An Introduction

Come Get to Know Me!

There’s something about a New Year, isn’t there? It’s strange, really, because for most of it’s just the start of another ordinary day in our ordinary lives. But somehow, I think we all feel a sense of re-birth when that final countdown happens at midnight. It’s sort of….. magical.

When that hand on the clock finally hits 12:00 midnight, many of us suddenly feel it’s time to press the “reset” button in our brains and commit to making resolutions that will result in some variation of being healthier, kinder, more organized, more dependable. Sometimes the resolutions stick. Sometimes they don’t. But on some level, we all attempt to improve our lives and the lives of those around us by changing for the better.

Why I’m Joining Substack

I’ve been a writer my entire life, but I have never been published. At the tender age of 12, I had collected a monumental stack of rejection letters from both American and Canadian publishing houses, which I very neatly taped to the inside of my closet. This was back in the early 1970’s, before the age of computers and emailing manuscripts. Looking back, the achingly slow process of snail mail was like torture to any writer, much less a twelve-year old! When I got dressed each day, I would see the letters, each with different words that conveyed a different version of the same deflating response: “Thank you for submitting your short story to “Name of Publisher”. “We regret to tell you …….” and while I felt the sting and sadness of each and every rejection, I also felt challenged. I tried and tried again until I had pretty much exhausted my publishing house options. My big brother, 18 years my senior, bless his heart, tirelessly encouraged and helped me to package up my stories and send them out again and again by mail, and I would wait with optimism and anticipation for a letter that would not reject me……which never arrived.

Then, at the ripe young age of thirteen, a series of messy and traumatic life events began without warning, as traumatic events often do. As I dealt with the fallout, my energy and any will to write evaporated. Through the following years, my will to write waxed and waned. I was coping with serious health problems plaguing not only myself but my dear sister who had breast cancer, the early death of my father, the birth of a niece with Cerebral Palsy, and a brother-in-law diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. Coming up for air every now and then, I would turn to writing as an escape, and graduated from the Institute of Children’s Literature in my late twenties. I dabbled in poetry, prose, essays, photo essays….but I never submitted anything again. I found satisfaction from the encouragement of close friends and the occasional colleague with whom I entrusted my work.

Why Now?

I recently discovered Substack while following various American political podcasts leading up to the 2024 election of Trump. I initially indulged in my appetite for reading, consuming excellent posts by authors new to me. Now I want to write, to connect with others who may feel a common bond. I have found a renewed energy and sense of purpose; a flickering flame of excitement at the thought of meeting people who may become interested in me and my writing. I have rediscovered the passion I felt when I was thirteen, and this time I don’t have to wait for rejection slips. I can put my writing out there and see what happens. I have high hopes that my writing will strike a chord in some of you; my reward will be your subscription to my Substack.

What Can You Expect with Your Free Subscription?

For now, I am aiming to publish a new post three times a week. They will vary in content as I seek to introduce myself and my passion for travel, for nature, for animals, and for sharing both the beautiful highlights as well as the deepest, darkest valleys I travel on my life’s unique road. My posts will most definitely be free. I don’t have the hubris to ask people to pay for a subscription until I feel a sense of optimism that you, dear readers, will like my posts and want to hear from me. If and when I feel assured that I am giving you something worthy, something of value, I may trust myself enough to ask for Paid Subscriptions.

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