Wonderful advice, JJ. That's much more than a quarter's worth.

For a magazine article last spring, I was asked to poll the women in my book and ask them what was the most important piece of advice they’d ever received. Echoing Georgia, several responded that someone along the way said to them, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Maybe later today, I’ll compile the other pieces of advice and share them with you.

By the way, I just had a personal e-mail exchange with JJ. (Hope you don't mind my sharing this, Georgia.) Besides directing me to her new blog entry ( web page ), we got to chatting about grandchildren. I told her that I loved what she had to say about her granddaughter in her blog entry titled “All Things Now.” She wrote me back and said , “I found out that when grandchildren are born, so are grandmothers.” Isn’t that great? (I love the way JJ puts things!)

Two other quick comments.

Evie— about your shaking hands, if you’re not holding a piece of paper, I doubt anyone will notice. If you need to use notes, ask for a podium. Then you can place your hands on it when you speak, hence solving the problem of where to put them.

Smilinize (what a sweet screen name; it makes me feel good just reading it)— you said that maybe it’s others who think you should be publishing and submitting more. Tell them if they’re so interested in submitting and publishing, they should try it themselves. I’m only half-serious, of course. But in a similar vein, my husband once said to me, “Stop being ambitious for me; be ambitious for yourself.” It was one of those defining moments in my life. I realized he was right. I was in my early 30’s at the time, and that one remark prompted me to go to college and get a degree. My darling husband made me see that I was projecting my hopes and dreams on him rather than living them myself. Anyway, it’s easier said than done to not care what others think, but it’s a worthy goal. Very liberating. Our lives our own to live, not anyone else’s.