First Steps In Publishing

And the day has finally come: my first meeting with the editors of the press that has accepted my debut book of poetry for publication!

I’m still in awe that this is the life I’m blessed enough to live. 2022 has already had its share of hardships, but seeing this next phase of my writing dreams unfold before my eyes is simply astonishing. No matter what happens this year, good or bad, I will have a book published. Me. I will. I keep waiting for it to be true about someone other than me, but then I keep communicating with my editors and filling out questionnaires for them and, whaddya know, this unfolding dream really is happening in my life.

The biggest thing I have been dreaming about since I was a child and working toward for seven years, is finally starting. It’s the culmination of so much hard work and dedication. It’s the product of a series of difficult choices that have lead me into and out of some of the darkest moments of my life. And more than anything, it’s an artifact honoring not only my journey through pregnancy loss and domestic violence, but also into the deepest parts of who I am, to better know and love myself.

Loving myself. It sounds like such a simple concept, and yet it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to learn to do. And in that process – one which is ongoing – I am finding more and more of who I want to be, the parts of me I want to nourish. I am a poet, which means I am always dreaming and reaching towards things forever unknown, just out of reach.

But this…this isn’t just out of reach. This is a dream, a part of me that has been achieved. My debut book of poetry will be released this year. I’ve met with my two editors and discussed the publishing process from this point forward. I am in awe. In reverence of their generosity. I am blessed. I am full. I am excited. I am a tower of too many feelings to list.