At the end of my post in late August, I mentioned I was going to share some good news about an essay I wrote. Well, I’m sharing the news now! My essay, “Christmas Time,” is in the new Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Joy of Christmas book that hit bookstore shelves on October 18th.

“Christmas Time” started out as an essay I wrote for the December 2015 issue of my church’s newsletter, The Bethel Banner. I got tons of positive feedback from people who enjoyed the essay – that always makes a writer feel good! A few months later, Chicken Soup posted a call for essays for their Joy of Christmas book. Since my essay was so well received at church, I felt like it was worth a shot to send my essay in to Chicken Soup for consideration.

I needed to edit the essay and shorten it a bit so sent it to my writing friend and teacher, Kate Hopper, who kindly helped me fine tune the essay and trim it down to the correct word count. I sent the essay off and, with all the chaos we had going on with my Dad being sick and all, I sort of forgot about it. Then, in late June, just a week before my Dad passed away, Chicken Soup contacted me to let me know that my story was a finalist for the book. I signed a form to say I agreed to their terms and waited again. They got back to me quickly saying that I made the final cut. With all that was going on, I nearly forgot to sign off on the final edits! Fortunately, I got the paperwork in just in time.

A few weeks thereafter, I received my copies of The Joy of Christmas! I’ve got to say, It sure is a joy to see my story in print.

Thanks to everyone who helped me get “Christmas Time” published!

• To the people of Bethel Lutheran Church, thanks for letting me share my story with you first! I appreciate all of the kind comments on my story and for reading my not very regular Banner column.
• Special thanks to Lisa McDermott, the Bethel Banner newsletter editor, who invited me to write for The Banner and still gently asks me to send in more essays.
• Special thanks to Kate Hopper of Motherhood and Words for the edits and encouragement – I don’t think I could have gotten the edits done without your help
• Thank you to my best writing friends, Joy Riggs and Chris Lienke, for all of the support in my writing journey
• Thank you to Jessica, my boss at Content Bookstore, for being excited about my essay and for selling Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Joy of Christmas in at Content Bookstore
• And thanks to Chicken Soup for the Soul for choosing my essay (this is the second time Chicken Soup for the Soul has chosen one of my essays for publication! My essay, Rosie’s Salon, was published in their Chicken Soup for the Mothers of Preschooler’s Soul back in 2006).
• And thank YOU for reading my stories and blog and making me feel like I’m a real writer 🙂