Colleen Klinsky

Some places are beautiful to visit. Others settle into your heart so deeply that they eventually find their way into your stories.

For Don and me, Assateague Island is one of those places.

There is something unforgettable about standing where the land meets the ocean, with salt in the air, wind tugging at your hair, and wild ponies moving freely through the dunes and fields. No fences. No schedules. No concern for who might be watching. They simply belong to themselves.

That spirit made Assateague an important part of Postcards From Nowhere.

Two chapters of the novel are devoted to the island, where Maggie’s journey brings her face-to-face with a kind of freedom she is still learning to claim for herself. She has spent so much of her life being who everyone else needed her to be. On Assateague, surrounded by untamed beauty, she begins to understand that starting over is not about running away. It is about finding the courage to live as the person she was always meant to become.

Bringing the finished book to the island with Don felt almost surreal.

For so long, Maggie’s journey existed only in my imagination—in scattered notes, unfinished scenes, late-night revisions, and the quiet hope that one day I would hold the completed story in my hands. Then there I was, standing on the island that had inspired part of her transformation, holding the actual book while wild ponies grazed behind me.

And, of course, Don was behind the camera.

He has a gift for capturing more than an image. He notices the light, the landscape, and the emotion inside a moment. This photograph holds all of that for me: a place we love, the wild ponies that continue to amaze us, the book I worked so hard to finish, and the man who has supported me through every uncertain step of becoming an author.

Looking at this picture feels like watching two journeys meet—Maggie’s and mine.

Postcards From Nowhere is a story about rediscovery, resilience, motherhood, forgiveness, and the courage to change direction when the life you are living no longer feels like your own. Assateague gave Maggie a place to breathe. In many ways, it has done the same for me.

Taking the book there felt like bringing a small piece of the story home.

If you have read Postcards From Nowhere, I hope the Assateague chapters carried you into the salt air and open landscape alongside Maggie. If you have not met her yet, I hope you will join her on the road—and discover what can happen when a woman finally gives herself permission to choose what comes next.

Postcards From Nowhere is available in paperback on Amazon.