Why Tara Hall should read this blog post

So, as promised, if I was fortunate enough to win the NEO word processor, then I would have a random drawing selected from all my donors. Now, I would like to note that the anonymous donor sent me a message requesting that he or she NOT be included in the drawing. Just one more selfless act by a wonderful human being. So, after gathering the names and throwing them in the hat, I am thrilled to announce that TARA HALL is the winner!

Tara, I need you to contact me via email so I can have an address to ship this wonderful prize. Again, I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support. I have a very strong belief in NaNoWriMo and the importance of the arts in a society that has seen funding of these sorts of programs plummet. I was blessed to attend a high school that had a nationally recognized theater arts program and a top notch English department with courses such as Gothic Lit (where we actually did a comparison of Poe versus the modern day slasher horror of Friday the 13th...now a days, that teacher would probably be fired...THANK YOU DEAN JOHNSON!) and Fantasy Lit versus Shakespearean. Today, we are fortunate if the student can write a complete sentence without using texting language. (OMG IDK!)

All the support I received during NaNoWriMo brings me to another point: Friends. I have been blessed with some of the best. To say that my past has some smudges is like saying that the Exxon Valdiz had a little accident. I found out over the past decade who my real friends were, and have been blessed to make some great ones recently. It is very easy for people to find reasons to cut and run. However, I have found that those who stick by you no matter what are the ones that are worth a damn. Being a friend means standing through thick and thin. Sure, you may get a little mud on your shoes standing beside somebody, but don't we all want somebody to be there when our times are darkest? WHile taking on the world alone seems like a "Macho" idea...it is not ideal. Each of us has had times when we needed the shoulders of others to get us through. How many times have you looked around in times of need or dejection to discover an empty room? So would you willingly inflict that on another? You can call it "paying it forward" or "do unto others" but the bottom line is that we make ourselves better people by being there when those we CALL friends have a time of need. 

To those of you who have stood by and supported me, taken me for who I am now and not what you "think" you know about my past, know that you will have a loyal friend in me for life. To those of you who cut and run, it is your choice...but I have overcome every single obstacle set before me and achieved my goals. My latest goal is to become a best selling author. I will. And I will never forget my friends no matter how big I become (because failure is not an option, for me it is a question of "when" not "if"), but neither will I forget those who turned away. Petty? Perhaps. But at least it is honest.