Do you know how the classic Jonathan Livingston Seagull made it into bookstores? I read about this in a publisher’s newsletter years ago, long before the internet. I don’t have a copy of the article, so I cannot quote the exact source, but I fondly remember reading it and being awed by each synchronicity that occurred to bring this classic book into my life.

The newsletter reported that this quirky book, written from a seagull’s perspective, was initially pitched as a children’s book. Somehow, it ended up in Eleanor Friede, a new editor’s submission pile. She wanted to make a mark in publishing, so when Eleanor went off for a weekend at the beach, she took a stack of manuscripts to read while sunning. As Eleanor read Bach’s manuscript, the setting was perfect: on the beach with the gulls dancing in the air all around her. In that magical setting, she had an “ah-ha!” moment and realized that the book had to be a novella for adults. Eleanor’s instincts said that the book would die if it went into the bookstore’s children’s section.

“I think it has a chance of growing into a long-lasting standard book for readers of all ages,” she wrote in a memo to senior editors. And she was right! That little book of profound wisdom has inspired millions of readers worldwide.

“Inevitably, the soaring seagull hovered over her career right to the end, but Ms. Friede did not seem to mind. “You know, I am very fond of the little creature,” she told The New York Times in 1981. “I have done and am doing other things. It’s really O.K. to be the seagull lady.” Publisher’s Weekly, July 2008, Eleanor Friede, 87, Is Dead; Edited 1970 Fable ‘Seagull’

The way Jonathan Livingston Seagull made it into print is like a fairytale for writers; Bach wrote from his heart, and Eleanor followed her intuition and stuck with her gut instincts to publish it. But I wonder, why did Bach write this book? What inspired him? How did he become such a master of the parable? Why has his writing touched so many people?

I don’t know what motivated Richard Bach or what he hoped his books would do; I can only become aware of why writing is important to me.

Losing my brother Kurt and my uncle David in 2020, along with all the other craziness, has made me feel hopeless, overwhelmed, and heartsick. My grief, combined with all the heaviness in the news and on social media, had left me drowning in negativity. But now, I am making a deliberate choice to use creativity to liberate my soul. Writing about my family or what inspires me has helped some of the darkness lift off my soul and allowed me to see the way to fly once again.

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know, and you will see the way to fly.”

—Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach