Rosemary Ahern and her partner David Hunt drove up to Cambridge from downstate today, Rosemary agreed to speak to my writing class at Pompanuck Farm. There are few people in the world who have done more for me than Rosemary has, I do not believe I would be a writer today without her.

Went publishing collapsed in 2008 and I lost my long-time editor, I proposed doing a book of short stories. I had never written short stories before, and I desperately needed an editor, commercial publishers don’t generally edit too much anymore, writers are pressured to hire freelance editors.

Rosemary helped guide me through the short stories and stayed with me a I feared I would never write a book again. After my bankruptcy, Rosemary agreed to work without pay until I could pay her, which I have. Apart from that financial support, Rosemary gave me the faith in myself to continue trying to write, and she encouraged me to approach Simon and Schuster and she was right, I was given a book contract.

I am a book writer again, as I have long been, my book will be published in 2017 and I am talking with Simon and Schuster about a second book, that is not definite. Rosemary has stayed my close friend throughout this period and also helped focus and improve my books.

She talked to my students for two hours today, and she was, as usual, wonderful to listen to. She is always calm, clear, and she loves writers and always fights for our point of view in the never-ending conflicts between authors and publishers. She and David are a joy to be with, they are so comfortable with one another and connected to each other.

Rosemary has been a great friend to me, and we have become close friends as well as author-editor. She has helped me navigate the turbulent waters of the new publisher, and I think I am finally beginning to come out the other side, still alive and kicking. When I felt the most abandoned and discarded a few years ago, I think it was Rosemary’s faith in me, more than anything else, that kept me going.

If she believed in me, there must be something there worth hanging on to.