It's time to begin, ladies! My 13 co-authors and I have begun the exhilirating, and at times overwhelming, task of gathering our thoughts to begin writing our book entitled The WiseWomen's Guide to Life. We do not claim to be experts but only friends sharing advice with other women friends.

Imagine a well-lit kitchen with an oblong wooden table at its center. On it are a variety of chips, salsas, dips, veggies, wine glasses in various states of fullness, and beer bottles with exotic names. More importantly, around the table are a group of women laughing, nibbling, sipping and -- above all -- talking and sharing. This is how we friends meet, and this is the basis for our book. We don't claim to be experts, but we all have battle scars and war stories to share with each other. Everything is discussed from battles with cancer to battles with teenagers and husbands.

We come from so many places and from every imaginable background. One friend is from the very Polish Gorsky Street in Buffalo, another lives in Anchorage, another is from Germany, yet another is from the mountains in Colorado. We have laughed and cried and struggled and had epiphanies. Our goal is to share what we have learned so that others can benefit. After all, we don't all have an awesome group of friends who can meet once a month to talk, yet we all need each other.