How a Book Inspired Me to Write My Love Story Before It Happened – Cynthia MacLean

Cynthia Blanc Preiss MacLean, a United States-based widow policy advocate and beauty brand founder, is indeed living her dreams. When she became a widow after losing her spouse in her first marriage, she imagined a life, an extraordinary possibility that had not yet unfolded.

That extraordinary possibility became reality when a book-inspired writing exercise helped her envision the man who would eventually become her husband.

MacLean recently shared her remarkable love story on social media, recounting how she wrote a letter about her future husband before meeting him and how, years later, she reunited with the man whose book had inspired the exercise.

The post is titled, “I wrote a letter about my next husband before I ever met him.”

The moment came on October 11, when she attended the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra’s opening concert of its 2026–2027 season at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. The
concert was particularly meaningful to her because it came a day before her 56th birthday on October 12.

But beyond the music and the birthday celebration, the evening offered something more profound: a full-circle moment that connected a difficult chapter in her life with an unexpected journey towards love.

Nine years earlier, MacLean arrived in Boston with Ziv, newly widowed.

In the aftermath of that loss, attending concerts at Symphony Hall and taking photographs with the orchestra’s conductor, Maestro Benjamin Zander, became part of her experience of settling into a new life.

This time, however, she returned to the celebrated concert hall with her husband. And she had a story to tell Zander.

According to MacLean, she had followed a letter-writing exercise inspired by Zander’s book, The Art of Possibility, which he co-authored with his wife, Rosamund Stone Zander.

The exercise encouraged her to imagine and write about the man she hoped would become her husband, even though she had not met him at the time.

Years later, the man she had envisioned in that letter became her husband.

“Tonight I introduced him to the maestro
whose book told me to write it,” she wrote.

MacLean seized the opportunity to share the story with Zander during their reunion at Symphony Hall.

The maestro, she said, was delighted
to see her again and thrilled to hear how the exercise inspired by his book had become part of her personal journey.

“Maestro Zander was so happy to see me again and thrilled to hear the story. What a birthday gift,” she said, reflecting on the encounter.

Her account has offered a glimpse into the unexpected ways in which an idea encountered in a book can influence someone’s life, sometimes with consequences that only become apparent years later.

The Book behind the Love Story
Published in 2000, The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional
and Personal Life explores how people can change their outlook, challenge limiting assumptions, and discover new possibilities in their personal and professional lives.

The book emerged from a collaboration between Zander, a renowned conductor and teacher, and Rosamund Stone Zander, a psychotherapist and leadership coach whose work focuses on creativity and personal transformation.