It only seems fitting

On March 8th, National Women's Day, I was able to add something else to my list of accomplishments. Author.

For the record, when I was in high school I wrote two books. Well, one and a half. The one I completed was about 200 pages and it was titled Dr. Stratton. It was about a woman physician who falls in love with a fellow physician but his mother was evil and she tried to kill her... or something like that. I still have the book in print in a box. Of course it was never published.

Earlier this year I was approached by a good friend who is a retired physician turned personal coach and social justice advocate. She was invited to co- author a book about women leaders and insisted that I participate. She told me that I have a story that needs to be told.

Shortly after the book's release, I and the 23 other authors were able to add International Best Selling Author to our list of accomplishments. Then, the book was endorsed by the brain behind the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books.

My chapter attempted to, in the tight character limit we were given, explain how I am a woman that leads in my own corner of the world. In my chapter, titled The Pioneer Truth Teller, I chose to write about how before leading by choice, I was leading by simply existing as a Black woman in America, trudging through the quicksand of systemic racism etc.

Doing the hard thing has never been daunting for me or a discouragement in my decision to proceed. My life is filled with examples of just that. What I have always found impossible to do is keep my mouth shut when the truth needed to be said or not change my actions based on new information.

I realized yesterday, as I delivered a couple more signed copies of my book, that I hadn't previously thought of including it in my blog. Somehow, I think that a mention is fitting.