My fingers want to fly across the keyboard, so energized they are as I prepare for tonight's book launch. Book launch! That's right. My work is now published IN A BOOK. I am so honored to able to hold my words, enterlaced with the stories of twenty other women, in my palms. This feels so much bigger than the other small publishing experiences I've had over the past few years. And still, I am grateful for each of those opportunities and would like to take a moment to highlight them here.
In 2009 I self-published a book through Blurb.com filled with original poetry and photography from when my husband and I traveled to Colombia to adopt our oldest daughter. The courage to create this book, came from my desire to donate something personal to the Friends of FANA, MN silent auction. This is an annual event that supports FANA, which stands for Fundación para la Asisténcia de la Niñez Abandonada, and is located in Colombia. Our daughter was cared for at FANA for the first 2 1/2 months of her life.
In October of 2010 I created this blog, because I'd heard aspiring writers do that sort of thing. After chosing a title and domain for the blog, along with carefully wordsmithing my short bio, I froze. Although I knew that only a couple of people would ever read whaterver I wrote here, the actual thought of sharing my words publically paralyzed me on the writing runway. I stayed there for two months, until I ended up composing a short post about my insecurities as an aspiring writer, my inner critic's booming voice, and my writer's block. I also threw in a little winter poem in an attempt to join the theme of my words with the title of my blog. Click. Post. Done.
That same year, I took my first writing class at The Loft in Minneapolis, entitled Motherhood Words with Kate Hopper. In between mothering and teaching part-time, I journaled, scribbled poems, and sowed seeds of thought to be explored some day. It's where I wrote my first draft of the first essay I ever published. Though I loved the class, I ended it frustrated that I couldn't quite get this essay good enough to submit anywhere. The "so what?" of the piece flitted up, over, and around me, but remained out of grasp. It just so happens that the essay needed to sit and age another nine years before it was ready to be sent out into the world. And I'm so glad it landed right where it did, in Literary Mama's online journal.
- My Fledging Reader is a createive non-fiction essay that tells the story of a mother (me) watching her daughter take flight into the world of books, as she contemplates the environment she and her husband have created for their little girl. She wonders if the foothold is strong enough to support her as she continues to grow and gain independence. You can find the essay, published in 2019, here:
Many rejections, and two unfulfilled publication promises, I received an acceptance letter from Burningword Literary Journal. Their online publication breathed oxygen into my words and ignited a momentum within me to keep writing. You can read the flash non-fiction essay here:
And now, tonight, I'll raise a glass and toast to twenty-one women writers. I'll read a short selection of my essay, "Just Swinging," published in Her Path Forward: 21 Stories of Transformation and Inspiration. A Modernwell Anthology edited by Julie Burton and Chris Olsen. I'm thrilled to share this story that has longed to be told for years. When I think back on all of the writing, revising, submitting, revising, and resubmitting I did, I'm now so glad this piece is no longer swinging in limbo, but rather has found a stationary place to sing.
So, can I call myself a writer yet? I think I just might start today.
