Have you ever been somewhere that is so serene, so quiet, so far away from everything that it opened your mind so wide that you made a solemn promise to yourself to try and achieve a goal – and felt as you left that you had a very enlightening moment and we ready to pursue the idea that came to you simply from experiencing such serenity? – I just did.

Montel, her mother and I had just finished dinner at the Thane Ore House when Montel decided to take me on a tour of one of her favorite places before we went home. So we passed through Old Juneau and down Basin Road to the Silver Bow Basin – which offered a trail that started at the foot of a rushing waterfall – and went absolutely nowhere.

As I walked this trail, that began as wooden planks in a dirt road, and became a wooden bridge that traveled high through the trees, it had rushing rapids on one side – and thick, dense forest on the other. The only light on the trail was the setting sun – and the only noise I heard was the flow of the rapids and the trickle of the dozens of mini waterfalls around me.

Being in a place this serene, my mind was sure to wander – and wander it did – about a lot of things – one of them being this column.

For the past four years, this column has been a part of my life and has recorded almost every event that I have experienced since 1997. From the first time this column was published – people liked it. And even now as I write it only on my website – there are still people who are avid readers of this column and not only read them as soon as they are published – but anxiously await future ones. So in thinking about this column, about how it has been a huge part of my life for the past four years, and how there are people that have always liked it and look forward to reading it – I thought about what would happen if I decided to take the column one step further – and try and have it published?

Maybe it was the fact that I was in a place that was so peaceful and quiet that my mind was able to wander. Maybe the thought was in my head for a long time and was finally able to surface due to my serene surroundings – or maybe I just realized during this vacation that it is time I begin believing in myself and my writing strongly enough that I finally attempt to publish my work.

There are two ways to do this. I could get the columns published in a book and sell it – or I can get the column syndicated – which means that a syndication service offers this column to papers and they purchase it for a fee.

Do I think that my writing is good enough that people will pay for it? I hope – but judging by the response I have gotten so far – it looks promising. Do I feel I am well known enough to have a paper want to purchase my writings? Of course not – but that didn’t stop anyone else. Can I keep up with having to crank out a daily column? Considering that I have written thirty-nine columns in twenty-eight days – I would say yes. So what have I got to lose? Besides, sending one of these columns to Comedy Central simply to thank them for my favorite show wound up landing me a job with that very show – and I wasn’t even looking for a job. So I’d say the odds are pretty much in my favor.

I look at it this way – if I make it, this column will be one for the history books – and if I don’t – at least I tried. Either way, I owe it all to the Silver Bow Basin – a place that everyone should visit to think, plan – and hope for the best.

Wish me luck.