Meltzer's first magic trick is about making something appear — specifically, the best version of yourself. He tells how his first job after graduating Michigan fell apart when his boss quit the week he arrived in Boston. Thinking his life was ruined, he told his girlfriend he was going to write a novel. She didn't laugh — she told him to go write it. He got 24 rejection letters from 20 publishers, but kept writing. That girlfriend became his wife. Professor Jane Dutton calls this a "reflected best self portrait" — when someone who loves you sees your potential and mirrors it back, it opens a path you couldn't see on your own.