It took all the courage I could muster at age 20 to call Gay Montreal and stammer "I-I think I'm gay" into the phone, then take the bus downtown and purposefully talk about it, face-to-face, with a gay man.

Could the open-ended odyssey I’d launched in January 2023 have come to an end without me noticing it? If I had reached the end of my Yellow Brick Road, as I’d dubbed the journey in its earliest weeks, could Scottsdale really be my Emerald City? To be honest, I was skeptical.

A funny thing happened on my way out of urgent care here in Scottsdale last Saturday. Actually, it was a mind-blowing thing. In a single instant in that clinic, a lifetime’s hesitation, self-consciousness and self-effacement shattered.

The call to trust is clear, as clear as it has been through every day of nearly half my 70 years. Yet the problem with trust is that it’s a moving target. Every new time we are called to trust, the stakes are higher. Of course they are, or there would be no need to trust. In my life today, the stakes have never been higher.

Discover how my ”ouch” can translate into your second chance!

Imagine an oasis of unparalleled support where you’re free to be your most authentic, expressive and creative self.

Imagine all your writing questions answered, all your writing issues addressed and all your writing accomplishments celebrated.

Imagine feeling more inspired and motivated than you ever thought possible.

Imagine being part of a small community of like-spirited writers always eager to cheer you on.

What you’ve imagined already exists: my Global Coaching Groups for Writers! The next one kicks off on May 6 on Zoom.

The StarQuest is the perfect story for these chaotic, tumultuous, polarized times. Why? Because it’s a story about healing and reconciliation, a story that restores a natural, heartful order to a world that has tumbled into brutality and disarray.

Thank you — for each story you tell…for each time you refuse to be silenced…for each time you refuse to hide…for each time you challenge fear…for each time you embrace your courage. It’s your stories that will carry us through this real-life MoonQuest we’re living…and it’s your voice that will ultimately flood the darkness with light.

“If my mother's soul had already vacated her body, I am certain now that it had not yet left the room. I didn’t believe in souls and spirits in those days, but in revisiting that scene as I write this, I know that the limp hand I held was somehow also holding mine…”

Unlike traditional workshops, which focus on a specific topic or curriculum, Spring Writes focuses on you. Whatever your needs, Spring Writes addresses them through each week’s guided experience. Whether it’s a visualization, meditation or other exercise, Mark David devises it on the spot, based on his intuited sense of what best serves each Spring Writes participant. You’ll never feel the same about writing again!

If there was ever a time to stand in our power, if there was ever a time to free onto the page the stories that have chosen us to tell them, now is that time. So feel what you feel, but don’t let those feelings silence you. If you do, more than an election has been lost. If you do, fear has won. 

What would it feel like to be part of a small, heartful community of like-spirited writers who meet weekly on Zoom for coaching and mutual support? Such a group is not only possible, it’s happening…starting on 9/10!