Last winter I sent you some cartoons I had drawn for "Ham on Wry"--and you published one of them in the April issue. What a kick!

I suppose if one got cartoons published every day and people were pounding on one's door for more, one might become a tad ho-hum about the whole thing. But you were the first (and only, so far) to publish my stuff!

All of my life I have been able to draw, but mostly I was afraid of the ability--you know, the vague and unknown fears? When I sobered up I saw I really wasn't half bad at it--not great, but not terrible, either--so I decided to try my hand at cartoons.

I still have a hard time saying I'm an "artist," but then it took six or seven years to realize I was a drunk, and then six months of sobriety to say, "I'm an alcoholic and my name is Joan."

Who knows where I'm going with my art, but this program has given me the confidence in me--and such a tremendous joy of living. I've laughed more in the last five and a half years than I did in the previous forty-nine--and I laugh mostly at myself.