The Official Author T-Shirt

I know a published writer. She used to live in my town, we were in the moms club together and I feel so proud to have known her before she got published. It’s kind of like knowing a band before they got big… Although I don’t have a t-shirt to prove it.

We weren’t really friends per se, but I knew her. She might even remember me if she saw me. And she has some really fun and interesting science fiction that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It made it that much more interesting and fun to read because I knew her.

I think a lot of people believe they have a book in them. Maybe they read a lot of books, they enjoy the craft, they feel like they could be an author. I have certainly thought about being an author… I have thought to myself, “I could write a book like this! I have ideas!” only to do nothing but read another book from someone who actually sat down with their ideas and wrote an actual book.

(Perhaps that sounds familiar… because many times we think we could do something for ourselves; start that business, write that book, make that career change. But then we get caught up in the daily grind of just keeping our shit together.)

If everyone feels like they could be an author at some point, that’s because we all have a story to tell. Some of us have more interesting stories than others. Some can weave boring stories into a tapestry of infinite beauty.

I have been told that I have some decent writing chops. By people whose opinion I respect, not simply my family offering platitudes. I was told in my creative writing class in high school that I should consider publishing a story I wrote. I didn’t know what to do with that then…

So when an opportunity came up to write a chapter in a book that my publisher boss was putting out, I asked meekly if maybe I could be possibly considered to be thought of as an option to consider. I had complete imposter syndrome when she said yes.

But then I realized that she is the real deal. She could have just patted me on the head and told me there was no room, or to stay in my lane and create landing pages and coach clients. I was terrified to see what notes and edits she would make to my draft.

And lo, it all turned out okay! She liked what I wrote! Her notes were not excessive and scathing! (Truthfully, I didn’t really expect any scathe.) The book, “The Wisdom Anthology” comes out on June 24, and my words will have the honor of being printed in that book. I feel like I am in a dream! I feel privileged to be rubbing literary elbows with some pretty incredible authors.

Now, I get to tell people that I am a published author in an anthology. Someone believed in my story and my writing enough to say “yes, let’s do this thing.”

Part of the reason I felt proud to have known my sci-fi author acquaintance is because someone believed in her enough to publish her stories. I knew her when we were both just moms in a church basement with our babies, trying to meet other local parents. She’s a regular person who sat down with her ideas and wrote a book. And that gave me inspiration to be another regular person who sat down and wrote a chapter. Her success could be a reflection of my chance at success.

And if I can write a chapter, that’s just the beginning… I still have the option of writing a book someday. So here's my question, from one regular person to another: What's the thing you keep saying you could do? What story are you not telling because you're too busy managing everyone else's? Maybe it's time to stop being inspired by other people's courage and start cultivating your own.

P.S. You can get on the waitlist for my book right here. See my name in metaphorical lights! I mean, I’m pretty proud of it, not gonna lie. I don't have the actual t-shirt... Yet.