Yep that’s right, I’m going to be a published author. I just spoke with my editor, Sheryl Roush and I’m so excited I can hardly sit still.
In March I saw a post on LinkedIn calling for original stories or poems by women about life in the military. I wrote an essay, My Recruiter was Right and spent a couple weeks editing it until it was short enough to submit.
Months went by and I did not hear anything regarding my submission. I checked on-line and saw they were still accepting submissions, so I figured they either had not received enough to go to print or, they had not received enough GOOD stories to go to print. I was WRONG. They received hundreds of stories and poem and read them over and over trying to find the ones with the right amount of “Heart” for the book.
On October 18 I received an e-mail from Sheryl indicating that she and Eldonna Lewis-Fernandez were editing the final manuscript, needed a few more submissions from Coast Guide contributors and would be notifying the chosen authors soon. A week later, I got the word that my essay would be included in the book.
Today I called Sheryl to order a couple copies, I want to see what other people wrote and want to give some out as Christmas gifts. I called Sheryl and told her who I was, she paused for a minute and said, there’s a name missing. I laughed and said yes, I used my maiden name as my middle name when I sent in the article, she knows me as Julia Borchardt Rasmussen. She immediately knew which story was mine, that is made it through five cuts to be in the final edition, and told me how much she enjoyed it. Turns out her folks met in the military too. Mom was Rosie the Riveter and Dad was in the Army Corp of Engineers. Small World.
If you’d like to order a copy of the book, please click here.
