I am independently published! I have an essay, “Death is a Noun,” in an anthology “SLEEP, NAUSEA, ANXIETY & PAIN.” The editor is a colleague of mine, Lee Bullitt. We met at a class taught by the wonderful @SarahNumber4. You can find Lee on medium or on her website at www.leebullitt.com.

This is the first time I have ever been published, and it is a big milestone for me. I wrote “Death is a Noun” during that class, which was my very first workshopped writing class. It was also the first time I let others know I had a mental illness.

Lee has been working on the anthology for a while, so it was great to finally receive my copies in the mail, personally gift wrapped in red spotted gauze by Lee for me. If you want a copy, it is available to buy on Lee’s shop here: https://www.leebullitt.com/sleep-nausea-anxiety-pain. It even has a bar code, so it is very much real. I warn you, it is a limited edition, so if you are interested, act fast!

I still remember getting the email from Lee about the idea on May 8th, 2018. The title of the email was “Calling All Sad Girls.” It was very effective in getting my attention. The idea was to create an anthology we would be proud of which expresses the pain women feel across many spectrums. Mine, as you may guess, was my struggle with mental illness, specifically how it began when I was 18.

All my life I’ve dreamed of being published, but only recently did I mature enough to realize that was not my endgame. My new goal is simply to write often, and to make finished products I am proud of. Of course I will still seek to be published, and it feels damn good to finally be published, but what I really want is to look at a short story or essay or memoir or novel I have written and revised a thousand times and finally say, “It is finished. I am proud.”

For the fact is that “Death is a Noun,” even as it is published, still requires a lot of work to be truly done. I simply chose it as is because 1) Lee requested it and 2) I didn’t have the time to meet deadline. However I don’t mind having something rough “out there.” After all, these blog posts are very public, with my real name on them, and they are a bit rough; however I stand by them. Gone are the days when I am ashamed of anything I write. I never write anything I don’t mean anymore, except in my journal, which is safe for anything.

So, welcome. But in the meantime, any positive comments or congratulations are welcome, and “Hello, World”: I am a published author. Come at me!