It’s a snowy morning in Connecticut, but the roads are passable. I’m off to a meeting of an organization called The Passion Project. Its core mission is to inspire people to discover their passions and follow their dreams. The person who founded the group is a wonderful, 40-year old woman named Polly. Anyway, she contacted me after reading my book. Turns out she lives right in the next town! When I asked her what prompted her to found the organization, she told me the following story:

"My mother always used to say, 'Someday I'll do this," or "someday I'll do that." But she never did any of those things she really wanted to do. About a year after my mom died, I was looking in the mirror one day, putting on some make-up, when I caught myself saying the words, 'Someday I'm going to _____.' I stopped mid-sentence and thought, 'Oh no. Those are my mother's words.' Right then I grabbed my black eyeliner pencil and wrote in big letters across my mirror: “SOMEDAY IS TODAY!'

As a result of this epiphany, Polly went to India to work with the dying at Mother Teresa’s order, as well as to spread her mother's ashes and provide a sense of closure to her mom’s life. (Her mother had always wanted to go to India.) Then she came back home and founded The Passion Project. Anyway, I love and admire this woman and want to support her work.

Speaking of networking and promotion, the Passion Project is a good example. When Polly wrote me, I could have declined her invitation to speak at her organization. (Let me backtrack here and say that Polly might not have even heard about my book if I hadn't brazenly suggested to my friend Mary Jo that she display my book at her garden store and keep some of my bookmarks on the counter.) Instead, I not only accepted Polly's invitation, but suggested that we get together for lunch a few weeks before. We did, and we hit it right off. Then I told her that I'd like to be on her Board of Directors. I did this primarily because I believe in what she's doing, but I also thought that it would be great to make connections with other like-minded people. This is how I met a woman named Meg, who produced the off-Broadway show that I did an author talk-back at in December. And through doing that event, I met another woman who runs another group..... You get the idea. I also met an independent television producer. Here's the thing. Not only am I getting the word out about the book, but I'm meeting wonderful people who are transforming my life. I, in turn, have been trying to help them get the word out about their incredible projects. Networking is really about connecting human being to human being, one person at a time.

Dotsie is a great example of this. I had no idea about this site before she shamelessly contacted me through my website and asked me to do a link swap with her. We have been championing each other ever since. Even if not a single book gets sold on my end, just knowing Dotsie--and getting to know all of you--makes the effort worthwhile.

P.S. If my entries are too long to absorb, just tell me and I'll be briefer.