I love to write, I have since I was a child . . . But I have always feared to share . . . Instead I would use others' words, beautiful thoughts collected since childhood, to express myself. I recently found a nugget of truth that touched me deeply. It made me realize that it was OK to share something you are passionate about, to give yourself an opportunity to find pleasure and pride in something that you do well. So, I will, at the behest of one of my dearest friends, start to share what I have been writing.  'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.' ~ Marianne Williamson I enjoyed a rather carefree childhood in rural Saskatchewan, with freedoms and pleasures that few children experience today.  Along with that, parents and teachers who fostered a love of reading and writing.  It is a privilege now to share the result of that encouragement with you, and to foster those same loves in my own daughter, who began writing her first novel three years ago, at the age of eleven.