I Believe I'm Published

Last year I wrote a little essay for a collection my school system was compiling. The prompt was: What do you believe in? It is based on the NPR series This I Believe. I tried to be creative. Really I did. But after many starts and stops and [Ctrl] [A]s followed by [delete]s,  I finally wrote about what I really believe in. Words.

I know, I know, cliche much? I'm an English teacher. I blog. Of course I believe in words. Nothing else I could come up with really felt like a to-the-core-down-in-my-soul belief. Though, ice cream was a close second...

I got my copy of the book today. My essay is on page 38. A very large picture of me is on page 39. Not everyone got two pages. I'm not sure why I did... I look like I'm not breathing.

But there I am. Ain't no denying it, I'm that girl who wrote that essay that was published. In a book. With a bar code and an ISBN number. For real, people!

While it isn't the "write a book" that is high up on my bucket list, it is a start. And frankly, it feels nice to know that those words I believe in so strongly mattered to someone.

There were over 400 essays submitted. I was one of 58 to be chosen. To me, it is a small step in the right direction.

So there you have it. They'll give anyone a byline and a bar code these days...

What's big on your bucket list? Are you going to just tackle it or take baby steps like me?