Sad News

Dear Authors,

I don't often share much personal stuff about myself or what is going
on with me, so I never thought I would be coming to any of you with
this but sometimes life comes at you and you have to deal with it,
and this is one of those times for me.

I could beat around the bush here but that's not me. You deserve the
truth even if it is painful for me to talk about.

I have found out recently, very recently, that my cancer has
returned. For those of you who do not know, this is my 6th time
around with this in a little over 10 years. It started as cervical
cancer 10 years ago and each time has gotten worse and spread to
other places. I will be starting chemotherapy and radiation
treatments shortly and as I have been through these same treatments
twice already, I can honestly say it isn't pretty.

After discussing the issues and options with Susan and Billi, and
then Gretchen and Brenda, it was decided for a few reasons that I
will discuss below, that the only option was to close Dark Eden as of
April 1st. I have to devote my energies and my time to getting
better, and to my daughter.

One reason for closing is the treatment plan itself. I will be in no
shape to run a company, much less take care of anything else.
Another reason is with Brenda having gone back to work fulltime, that
would leave just Gretchen to do it all and as great as she is, she
can't do it by herself. Billi works fulltime and does her part of
the business in the evenings and on weekends. Susan has health
problems that she didn't have when we started this company and
wouldn't be able to do the things that I do. It was hard enough
after the house fire to keep things running smoothly and even then
they were getting some help from me. They pitched in and ran things
beautifully after the fire but that was only for a few months, this
would be for the next 6 months at the very least.

The last reason is all of you. All of you deserve an owner who is
going to be here, who is able to get the things done that need to be
done. I don't want my authors trying to figure out why I haven't
answered emails for a couple of days, or why royalties are late, or
wondering when the things that need to be taken care of are going to
get done, when the reality is that I will be too sick to do it.

I will spend the next two weeks preparing letters to release your
book rights to you, doing March royalties, and closing the readers
group. I will then begin shutting down all the DEP email addresses
except for my own and forwarding all mail from that to my personal
email address. By May 1st, I would hope all payments have cleared
the bank, and on that date I will also close the author group.

On a personal level, I feel horrible that this has to be done to all
of you. I have come to know almost every one of you personally and I
feel as if I have let you all down when you trusted me with your
stories, and I am so sorry for that. You trusted in the fact that
DEP would be around for a long while and I am truly sorry that we are
not going to be.

If you have any questions or problems, please don't hesitate to email
me as I will be working to get last minute things tied up over the
next several weeks.

Please feel free to post this on your blogs or websites as you see
fit. I would rather have the truth out about why we are closing,
even if part of it is a personal issue, than to have DEP's name
trashed across the blog universe. Lord knows some of those people do
not have enough to do but sit around and pick their next victim. I
do not want it to be this company.

If I have not told all of you lately, it is and has been, a pleasure
working with all of you gifted writers and DEP's fantastic staff.

Debra Durham
President