My decision to come to Montana was supported by several signs from the universe.

These include:

By some miracle, I, too, received a “sign” while here that has brought meaning to my own personal “journey,” a.k.a., finally finishing my novel.

My sign arrived this morning (in the form of an email) and was in reply to an email I wrote a week ago. My email was addressed to my very favorite living author. (People who know me know who this person is.)

Over the course of many months, I’d scripted and re-scripted what I might write, unsure of how I could express my undying appreciation for what this author has done to change my life.

Wanting to get if off my “to-do” list—and thereby off my mind—I set down last week to complete this task.

My email was very, very long with a word count of 1,614.

I had so much to say, and I figured I needed to get all my thoughts expressed in one shot. I was not going to be one of those fans, pestering her literary hero with multiple emails.

Among all my words was the heart of what I wanted this author to know, as expressed in these fifty-five words:

You’ve been really great for me.

You’ve made me a better writer just by listening to and reading your words. You’ve made me a better thinker with your ideas. You have fostered empathy in another human being, using your imagination. It’s something of a miracle, this thing that we can do with language.

Thank you.

This award-winning, brilliant author—this remarkable thinker—wrote back, clearly having read my email, all 1,614 words of it.

I cried tears of grateful astonishment.

This living legend of words took time to write to (aspiring) me, and in so doing, I’m inspired to do an even better job, having now a sense that this author is looking over my shoulder.

These twenty-seven words will stay with me until I type “THE END”:

At the risk of seeming to congratulate myself, I’ll say that you seem to have a taste for very good writing, alongside your talent for producing it.