The Story of Sam Hunter and the Magic Desk

A fairy tale for creative productivity geeks that also happens to be true.

Sam Hunter’s Magic Desk (courtesy of the artist, used by permission)

Sam Hunter started it.

She’s a successful entrepreneur and something of a celebrity in the quilting world. I met her in

Charlie Gilkey

’s Productive Flourishing group, and it was the start of a beautiful friendship, continued in Sandra Halling’s Aligned Productivity group. We’ve had many conversations about escaping hustle-culture and trying to find the right mix of creativity, productivity, and rest when you’re at an age when time is going by so goddamn fast.

In the forums and zoom meetups I began to hear her talking about her “magic desk.” I thought, at first, it was simply an incarnation of Joseph Campbell’s “Bliss Station”

This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen. — The Power of Myth, via Austin Klein

I was right, in a way, but I was also wrong, because when I asked her about it, she told me the most lovely tale.

Sam Hunter explains how she discovered the Magic Desk.