I'm writing a book?!

Our dean meets with "new" faculty at the end of every year for the first three years. At the end of last year, his "words of wisdom" to me was to consider writing a book.

I'll just be honest, I thought he was nuts. A BOOK????? It's all I can do to publish my studies in articles. And I have a back up of those. Such is faculty life, right?

But....irony struck. A book editor from Springer came to my presentation on early literacy in Denver. Then he contacted me about writing a book on the topic. Last week, we had a conversation over the phone, and now, well...I'm writing a book. A BOOK.

I enlisted the expertise and collaboration of one of my best colleagues to co-edit the book with me, and today we brainstormed the proposal. I'm actually, genuinely, really excited. It fills a hole in pre-service and in-service teacher training. It's a book that's been "in my head" for a while, and now I get to make it real.

I really want to write for teachers. Let's be honest-most textbooks suck. The book we're writing has teachers in mind from page one to the end. Tons of video clips. Tons of teaching strategies, lesson plans, and so on. I want this book to be REAL for teachers.

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching someone else's life unfold. It's kind of like an out of body experience. I started out teaching PreK for $10 an hour. Now I'm writing a book? What???

In case you are thinking this is a "get rich quick" scheme, here's an article to help you understand what really writing a textbook means. :) It's pretty snarky, but true.

http://andymcphee.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/how-much-will-i-make-from-authoring-a-textbook-for-allied-health/