I’m in This Book!

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Published in 2020 by St. Croix Writers

“I have a story in this book,” I whisper to my granddaughter. We are in Redbery Books in Cable, Wisconsin. I hold an anthology of essays, short stories, and poems published by the St. Croix Writers of Solon Springs in 2020.

I whisper because I don’t want the clerk to think I’m bragging. Yet, I’m itching to tell the clerk, I have a story published in this book.

“That’s nice,” my granddaughter says, her voice mixed with a bit of awe, excitement, and curiosity. “What’s it called?”

I open the book to the table of contents and find my entry. As I show my granddaughter, I run my finger under my name and the title of my piece — Victoria Lynn Smith: A Cracker Jack of a Story, page 192. “It’s an essay about eating Cracker Jacks with my nana and the story she would always tell about finding a real diamond ring inside one of the boxes when she was a girl.”

I love the Redbery Books! It’s charming and cozy.

I want to tell the clerk, I’m in this anthology. Instead I return the book to the shelf where it’s displayed cover-side out, in a place of prominence. To see a book, in a bookstore, with my writing in it, fills my body with loads of tiny giggling bubbles joyfully bouncing around, tickling my insides.

But, I don’t want to come across as boastful.

I move away from the book but chide myself, What’s wrong with you? If you can’t even tell a clerk in a bookstore that you have an essay in a book they are selling, how are you going to promote the book of short stories you’ve almost finished writing.

I realize if I don’t tell the clerk, I will regret it. My book of short stories doesn’t have a publisher yet, maybe it never will. This is the first time a piece of my writing is in a book, in a bookstore, for sale. Maybe that won’t ever happen again.

I turn back, take a deep breath, and lift the book again. I walk up to the clerk who is behind the counter and say, “I have an essay in this book.”

She smiles and gives me the best possible response: “So you’re a writer, then?”

“Yes,” I say, and the tiny giggling bubbles inside of me shift into overdrive.

The clerk asks my name and the title of my piece. I hope she will read it later but realize she probably won’t. But I will remember her moment of undivided attention and kindness.

When I leave the shop, I don’t feel like a braggart. I feel proud. If my book of short stories gets published, promoting it will be difficult for me, but I will remember the clerk who was gracious — because most people are gracious.

Before I leave the bookstore, I buy a journal with dapper foxes on the cover and a greeting card featuring a few lines of poetry by William Butler Yeats. I hope to one day have a book of my own on a shelf in a bookstore, so the words by Yeats are encouraging.

[Note: When I sat down to write this blog, I opened my copy of Many Waters and found I actually have three pieces in the anthology. I’d forgotten about the other two, which aren’t listed in the table of contents. My other two pieces are “Writing’s Daily Worries,” an essay first published by Brevity Blog; and “Tossed,” a short story that won first place in a contest and was also selected for WritersRead at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where it was recorded for Wisconsin Public Radio.]

20 thoughts on “I’m in This Book!”

  5. What a delightful piece! And congratulations! I can identify with your joy— I have an essay coming out soon in an anthology. Maybe I’ll have a similar experience. Except I don’t have a granddaughter to share the moment with. . . yet.

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    • Thanks, Ellen. It was a happy feeling. Some people write just for themselves, which is fine. But I like to share my writing with others. I like it when someone can relate to an essay or a story that I wrote.

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  8. What everyone else said! We have to be our own biggest cheerleaders, even though it feels counter to everything we’ve been taught about “bragging.” But remember, it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true!

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  10. I totally get it about how hard it is to tell people about having your work in that book. I always have to argue with myself about how to tell people I’ve got work published somewhere. But as others have said, we really do have to be our own cheerleaders. You go! And good luck with the short stories in progress.

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      • Thank you so much, Wendy! I only have three pieces in the book, two essays and one fiction story. However, there are other fine pieces in the anthology. Your comments mean a lot to me. It’s nice to know that people enjoy my writing and that I have an audience. Have a nice day!

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  13. Vickie, you described this well. I have felt and still do, the same way of my pieces that were accepted into anthologies. It is a thrill each time although I don’t have many to confess, or brag, but yes, be proud. Congratulations and I look forward to reading this story.

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