Welcome Back, My Confident Friend
Writing coach and good friend Joanna Young has had a busy few weeks. 
First she moved her entire blog to WordPress — never an easy task. Then, still in a moving mood, she moved lock, stock, and barrel to a new home, in the place she’s always wanted to live.
She’s also been offline for over a week, which I’ll bet feels like an eternity to her. Joanna, we missed you! You’re an inspiration and a joy, spreading good cheer wherever you go, online or off.
So we wanted to give you a nice welcome back.
If you see a few welcoming posts today, chances are they are part of “Project Confident Friendship”, our way of saying … WE MISSED YOU!
It’s hard to pick my favorite Joanna Young post, but To My Muse is right up there. It’s honest, thoughtful, and deep — in that natural and unpretentious voice I love to hear every day.
WANT TO JOIN IN? … We tried to pass the word to as many people as we could, but if you didn’t hear and still want to write a post for Joanna, it’s NOT TOO LATE! Project Confident Friendship will stay open as long as anyone wants to add a post. Down the road, I’m going to collect all the posts and put together a summary. Please send me a link to your post so I don’t miss it — bradshorr [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks to all, especially Karen Swim, Robert Hruzek, and Daniel Smith who co-conspired on this little project.
Maybe you and I can introduce UK slang to Chicago. Brad...
Hi Brad! Thanks for masterminding this surprise! I just published my post too and tweeted the link. Whoo hoo! Welcome Back Joanna!
Karen, You’re welcome. You did most of the work, though! Anyway I know you’ve been dying to launch your post … reading it now.
Brad, what a ridiculously wonderful surprise! Thanks so much, to you and your helpers.
I missed all of you when I was away, and kept on thinking of things I wanted to share with you, and pictures I wanted to take, and invites I wanted to post to those of you who brave it over the Atlantic to come and visit…
Thanks, really, thanks
PS To My Muse is one of my favourites too
Hi Joanna, Your are so welcome! This started out as a small gesture, but seems to have morphed into something a bit larger. Please do post some photos of your new home. I think with just a wee bit more encouragement I’ll make the trip.
[…] all the excitement over Project Confident Friendship, I failed to notice my Timing Is Everything post was my 500th […]
Joanna,
We’re all so happy to see you again! Brad, Karen, you both did a wonderful job of getting this started to welcome Joanna back online. Those things that are wonderful and good usually do end up being bigger than one thought - and that’s a good thing.
Regards,
Rick
Rick, Thanks for joining in. The more the merrier is our motto.
Brad,
What a wonderful idea it was to orchestrate this fantastic surprise for Joanna! Thanks for being so thoughtful–and for giving all of us the opportunity to participate! It’s been a privilege!
Jeanne
[…] you to: Brad Shorr, Robert Hruzek, Karen Swim, Liz Strauss, Dawud Miracle, Drew McLellan, Ulla Hennig, Robyn McMaster, […]
[…] back Joanna Young today, I didn’t hestitate to say yes. Karen, along with Robert Hruzek, Brad Shorr and Daniel Smith conspired together to create a big welcome back for […]
Brad, you Robert, Daniel and Karen certainly put together a wonderful welcome for Joanna. She inspires us as we inspire her. Thanks for launching the whole process. It was a privilege to take part.
Jeanne and Robyn, Glad you both had time to contribute (we were sure you’d want to). It was fun putting this together and a real learning experience.
Thanks Brad, I just shared with Jeanne that this wecome back was something like a pot luck supper. You did the planning and organizing, then we all brought the dishes to pass. And, weren’t they fantastic. It was thrilling to see so many!
[…] one Saturday night, Karen Swim and I were having a little email exchange about Project Confident Friendship. The word duh came up, and it got me wondering about duh versus […]
[…] Liz Strauss Robert Hruzek Karen Swim Ulla Hennig Rick Mahn Drew McLellan Amy Palko Dawud Miracle Lillie Ammann Barbara Rozgonyi Jeane Dininni SpaceAgeSage Claire Raikes Nadine Touzet Debbie Yost Robyn McMaster Stephen Sherlock Karen Putz Terry Starbucker Brad Shorr […]