A Few Productive Accidents

One day in March 2009, I was sitting at my desk at Soka University in Aliso Viejo, California, when I got a message from a friend asking me if I had a Twitter account. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know what Twitter was back then. I had a few minutes until my next student was supposed to show up, so I went online and created an account, hoping to learn more about Twitter when I had time.

An entire decade passed...

In March 2019, I was living in the woods in Arkansas when I got an email message from Twitter congratulating me on my tenth anniversary.  

I went on Twitter and joined the Writing Community because I was writing a memoir and I thought it would be nice to connect with other writers. It took me a while to figure out how to use this platform... 

Here I am over two years later, and I've learned so much from other writers. I've worked with authors  — proofreading, copy editing, and editing several works — and I've met some wonderful people I call friends.

I'd done a lot of editing over the last three decades of my life, but I'd only worked with people I personally knew. Working with authors I'd never met in person has been quite educational. I learned a lot from this experience and realized I needed to be more selective. 

In the last eight months, I've had nothing but beautiful experiences with various authors, and it's been wonderful. 

On Sunday, May 23rd, I was asked to join a virtual book tour. I didn't join — because I didn't see the invitation in time — but was pleasantly surprised to see three out of the four authors talking about their books were people I had worked with. 

I'd like to share this video with everyone and tell the whole world about these authors and their books. I'd also like to thank each of these remarkable people for their kind mentions of me in their talks. Working with each one of them has been an honor and a privilege.

Thank you, Chris Palmore!
I enjoyed working with you and helping you create your anthologies.
Also, if it weren't for you, I would have never met Gail or Peter.

Thank you, Gail Boenning!
I love you and your book... and I look forward to your future books.

Thank you, Peter B. Williams!
You are awesome... and working with you is truly a productive accident.

Video:
https://youtu.be/sSD3QIAgfP0