Me too!

Count me in!

I definitely want to keep up the support and encouragement. Maybe we can do a weekly or bi-monthly check in to keep us on course!

This poor family had used ALL of their luck pennies and were sliding fast with medical bills and payments. Their money had run dry and they were forced to sleep in tents and in a friends makeshift trailer. The oldest son dropped out of high school to earn some money ... the whole situation was quite sad. Not only that, but we had a frost warning last night - so the timing could not have been better for this family. I has been quite a ride for the whole community and the family, returning from a week in Florida, was so thankful and so happy and so thankful. I have quite enjoyed driving by, walking around and watching! It was so great for my spirit today! BTW - thank you for creating this post. I think I was also mourning the loss of chatting with others about the same things - I think that makes sense. So - we can now gather here to support and chat.

How inspiring! After the fire I remember all these neighbor kids coming up to us to say that they had nominated all of us for EHM, but I knew we just couldn't wait that long for Ty!!

I love you guys! I have gone from a bit blue, to OMG get it together because today is your anniversary, to yelling "move that bus" all in less than 6 hours! Wow - what a day. Yes, I did get to see Ty and the Extreme Makeover bus today and it really is my anniversary and sadly, I am not one of the passion project finalists, but I am definately on a ride upward and onward and I am thrilled to be on that ride with a terrific, energetic and encouraging group of women! Hugs again to all. If you ever get to yell, 'move that bus' - inspiration and hope are overwhelming! So ladies - move that bus!!!

I may be repressing some of my disappointment, but I actually don't feel as bad as I feared (I also think I am a great rationalizer: "Well, they weren't really looking for a parenting book" kind of thing). I am actually working on expanding my platform - trying to get people to follow my parenting blog, trying to get schools and community centers to host my parenting workshops, and trying to get some work as a blogger on parenting sights. If anyone has suggestions or can refer me to their schools, community centers, blog sights, etc. it will be most appreciated. In the meantime, good luck to us all and I look forward to hearing from and supporting you all! All the best, Meryl www.departingthetext.blogspot.com

I knew I needed to turn my disappointment into something positive, so this question is definitely helping me continue forward! I actually took it as an opportunity to revisit my pitch and rewrite it, which I think has served my project well. I hope others are inspired to do the same.

We have all done something the vast majority of the population has never done--we have actually started work on the book of our dreams. I have read all the comments here and in the discussion of the types of books we submitted. I think everyone here is capable of pushing this project to the finish line, even without the prize here. A lot of books have been published solely because of passion and sweat, and we all have those raw ingredients. We can do this!

Reading everyone's reactions has been great. Brooke, thanks for asking this question to prod us toward next steps. I'm going to prepare a couple of magazine articles based on some my draft material. Then, I'll go back to working on my book draft. This has been a great process and preparation for getting published!