Daryn Kagan, former CNN news anchor, lost her job a while back -- and she didn't ask why.

She didn't ask WHY.

She simply decided that the loss of the job was a message from the universe, by way of a boss, pointing her in a new direction and away from an old one. And so she started her website and, almost straightaway, got a book contract for a book of inspirational stories about women starting over from humbled circumstances -- and one of them, I'm delighted to say, is mine.

You can read about our preliminary meeting at http://darynkagan.com/darynsblog.html
but Daryn also plans to write about my upcoming novel, 'Still Summer,' when it's published just before Labor Day.

Some of the stories she merely began sharing with me, from her book, sound like honest, good reading -- not sappy, not soupy, but from-the-horse's mouth stories about real people, in their own words. I think one of the most inspiring stories might be Daryn's.

I don't go in much for reading with a spiritual bent but I'm intrigued. Daryn said, when we spoke, that in the early pages of 'Still Summer,' she caught herself thinking, "Something's going to go really wrong here."

She's right.

Happy reading.

Jackie M.