The point -- or a point

It's easy to get discouraged in this business -- and it IS a business, that's one of the discouraging things! But there are many others, so many that sometimes I wonder what the point of writing for children is.

And then something happens that reminds me. Last week was my birthday,


and the Internet and phones were down on my end of the island, so I couldn't talk to or even email anyone from home (which much as I love it here is still America and always will be!)....and then I remembered that if I walked to the telephone exchange at the top of the hill, I could get a WIFI signal there (thanks to someone who told me a secret password). So I did, and read all the emails and messages on FB (thank you all!)....the view is where I was sitting when I read them.

One of the people who posted on FB was a child (WAS a child, now she is in college!) who read my book Blow Out the Moon and wrote to me about it all those years ago. And she still remembers me and it.

THAT is the point, or a point, of writing for children, and I hope I remember it the next time I'm discouraged. If any of you have things that you find encouraging, I'd love to hear them!