After an awful 2001 (the loss of both my father,  Benita's father, two of our Dalmatians, and a lawsuit—yay!), I woke up on the morning of August 1, 2002, and vowed to write every day for a year, and on one subject, love. I posted each day on my web site. Some posts were as few as 200 words, some as high as 1500 words. At the end of 15 months, I had a manuscript that was 7 inches deep when printed. To make a long story short, after moving to Tennessee, it wasn't long until I had my first book deal. I was told I needed to compress each issue to 200 words or less. In spite of my complaining, I did as I was told and worked long days, reducing each entry to its lowest and finest common denominator, to the soul of the idea, where it lay hidden beneath an avalanche of words.