The disasters of our lives are the opportunities of our lives.
Have you ever felt this way?
The perspective is a practice, an essential, constant commitment.
Getting bad news is never fun. It doesn’t feel good, never in the moment. And that’s okay. Feel the pain and the sorrow. Recognize the feelings as one does the bone-ache of growing pain. Pause and reflect.
Read widely and value the diverse voices and perspectives on hardship that you encounter. One must take time to process information as we seek it out or as it comes to us, through which we continue to reach and develop. This is the way.
Then, take a step. Another step. Dare yourself to leap. Fall down. Be on the floor for a while if you need to. Then, when you are ready, but always—get back up. Recommit to yourself.
You are worth it, in every way. You are your own most precious resource and renewable energy. An infinite geyser of chance. You can overcome the thing you fear the most.
I know you can.
I believe in you.
Now, begin. Begin again.
Again and again—begin.
As you do so, take a look at the lyrics to Simon and Garfunkel’s AMERICA. Notice the courage and fortitude. So forthright, so bold. So unafraid. It’s remarkable.
You can do this.
**
“Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag”
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America
“Kathy”, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
“Michigan seems like a dream to me now”
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said “Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera”
“Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat”
“We smoked the last one an hour ago”
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field.
“Kathy, I’m lost”, I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
Married domestic by day, dashing secret agent by night, Pamela has done and seen it all. But the years have taken their toll, and it is finally time to hand the work over to young blood. In this exclusive exit interview, Pamela describes her closest calls, her greatest exploits, and the trip to Paris that nearly did her in.
Here’s my little quixotic, rhapsodic essay
I have nearly completed a working draft of my first novel. Having reflected a bit on the writing process in general, and what I have learned in particular, here are my 18 takeaways:
Thrilled to have been nominated this year for two 
Caroline M Cooper 