Hi writers! We've all heard of gratitude lists--and they sure can work wonders. However, I have found that sometimes it's hard to sit down and get straight to gratitude when there are other things roiling around in my heart, mind, body, and soul. And so I have adapted the gratitude list to include three distinct sections....and I've added just a few of my own answers below. SHIT I'M RELEASING: people pleasing/co-dependency, second-guessing, self-doubt, dysmporphia THANKS I'M FEELING: abundance of nature, healing from giardia, this beautiful writing community WISHES I'M CREATING: dance parties, flow, synchronicities, a retreat center, a green thumb What's on your list?? I'd love for you to share in the comments below!

Good morning, friends! I wanted to share the welcome poem from my first book, The Halfway House for Writers. I included this poem in my book, but I wrote it for myself-- to name and assuage the fear, dread, pressure, anxiety and horror I felt about writing--the one thing in the world I most passionately wanted to do! Can you relate? What would you add? Are you ready to start the exquisite lifetime journey of trusting yourself?? Welcome to the Halfway House You know everything you need to know. You have everything you need to have. Nothing has been wasted: none of your writing and none of your time. Even lost years and lost manuscripts were necessary to bring you where you are now. All that’s lost can be salvaged. You bring with you the most sacred and the most profane. You bring wisdom and humor and a broken, healing heart. You bring your living body and your limitless soul and enough stories, thoughts and dreams to fill a thousand books. There is no hurry, there is no pressure, there is no wrong way to do this. There is no rule book, there is no map save for what’s inside of you. You know now which voices to trust and which to lay gently aside. There is nothing you have to prove or solve or figure out. There is no timeline or deadline. You can trust the words that come. You can trust yourself. You were brought here for this. You were led to this. This is why you are here. Welcome home. (Here are 3 friends I've found over the last few days at the river....they want to welcome you, too!)