t ignore those obstacles. It just changes the question. Instead of asking Can I do this?, which invites every doubt to weigh in, it asks Do I want this? That question is a lot harder to argue with.
If the answer is yes, the obstacles stop being reasons to quit and become problems to solve. No time? Maybe it’s twenty minutes before everyone else wakes up instead of a whole free afternoon. Not sure you’re good enough yet? Nobody is at the start of something, even if you’ve been writing for a long time and it’s about shifting and trying something new. You get better by doing it. Brain feels like mush? Write anyway, and edit it when you’re feeling more clear.
If the answer is no, that’s useful information too. Sometimes we carry around goals we picked up somewhere along the way and never actually wanted. Letting those go isn’t failure. It frees up space for the things that matter to you.
This applies well beyond writing a novel, by the way. It’s a good reminder for pretty much anything in life.
So I’ve put that sentence on a Post-It and stuck it on my computer. The next time I catch myself listing all the reasons something isn’t possible, I’m going to stop and ask the simpler question first. Do I want it? If I do, the rest is just figuring out how.
Because if you want to, you will.
About Cate Conte
Liz Mugavero/Cate Conte is a bestselling mystery author, creativity coach, and devoted believer in all things magical. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the beloved Pawsitively Organic Mysteries. As Cate Conte, she writes the Cat Café Mysteries and Full Moon Mysteries. Her 20th novel, Purranormal Activity, will be out in July 2026.
When she’s not plotting fictional murders, she helps writers find their voice and bring their books to life through her membership community, The Creativity Lab, and her podcast, Get Writing.
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