30 Days of Truth - Day 05

Day 05 → Something you hope to do in your life.

I published my first book when I was 5 years old. Okay, well, it wasn't so much "published" as my book was laminated and spiralbound, and submitted to my elementary school classroom's library collection.

You see, I was fortunate enough to go to a school where writing and creativity were strongly encouraged. I thank my teacher mentally every day that she took a little girl who loved making up stories, and handed her lined paper and a crayon and told her to go wild.

And I did. I wrote book after book, painting pages with watercolors and stick figure portraits. I meticulously printed each letter carefully on the paper, careful to stay within the lines and use my proper penmanship skills. When I was done, I would carefully and proudly take my collection up to Mrs. Hanus or Mrs. Reed, and she would take my hand and guide me town the hall to the library to laminate it.

The laminating machine at my school was one of those huge ones which had two rolls of plastic running through a heat-sealer. I was fascinated by the process, and I loved watching my construction paper pages slide in between the sheets and come out carefully protected.

I wasn't allowed to put the paper in myself, but after a sufficient amount of begging, I was allowed to catch the long roll of plastic on the other size and use the Big Kid Scissors to carefully free each page from their confines. I felt so accomplished and proud as I was allowed to pull the heavy handle on the binder to link the pages together before sliding it into the bookshelf.

When I was a kid, that was the biggest thing that I could imagine - the ultimate accomplishment and acknowledgment of my writing was to have my work published in a classroom setting.I remember that feeling, and I remember the way that I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face every time my parents told their friends that I, in fact was, A Writer.

My ultimate goal in my life is to have that feeling as an adult. I want to go to a bookshelf and see my name written sideways on a spine, I want to crack open a book, My Book, and smell the glue and paper, hear the crackling as the binding is open for the very first time.