Hello my dear friends!

I pledge that for the next twenty four hours I will kick suicide to the curb.

That felt good. Now I feel as if I am protected again. I got about six hours of sleep, which was not enough, but I feel better. I hope more of our friends and friends-to-be will return to make their pledge again. It is such an awesome feeling-it's like being protected by some awesome, invisable force. We are all on different paths, but here, we trod the same road.

I will not talk about the times I have woken up after a botched attempt and wept because I had failed. But now I treasure those times because I did not suceed! What wonders I might have missed! I would not be here for myself and for you. When I think I might not have written my novels, I feel a chill go down my spine. I will share a secret with you. Most writer's, the ones like me that have the gift and have known it and studied and written and worked for it all their lives-we only write for one reason. It has nothing to do with money or any kind of fame (and that does not happen except for the lucky few.) I write for my readers. I write for the person who will one day read one of my books and smile, or laugh or feel some joy because of the words I have written. My book might make them think, or question, or merely entertain. And for that, it has served it's purpose.

But I am so far from perfect. Of the five books, only three will go on to seek the printer's ink. The other two were not good enough, but even in writing those, I learned. Forgive me if I ramble, but it feels important to get these words out right now. I guess the point I am trying to make is that, even if we are successful in kicking the trickster to the curb, we will still have failures in our life. The author of 'The Help' was rejected 61 times before she found her agent. If she had not perservered, that wonderful book would have never come into being.

So here I am. I had thought, in the last couple of years, to put it down. To stop writing all together and just give up. How foolish! For I have stories to share and the only thing that will stop me now is if God decides it is time for me to come home.

So please, take the pledge with me. We will be safe for just one more day. And suicide can go flush itself down the toilet for all I care!

There is a tremor in the force!

Love and Peace, Tea