Writing has always been a passion for me. When I was five or six, I wrote a story to enter a contest sponsored by Highlights magazine. The winner’s prize was a pony. I set out to write a story about a duck who thought its mother was a horse. For weeks I waited on the front steps of our house and waited for the horse trailer to pull up and unload the pony I was sure I’d won. I refused to go in for dinner.

For weeks I ate on the stoop and sat there until dark. Finally, one night my father put his arm around my waist and hoisted me up, turning me around so I was facing him. “Nancy,” he said softly, “the pony is not coming. I know you’re disappointed and that you’re going to feel bad about not winning the contest. But I’ve learned, and you’ll have to, that disappointments often turn out to be an opportunity. So, you keep writing and follow your dream, and someday you’ll win that pony.”

Now, I’m realistic and realize that my book may not win anything. All I hope to win is a reader’s appreciation, whether they like the story or not that I share my thoughts in well written sentences.