Road Trip Wednesday question

YA Highway, a blog I just discovered and started following thanks to Yvonne Ventresca, has posted  a question this week for its followers to answer: "Who has helped you in your reading/writing/publishing journey?"  Wow, is my response.  So many people that it feels like I'm just being perverse and ungrateful by remaining unpub all these years!!  But the ones to whom I owe the most gratitude are the members of my critique group.  For the past 15+ years we've laughed a lot, shared fun outings, talked about books, families, jobs, friends, and pretty much every other conceivable topic, cheered for each other's successes, commiserated over each of our setbacks, and always been able to count on each other for honest, constructive criticism.  This group has served as my lifeline so many times - or, as my husband has called my fellow members, "the sisters you never had."  And my sister-in-chief has been the group's center and compass for all these years, Michele Granger.  If she thinks she can lose us all in two years when she and her husband retire and move from New Jersey to Massachusetts, ha!  She's going to have to think again.  I don't plan to be that easy to lose, not for someone who's enriched my life with her kindness, intelligence, and snarky wit the way that Michele has.  She's irreplaceable.