Once there was a woman who loved to write, so she wrote stories and books and poems. Sometimes she would send them to magazines and publishers, hoping someone would want to print them. Some of the publishers liked her stories, but there was always a reason they wouldn’t print them - the stories didn’t fit their publishing list, the publisher was only printing historical fiction,     … reasons and reasons. There was always a reason they couldn’t publish Sly’s stories. So after sending a story out a few times, Sly would put it on a shelf and begin a new story.

     Sometimes people she knew read her stories and told her how good they were, but she was never sure. She had no confidence in her talent.

     The years went by. She raised a family, quit writing and after her children grew up, went to work, first with a temporary agency and then with an ambulance company. She worked for presidents, vice presidents, attorneys and all kinds of executives. Everywhere she went she learned something about people. She learned lots of people lacked confidence in some parts of their lives. She learned even people in important jobs making lots of money were not sure about everything, but they did their jobs and strived to convince everyone they were really ok. Sly could often see sadness and frustration and stress in people working jobs that maybe they didn’t like all that much, but were afraid to change.

     Then she began to go to schools and workshops to learn new things. She read and she read, because not only did she love to write, but also she loved to read and learn. Her curiosity was like corn in a popper, it couldn’t stay still. And her imagination was curiosity’s best friend. She learned about natural health care, massage, psychology, why people acted the way they did and how they could change, mysticism, spiritualism, ancient civilizations and many, many more things. But most of all she learned to have faith and confidence in her skills. She learned to have persistence to make dreams come true. She learned she could be in charge of her own destiny.

     Then another children’s book became very popular. She noticed how people of all ages loved the imagination and the magic. And she knew these were things that people really needed to boost their sagging spirits and enrich the way they thought.

     So Sly decided it was time to dust off one of the books she had written long ago and polish it a bit with things she had learned through the years. It was a chance to share her love of reaching for dreams and uplifting hope with all the people who were learning to let their imaginations out to play and perhaps learning to think in ways they hadn’t thought before or had forgotten.

     Over the years another wonderful thing had happened, small publishers had sprung up all over the country. Many authors who published their own books had become very successful. Registrations and distributors had opened to them to allow them into the publishing world. There were books on publishing and organizations where authors and small publishers helped each other.

     Sly had always loved the story of The Little Red Hen, because whenever she couldn’t find someone to help her, she would say, “I’ll do it myself,” and she did. So Sly started her own publishing company just to publish her stories and books. The first one is Dugan Peckles Through The Manhole. It is the first in a series of Dugan adventures. Dugan Peckles And The Keepers Of The Crystal Flame will soon follow ManHole into the homes of the curious and imaginative who are daring enough to go into worlds beyond their everyday lives.

     So like every good fairy tale, Sly is on her own adventure. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s lonely. Sometimes there are moments of doubt, but there are now many more hours of belief. Sometimes she’s too tired, but hope and enthusiasm carry her through. Sometimes she’s afraid, but she reminds herself that fear is the worst villain on the hero’s journey. Courage is stepping forward while shivers boogie up your backbone. And all the time she keeps on keeping on, because she believes life is a journey we have to experience. Or why are we here?