Today, February 23rd, is a personal day of thanksgiving for me. I have so much to be grateful for: my wonderful family and friends, my work as a writer, which I cherish, and all of my creative fellow scribes, who inspire me every day. I thought I’d take a few moments to say thank you.

Thank you to my friend and mentor Dr. Rob Gilbert, whose wonderful Success Hotline (973.743.4690) means so much to me. I listen to it every day. Rob’s motivational mission really inspired me to launch my KWD motivational blog for writers in honor of my beloved mom Dorothy and my sister Judy. I wanted to share my love of writing and to offer inspiration and encouragement to my fellow writers. The writing life is wonderful, but it can sometimes be lonely and dispiriting. I wanted to bring some light to it.

Thank you to my KWD kindred spirits for reading my posts and sharing your writing journeys with me. Whenever I receive a comment in my email in box, I feel so happy and blessed. It gives me a huge boost to know that I’ve shared something — a quote or an idea or a strategy — that brightens your day and, hopefully, gives you a shot of energy so you can keep going and push past whatever obstacles you’re facing. Knowing that you are reading KWD motivates me to keep going as well, so we are helping each other.

Thank you to my inner spirit, my writing muse. When I launched KWD, I had a few random ideas for a handful of posts. But as my intention to continue grew stronger, my sources of inspiration blossomed (see Idea Magnet). Everywhere I turned, fruitful new themes seemed to pop out at me. I learned something very powerful from this: Our creative well is never dry. Many nights when I’ve sat down to pen my next day’s post, I’ve had no clue about what I was going to write — yet something has always bubbled up inside me or jumped out at me. The more we ask of ourselves creatively, the more we have to give: what a wonderful discovery this has been for me.

And a huge thank you to all storytellers, past and present. Sharing your struggles and triumphs has been such an enlivening experience: Above all, it has shown me the kind of grit and discipline I need to make my own writing dreams come alive — not just on the page, but out in the world.

Thank you, one and all! I hope to keep going and growing as a writer and to bring more inspiration to ever-more aspiring authors as we all write on.