I am sitting in a ferry terminal, waiting for the next boat to take me to the Turkeyland Cove Foundation Writer’s Retreat on Martha’s Vineyard Island. Am I excited? You bet I am! Why? Because this is the first time in my life that I have been offered the gift of time and space for an entire two weeks to focus on what I love to do most: WRITE! I was accepted months ago and “anticipation” has been my middle name.
The timeliness of this couldn’t be more perfect. Maine Authors Publishing just released my collection of twenty-two inspirational essays a few days ago! “Lighting Your Spiritual Passion” One of those essays was chosen for 3rd place in the Writers’ Digest Contest Inspirational category a couple of years ago, spurring me on to publish a collection of essays. When I opened the AMAZON page for my newest book, I cried with relief and joy.

The common thread here is you, Hope Clark, and your FundsforWriters. You inspire me to have more courage, to reach higher, and you offer me threads of hope that I, too, can continue to grow and contribute something of worth to the world. Do you have ANY idea how much you mean to all of us who sit at our computers on Friday afternoon, waiting for your email to come in? I cut and paste every opportunity into a computer document that remains “open” on my desktop so that I can refer back to it any time I feel discouraged. Thank you for your dedication to sharing the roller-coaster ride of writing. You are a gifted teacher and mentor.