When I was five years old, I wrote my first lengthy story, about my family’s “ginger-coloured” cat named Poco (named after a character on Mr. Dressup, a Canadian children’s show that was a staple of my childhood in the 80’s). I loved writing, and I was hooked. My folks bought me an electric typewriter one year for Christmas and I was off, writing “books.”

My life took me down several career paths, and I never quite imagined my stories would ever see the light of day, so many of them relegated to sit on hard drives. And then, about ten days ago, a ginormous box from Amazon arrived at my house and I finally got to hold in my hands the first book of mine to be published, Dewey Belong Together.

I wanted to share with you my joy with you, so here I am with that first book in my grasp, clutching it like it’s about to be torn from my hands, grinning like mad because it was real.