A TIME TO CELEBRATE

I started Poetricia Publishing 10 years ago today, but ​I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just purchased a new car and had decided this time I wanted a personalized license plate. I can still see myself writing down variations of the word poet: Poet4Him, HisPoet, HisPen, Poetess, Poetress. Then I wrote my name next to the word poet and there it was: POETRICIA.  How perfect. But one too many characters for a personalized license plate in the state of New Jersey. So, I put away the scraps of paper and life went on. That was April of 2006.
 
A few years later, in 2009, I had decided I was ready to publish my first book of poetry (A Time to Write). Prior to that decision, I’d done a lot of research on self publishing. When I was in the early stages of preparing my manuscript, I remembered reading that one step in self publishing included choosing a business name for your publishing company. Almost immediately POETRICIA came back to mind Poetricia Publishing was born.
 
Initially Poetricia Publishing would be the vehicle through which I would publish all the manuscripts I had been sitting on for the past 20 years. In my excitement I didn’t realize that my goal was “all about me”.  
 
As time went on, my vision refocused and “specializing in publishing services for the Christian minded poet” became my focus. My goal became assisting other Christian poets in creating print ready manuscripts of inspirational poetry. 
 
My journey sort of reminds me of Joseph and his dreams. In Genesis 37:5-11 we read of Joseph’s divine dreams. In the first dream he and his brothers were out in the field, tying up bundles of wheat when his bundle stood up and his brother’s bundles gathered around and bowed down to it. In the second dream the sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. Based on his father’s words we know that symbolically the bundles of wheat and the stars represented his brothers and the sun and moon represented his mother and father. Joseph’s dreams of greatness seemed to be all about him.  He was 17 years old.
 
Many years later – after he was betrayed, falsely accused, imprisoned, set free, and had forgiven his brothers – those two dreams were fulfilled, and Joseph was promoted second in command over all the land of Egypt. He said to his brothers, “you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20). Joseph realized it was not all about him. I did too.
 
Today my vision is even sharper. While a few unpublished manuscripts of my own remain on my to-do list, working as a freelance editor, writing coach, and publishing consultant has brought me so much joy.  My company’s tagline sums it up like this: “I’ve written my vision. Let me help you write yours.”

​Poetricia Publishing © 2019

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