I met Sally Houtman via Fictionaut, an online community of writers and readers. Before that time, I really didn’t have any writing buddies. I was writing singularly, without encouragement or input from anyone within any writing community. I took the plunge of submitting my poetry and prose to this community of fledgling and accomplished writers. I just closed my eyes and jumped in, so to speak. Sally, along with Matt Dennison and Frankie Saxx(thanks, y’all!), made me feel  welcome and valued. They encouraged and critiqued. Sally had a gentle way of making her points that I appreciated. She let me know when something worked and when it didn’t. Sally was an extremely talented writer and I’ve been blessed to read and learn from her and her writing. Sally died unexpectedly this year, leaving a hole in the writing community.

I was pleased and honored when Michelle Elvy of Flash Frontier contacted me about contributing to a tribute issue for Sally. The new issue, including my piece, “Black Walnut”, has published and it is just beautiful. I hope my readers will click here and read. The subject is “Trees” and contains many gorgeous and heart-felt pieces