Every writer I know has faced one of these challenges: the frustration of not writing as much as you’d like…the challenge of finding time to write…the inner critic that whispers “you’re not good enough”…the fear that the well of ideas has dried up…the nagging doubt that maybe you’re not a writer after all.

I’ve been there too. That’s why I created Fall Writes.

This is the breakthrough you've been waiting for! All you need is passion, curiosity and an openness to fresh ideas and new solutions. All you need is a willingness to explore and a yearning to create. All you need is an open heart and an open mind.

The only right time to claim your creative voice is that breakthrough moment when you finally say yes to the writing life you’ve been yearning for, the one that has been calling to you so relentlessly for so long. Are you ready for that breakthrough moment? Of course you are, or you wouldn’t be reading these words.

I am more and more disturbed by the parallels I see between what I "imagined" and what plays out on the streets of this country (and in those headlines that bother to report it).

At the same time, I am awed by the power of the stories we free to tell themselves through us, and I am increasingly convinced that it's our stories, the voices that express them and the wisdom and action that derive from them that will change the world.

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 Breakthrough Coaching Groups for Writers! And the next one kicks off July 2 Zoom.

Although I don't write "gay fiction," Bernie Freed and Erik Donnekin, major characters in all three of my "Sara Stories" novels are gay, and their stories, including Bernie's coming out, are integral to the plots of Sara's Year, After Sara's Year and The Emmeline Papers.

And although the following scene from Sara's Year didn't play out identically in my life, I did have a similar experience with a friend who, with good but misplaced intentions, tried to push me out of the closet by telling me that I was gay. He was right, of course, but it would take another year for me to get to the place I describe in my Acts of Surrender memoir.

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.