Once a year, this really nice thing happens to me.

I genuinely thought this year, my time was past, so it was truly a surprise to open this week’s Pique newsmagazine, which celebrates some of the grooviest things about the place I live. And take a moment to realize this weird work I do, locked away in a quiet room, actually has some ripples beyond my room after I shut down Word and hit send.

It’s kind of surreal. Just me and my pencil. Note scraps. Screens. To realize that none of it matters if no one is willing to read. In an age of waning attention, the idea that people are willing to offer that precious commodity – their attention – to sit with some of my ramblings, is so mindblowing that I feel a bit shaky thinking about it, about what happens at the other end of my creative pipeline.

So here is a thankyou that I can’t write big enough. Thank you for the encouragement. And thankyou for the gift of your attention.

Also, I think it’s worth calling out that I live in an amazing place for writers and readers. This Sea to Sky community is served by a host of top quality free publications, several of which are award-winning – for writing, art design, layout, even the quality of the paper. As readers and community folk, our stories have a lot of chance to be represented, in ways a lot of smaller towns don’t. And in ways that urbanites don’t. I feel super privileged to be able to contribute regularly to the Pique, Coast Mountain Culture and Mountain Life magazines, alongside such a stellar group of contributors, for top-notch editors.

I’ll tuck the shaky warm fuzzy feeling away and go back to my end of the pipe, where I will keep on crafting and potion-whipping to the best of my ability, and stuffing thoughts and stories into the opening, with all the love and courage I can muster, until there’s no one left waiting at the other end.