It Went Out on the Thirtieth of December...

It went out on the thirtieth of December - that's when the pages were released to the publisher I hope to engage. I feel great about what I've accomplished because I know I've done my best.  

I've poured out my heart, just the way I remembered it to be before I grew up and knew better. I spoke my mind, told it like it is and was - allowing myself to give voice to words that before I'd only carefully and silently, thought. 

I wrote the story from the perspective of a sensitive young girl, trying to make her way through the jungle that we Americans refer to as High School.  I say jungle because, when I'm being honest with myself, that's pretty much how I remember High School to be. I say sensitive because that is the forum from which I view all of life, even still.

High School was hard, wasn't it?  Never knowing what someone might say in order to make your day sing or singlehandedly destroy it in a matter of seconds, making you wish you had never been born. 

Man, the power we gave our friendships back then.  

We're over that now, right?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Anyhow, "360, Yours Truly", is what I named my hopeful journey back to the days when I thought I'd known it all. Two hundred and something pages later, I found I had much more left to say and even more to learn.  

Here are some details of "360" to describe a few key elements in the story so that you see where I'm coming from and where I am going.

• Her best friends are there for her, always, until suddenly they aren't.
• She has a Mom who loves her and gently guides her while trying to protect her from some of the hard knocks of life, but face it, even the best Mom in the world, feverishly as they may try, can't actually do that.
• She gathers countless yummy little gems she refers to as 'Fierce Facts' regarding the secrets of surviving teen life so that she can form her own theories about how to avoid those same hard knocks that her well meaning Mom had hoped to spare her. 
• Sometimes her gathered seeds of wisdom save her and sometimes, like most of us, she realizes she obviously has some more gathering to do.  
• Being the strong and independent young adult that she is, without her knowledge, she models much of her thinking after her Mom.  Eventually she recognizes her Mom's hand in her own opinions only to find that though her Mom may know tons, she doesn't always know as much as she thinks. Even so, she somehow wades through the ever changing and dizzying deep waters of teen-dom-hood and triumphantly manages to become the perceptive and confident person that she was created to be. Truthfully, she at least learns to tread water, keeping herself afloat while bravely trying to rescue a few colorful friends.  
• Maybe she's even a bit of a hero.
  

I don't know about you, but I like seeing people accomplish their goals, live up to their own expectations and experience their wildest dreams. I celebrate when I see others make it and I welcome, with open arms, anyone willing to do the same for me.

So, come with me on this journey of attempting the impossible, climbing the highest peak and daring to dream aloud.  Wait with me and see if this publishing opportunity is the one that marks the new beginning that I've been preparing for my entire life.  Walk with me and experience the incredible places that we will go.

Like I've said,  I feel great about what I've accomplished. The only thing that could possibly make this lifetime journey even better would be the privilege of sharing it with you.