97: Claire Gallagher: Writing Cosmic Year in Five Months — Time Lords, Trust, & Turning Off the Future
Claire Gallagher was here back in episode 15, where we chatted about Mercury, the SFD (The Surrendered First Draft), and the importance of moving her body to keep the words flowing.
Last year, she told me that she was working on a second book about how astrological cycles "wake up" different parts of your chart at different times.
That book is Cosmic Year, arrives on August 18, and it’s available for preorder now. Today, you’ll hear the story of how she wrote it. Spoiler: it was much easier than her last book!
She talks about how Body Astrology took three years and three full rewrites and Cosmic Year took just five months and a single draft. Claire walks through what changed: separating writing from editing for the first time, a stack of affirmation cards she read before every writing session, and the 45 interviews she conducted to pressure-test the technique before putting it in a book.
We also talk about why she removed the P word from her astrology business — predictions. She stopped doing predictive readings.
I’m really excited about the topic she’s writing about next — Claire's current obsession is exploring fate and free will across cultures.
Key Takeaways:
Writing and editing are not the same thing — and this book proved it. Claire wrote Cosmic Year once, start to finish, with no rewrites. She credits separating drafting from editing — a skill she says was modeled for her in Jacqueline's writing studio — with turning what could've been a years-long project into five months.
Cosmic Year took five months to write. Part of the difference in speed of this book was the subject matter — this technique is 2,000 years old, and not something she invented from scratch. Most of the writing shift was in her mindset. Claire let herself flow on the page instead of critiquing every sentence as it landed.
Affirmation cards replaced perfectionism. Before every writing session, Claire read handwritten affirmations off note cards — a writing ritual born from not wanting this book's story to look like her last one.
She wrote Cosmic Year for the person she used to be. Fifteen years ago, before astrology found her, Claire spent years blaming the moon for every bad mood. Cosmic Year is written for that version of her, and for anyone who's taken their astrology obsession into fear.
Presence over prediction in astrology. While researching this book, Claire stopped offering predictive readings.
The research has already moved on. With Cosmic Year out in the world,
Meet Claire Gallagher:
Claire Gallagher has been a professional astrologer for over eleven years. With a focus on presence instead of predictions, Claire uses astrology to help people feel better today instead of future-tripping about tomorrow. Whether she's doing a reading, moving with the moon, or teaching planetary journaling, Claire's mission is to help others hear and follow their inner wisdom. She's the author of Cosmic Year and Body Astrology, and the host of the podcast I Talk to Planets.
Connect with Claire:
Claire's website: astrologywithclaire.com
Book: Cosmic Year — join the pre-order book club at astrologywithclaire.com/bookclub
Book: Body Astrology: A Cosmic Guide to Health, Healing, and Harnessing the Power of the Planets
Connect with Jacqueline Fisch:
Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome Back Claire
01:27 What Is Cosmic Year
02:39 Time Lords Origins
04:38 Writing Process Shift
07:38 Rituals, Mindset, Self-Trust
10:00 Book Interviews And Anecdotes
11:33 Living Your Time Lord
13:34 Presence Over Prediction in Astrology
15:39 Who The Book Is For
19:41 Book Club And Bonuses
21:02 Next Writing Project: Fate
24:42 Nodes And Destiny
27:09 Coffee Callback Farewell
