What a woman who wrote 13 books, survived the unthinkable, and still doubted herself can teach you about writing yours
There is a book that has quietly changed lives for over seventy years. It was not written by a celebrity or a business guru. It was written by a woman who had more reasons not to write than most of us will ever face — and who wrote anyway.
Her name was Anne Morrow Lindbergh. And in this episode of Easy Peasy Books, Gillian Whitney shares why stumbling across Anne's 1955 memoir, Gift from the Sea, at the most overwhelmed point of her own life didn't just move her — it permanently changed the way she thinks about writing, time, and what it really means to call yourself a writer.
If you're sitting with a book idea but waiting for more time, more space, or more certainty that you're ready — this one's for you.
What a Quiet, Bookish Girl and the World's Most Famous Pilot Have to Do with Your Book
A Book Found at the Right Moment
Gillian first encountered Gift from the Sea when she was a relatively new mother — with a toddler, a newborn, and a stepdaughter all under ten. She was exhausted, emotionally stretched, and craving time to write. As a self-described introvert, she needs solitude the way other people need air. And there was none.
She picked up the book on a trip — possibly from a library, possibly a bookstore, she can't be sure. What she remembers is the shell on the cover, and then not being able to put it down.
The book follows a woman who escapes alone to a cottage by the sea, walks the beach collecting shells, and thinks. Each chapter is built around a different shell — and together they form a meditation on being a woman, a mother, and a writer in a world that pulls you in too many directions.
"I remember reading this book and thinking, she knows me. She's writing about my life."
Gillian also remembers feeling jealous. What a lucky woman, she thought, to just be off writing at a cottage by the sea. What she didn't know yet was the full story of who Anne Morrow Lindbergh actually was — and what her real life looked like.
Maybe Good, Maybe Bad, Who Knows
Before telling Anne's story, Gillian shares a parable she's been returning to for years. A farmer's son captures a wild horse — lucky, says the neighbor. The son falls off and breaks his leg — terrible, says the neighbor. The army comes to conscript young men for war — but not the farmer's son, who is home with his broken leg. Lucky after all.
The farmer's response throughout? "Maybe good, maybe bad. Who knows?"
It's a frame Gillian uses deliberately, because Anne Morrow Lindbergh's life is one of the most striking illustrations of this truth she has ever encountered.
The Life Behind the Book
Anne was born into privilege — her father was a US senator, a senior partner at JP Morgan, and eventually the US Ambassador to Mexico. She was quiet and bookish by nature. And then she met Charles Lindbergh.
Charles was, at 25, arguably the most famous person on the planet. He had just become the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic — New York to Paris in 33 and a half hours — landing to a crowd of over 150,000 people. He was Time Magazine's first-ever Man of the Year. He was tall, dark, and celebrated everywhere he went.
He proposed to Anne on their second date. And from there, their life became extraordinary. He taught her to fly. She became the first woman in the United States to earn a glider pilot's license. Together they became the first people to fly from Africa to South America. In 1930, they broke a speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York — completing the 15-hour flight while Anne was seven months pregnant, serving as the radio operator for the entire journey.
"She said the fumes were making her sick, but she never complained. She had a job to do."
Their first child, a boy named Charles Jr., was born in 1930 on Anne's own birthday.
Maybe good, maybe bad. Who knows?
The Tragedy That Changed Everything
On March 1st, 1932, their baby was kidnapped. Someone climbed a ladder to the nursery window in the middle of the night and took him. Because the Lindberghs were the most famous family in America, the story became front-page news across the world. The press called it the crime of the century.
They paid a ransom of $70,000. They were given a location. Their son wasn't there. When he was eventually found, he had been killed on the first night.
The man responsible was eventually caught, tried, and convicted. But the press never relented. Reporters followed the family everywhere. They eventually fled to Europe, lived abroad for several years, and then returned to America to rebuild — eventually going on to have five more children.
The Writer Who Still Felt She Hadn't Done Enough
Here is the part of the story that Gillian says broke her heart. In spite of everything — the grief, the notoriety, the years of upheaval — Anne Morrow Lindbergh was a dedicated, prolific, serious writer. Not a hobbyist. Not someone who jotted things down on weekends. She wrote thirteen books over the course of her life. She won multiple national book awards. Gift from the Sea has sold over three million copies and been translated into 45 languages.
And yet.
In one of her diaries published after her death, she wrote — and Gillian paraphrases — something like this: a woman writer is always rowing against the wind and the tide. We cannot easily produce a body of work.
"This is a woman who wrote 13 books while raising five children, who had probably one of the most public tragedies any mother would face — and she still felt she hadn't done enough."
Gillian shares this not to discourage, but because of what it means for the rest of us. That voice in your head — the one that says you haven't written enough, you haven't made enough time, you're not ready, someone else has already done it better — that voice is not new. It has been whispering to writers since time began.
If Anne Morrow Lindbergh heard it, you are in very good company.
The Little Prince, and a Final Thread
One more detail from Anne's life that Gillian can't resist sharing. In 1939, a French author and aviator named Antoine de Saint-Exupéry came to visit the Lindberghs at their home on Long Island. Charles spoke no French; Antoine spoke no English. Anne, who was quietly brilliant with languages, spent the entire day translating between them.
The two writers clicked immediately — a meeting of minds, author to author. Antoine was also a pilot, which deepened the connection further.
What captivated Antoine most that day was the Lindberghs' youngest son — a small boy with golden curls, playing quietly on the floor. Antoine couldn't take his eyes off him.
Many people believe that this child was the inspiration for the golden-haired boy in The Little Prince.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry later went on a flight and never returned. Nobody knows exactly what happened to him — a mystery that mirrors the ending of the very book he wrote. Life imitating art.
Maybe good, maybe bad. Who knows?
Gillian's Framework: How to Steal Time to Write Your Book
Gillian closes this episode with a confession and a hard-won truth. She spent years waiting to have the time to write. When her children were small, she assumed it would come when they were grown. When the nest was empty, she discovered that running a business has a way of filling all available space.
What she eventually figured out — and wishes she'd understood much sooner — is this: you don't find time to write. You steal it.
Here is the framework she uses, and teaches:
Step 1: Give up on waiting for 'extra' time
There is no bonus round where the world quiets down and hands you a clear calendar. Everyone has the same 24 hours. The writers who write are not the ones with more time — they are the ones who stop waiting for it.
Step 2: Get up an hour earlier
This is the simplest and most reliable approach for many writers. Before the household wakes, before the inbox opens, before the day makes its demands — write. An hour a day compounds quickly.
Step 3: Trade one evening show for one writing session
A single hour of television traded for a writing session several nights a week is enough for most business authors to complete a manuscript. It's a choice, not a sacrifice.
Step 4: Block writing sessions on your calendar like client meetings
If you wouldn't cancel a Zoom call with a client without good reason, don't cancel your writing session either. Treat the time with the same respect you'd give to paid work — because it is.
Step 5: Protect the time, not just the intention
Deciding to write is not the same as writing. The block on the calendar, the closed door, the phone face-down — these are the habits that turn intention into a finished book.
A note from Gillian: Using this exact approach — stolen hours, early mornings, and calendar blocks — she has published six books in three years and is currently working on her seventh.
Real Stories from This Episode
Three Kids, No Solitude, and a Book That Understood
When Gillian first read Gift from the Sea, she had a toddler, a new baby, and a stepdaughter all under ten. She is an introvert who needs alone time to function — and there was none to be had. The idea of sitting down to write a book felt completely out of reach. What she managed, on her best days, was some journal entries and morning pages.
Finding Anne's book during that season of her life was, she says, the literary equivalent of feeling seen.
The Jealousy That Turned Into Something Else
Gillian spent years envying what she imagined Anne Morrow Lindbergh's life must be like — a woman free enough to retreat to a cottage by the sea and simply think and write. It was only later, learning the full story of the kidnapping, the media circus, the years in exile, and the losses Anne carried, that Gillian understood how little "lucky" had to do with it.
Anne wrote anyway. That's the thing.
The Gulf Coast and a Dream Revisited
Gillian now lives on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The beach is a five-minute drive away. She can walk there, sit with her thoughts, and watch the water any time she wants. The life she once envied — the solitude, the sea, the space to write — is now simply her life.
She shares this not as a happy ending, but as an illustration of the farmer's parable. The seasons that felt impossible had their own gifts. The life she has now could not have existed without all the chapters that came before it.
Listen to the Full Episode
Hear the full story — including Gillian's reading of Anne's words and the complete telling of the Little Prince connection — in the episode below.
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About Gillian Whitney
Gillian Whitney is a business book coach and the host of Easy Peasy Books: From Author to Authority. She helps professionals write and publish books that build credibility, attract the right clients, and establish lasting expertise. Learn more at easypeasybooks.com