Little Happier: Novelist Amy Tan Didn’t Ask Her Unnamed Goddess for Good Reviews, But for Something Else.

Novelist Amy Tan recounts that as she was writing her second book, she prayed to unnamed goddess that she “be able to write the best book I could, and that no matter what happened to it, I would have no regrets.” Wisely, she didn’t pray for a particular outcome or some metric of success; she prayed that she would feel no regrets. Get in touch: @gretchenrubin; podcast@gretchenrubin.com Get in touch on Instagram: @GretchenRubin Get the podcast show notes by email every week here: http://gretchenrubin.com/#newsletter Order a copy of Gretchen’s new book OUTER ORDER, INNER CALM here: http://outerorderinnercalmbook.com Leave a voicemail message on: 774-277-9336 For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to happiercast.com/sponsors . Happier with Gretchen Rubin is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better . Check out the other Onward Project podcasts— Do The Thing , Side Hustle School , Happier in Hollywood and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler . If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.