Connections. What does that word imply, or promise as I navigate through my life, making the best of the gifts I have?
Connections are important in life. The right connections are paramount. My connections have given me hope, mentorship, support, love, and laughter during times when it might be better to cry.
If one reads what I just wrote carefully, it sounds like connections are also friends, old and new, invested in us, our success, and happiness.
I have connections that I must give thanks and love to, and so, here I begin.
My husband comes first. Without him, I would never have known unconditional love. He makes me laugh daily. He makes me cry at times, mostly from laughing. Anger is something else I feel when he tells me the truths that I don’t want to hear.
He motivated me to write, after years of not writing.
One payday Friday night, I met a cowgirl friend at the local bar to talk horses and cowboys. She told me an unbelievably funny story as the bourbon flowed, and the night went down the toilet with the bourbon.
For some unknown reason, I got on my computer the next morning and wrote down what I fuzzily remembered about her story. I emailed it to my husband, who was elk hunting in the Colorado Rockies, with no cell service, let alone access to a computer.
When he came home, elk in the back of the truck, he told me I must write more, because what I wrote, he had read at the local bar in the town close to where he was hunting, and it had made him laugh the entire time he’d been gone.
He was my inspiration to pick up a pen again, years after college, and write.
The connections I have in my life are amazing. Jenn, Josh, Luke, Jan, and Marcus are my biggest supporters, always in my corner. They love me, support me, inspire me, listen to me, and make my life a blessing. In return, I love them unconditionally. I would do anything for them, and I make sure they know this daily.
Another connection is Tim. He is my first line defense with my writing. A retired English teacher, he is gracious enough to look at my writing, suggesting edits, mentoring me in the best possible way over lunch. He has an amazing eye and is not afraid to tell me when I am off track. For him, I am truly grateful.
Then, there are the connections I’ve made through writing my western novel. I must start with Krista Rolfzen Soukup, founder of Blue Cottage Agency. I first saw her speaking on a publishing panel at the 2025 Western Writers of America convention in Amarillo, Texas.
If there is one reason I was at the convention, it was to meet her. I had an immediate connection to what she said, and to her. She is “the one” in terms of guiding me in my publishing efforts.
She is incredibly bright, open, and willing to help. The energy she has is a force to be reckoned with, and she is in my corner, gently pushing me to be my best. She gives me great advice on making connections with other writers on my journey to publish my first western novel.
Krista suggested making a connection with an incredible group of writers with the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). She also suggested I contact Kevin Wolf, who is the Vice President of RMFW. He chairs the RMFW critique group. He suggested I join, to become a better writer. He has also made suggestions away from the group that I value deeply, because this man is a Tony Hillerman winner, and he knows his craft.
There are so many more connections that I need to mention, but they will come in another blog. For now, these thanks are enough.
