The Kitty Princess

Most of you have heard the news either through the Kickstarter site or the Facebook page, but just in case….The Kickstarter campaign is a success!  It ended yesterday at 103% funded, so “Surrendering to Serendipity” will now move into its next phase – and I am excited to take it there. Thank you to all who helped in so many ways – you are wonderful! I can’t see around the bend, but that’s how life is…I just take this next step and know that all is well!

Halloween has come and gone. For me this year, it fell smack in the middle of the final, intensely busy week of the Kickstarter campaign. When I learned that my husband couldn’t be here to help, I had a Scrooge-like moment. Maybe, I thought, I should stay upstairs in my office where the lights can’t be seen and just keep working. But I love Halloween and I couldn’t bear to miss those eager Ninjas and fairies craning to see what’s coming from my bowl.

Each year, it seems, there is one trick-or-treater who lives on in my mind. This year, it’s a tiny girl in a sparkly pink dress with silver shoes, fuzzy ears and whiskers. When I complimented her costume, she announced (as if expecting to be asked), that she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to be a princess or a kitty. “So,” she proudly announced, “I am a Kitty Princess!”

“Surrendering to Serendipity” won’t fit tidily into boxes either. It’s neither a photography book nor a book of stories – and it’s not even a hybrid of the two. The words and the images arise together, not just in complement to one another, but as one thing.

Some of my most treasured comments made by followers of this blog speak of this. Frances, who at 93 was quite certain that she “…would never travel the Mississippi and now I have – in the company of some wonderful folk, witnessing some lovely friendships and sharing in knowledge which could only be gleaned through those friendships.” Alejandra said, “…I close my eyes and feel like I’m actually visiting the places…” and Maggie said, “What a vicarious thrill!”

“Surrendering to Serendipity” is not a way to share my experience, but a way to give you your own experience following America’s greatest river through America’s heart. It is our river, our people and our journey.

Like the Kitty Princess, this book may be hard to categorize. My task now is to gather the perfect experts to guide “Surrendering to Serendipity” through the next steps while being true to the unique spirit of it – people with that perfect combination of rich experience and free thinking. I have no doubt that Serendipity will draw them near.

Now, a reader and friend who I’ve not yet met has graciously invited me to her home on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Illinois. I can think of no more perfect way to catch my breath than to sit beside the River in gratitude for a couple of days before striding on and seeing what lies around the bend.

Thank you, each one of you. You are the heart and soul of this adventure.

Love,      Gayle

P.S. I’ve added a new “Media” Page to this blog. If you didn’t get to see the great coverage that we got during the campaign, check it out. There’s a tv interview, a couple of radio interviews and newspapers and magazines.

There’s also an index now to “Roadtripping with a Raindrop” with descriptions and links to those pages if you missed any or want to revisit them.