It's My Birthday! Celebrate by Pre-ordering The Columbus Anthology!

[image description: The book cover of the Columbus Anthology from Belt Publishing and The Ohio State University Press. The cover is an illustration of the Columbus, Ohio skyline from a downtown river parks.]

When I moved to Columbus in 2015, I knew I loved the city from minute one. In 2017, I saw that regional publishing house Belt Publishing (who also runs Belt Magazine) was adding a new city to their city anthology series: The Columbus Anthology.

I knew I wanted to contribute, but I fretted over what I’d actually say for weeks, if not months.

That summer I visited my best friend in NYC and with just days to go before the deadline, I still couldn’t think of a good essay topic. I realized I wasn’t going to make it.

Then, that afternoon, I was riding the Staten Island Ferry back and forth, feeling the sun on my face and breeze in my hair. On the return trip to Manhattan, I looked from the ferry across the water to the city. Up until I moved to Columbus, I’d always wanted to live in NYC. But for the first time, I was seeing the city as just a nice place to visit, not somewhere I actually wanted to live. I was too happy in Columbus to give it up, even for NYC.

Who would’ve thought? Not me at any point before then.

And there was my essay.

I had to take two more trips on the ferry to sketch out all my notes in the notebook I carried in my purse. It was a tiny notebook, so I took up at least a dozen pages writing up the essay. When I got back to my bestie’s apartment, I typed up my handwritten essay, polished it, and sent it off with just two days to spare before the deadline.

That essay made it into the anthology. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m SO EXCITED to announce that you can finally preorder The Columbus Anthology from Belt Publishing and The Ohio State University Press. It’ll be out in spring 2020.

This will be the first time my writing has appeared in a book and it’ll be alongside some fantastic Ohio writers. Please support my work and theirs by preordering your copy. You’ll be glad you did!

Plus, today is my 29th birthday and this is the present I want. The best gift is having people buy and read your writing.