{"id":212,"date":"2020-02-01T09:54:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T13:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matthewklem.com\/?p=212"},"modified":"2020-02-01T09:58:55","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T13:58:55","slug":"for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewklem.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/01\/for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"For The First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last night after work, I took my son over to his grandmother’s house for the night while my wife and daughter stayed home. Knowing I had been to Chapters earlier in the week to drop my books off, I wondered, “Is it on the shelf yet?”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took a quick trip over to Dieppe, parked the car, and went inside the city’s largest bookstore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local section is just to the right of the door. In fact, I had spent a lot of time in and out of Chapters and this section in particular when researching aspects of my book. I had often dreamed of what it would feel like should the day ever come when I would see my own book on the shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staring at the shelf, my eyes are scanning book at a time looking for either the cover or a greenish blue spine that has a familiar title. Back and forth I go as I am trying to find this and I can feel the disappointment rising in me. But before I turned my back and walked away, I spotted a cracked little font on three little books sitting side by side. I immediately pulled one out and saw a familiar title in my hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In that moment, I can become a “published author”. Someone who actually made a book and put it on store shelves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, I then turned to my left to see a table filled with stacks of books from local authors. Stepping over a bit closer, I grinned as I found myself staring back at me from the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was a large stack of books, in the middle of the table, all that had previously been sitting in a Sobey’s bag back in my office waiting to be delivered to Chapter’s. I picked up one, and then pushed a few of the others aside just to see how many were there. There was quite a stack waiting to be purchased by someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can obviously tell, I took a couple of photos of these to mark this personal milestone. But then I put the phone back in my pocket and it hit me. There were no tears rolling down my face but there was definitely a lump in my throat. I had to take a moment to collect myself as I was feeling pretty emotional about the whole thing. I’ve done a lot of things in my life but this is the first time I’ve ever had a book I wrote sitting on the shelves of a bookstore, waiting to be read by some stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve written countless things over the course of the last 30 years, but this was really a first for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sent texts of the photos to my wife as I was beaming from the aisles of the bookstore. She replied back with an exuberant “That is freaking awesome!!!”. No dear, you are. You’ll never know how much your support helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After writing short stories as a teenager, music and comic articles as a college kid, countless personal blog entries, tech articles for a local newspaper, geocaching stories for a caching blog, and even countless training manuals for work, I’m finally able to celebrate seeing my writing truly out in the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 31st, 2020 is a day I am never going to forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last night after work, I took my son over to his grandmother’s house for the night while my wife and daughter stayed home. Knowing I had been to Chapters earlier in the week to drop my books off, I wondered, “Is it on the shelf yet?”. I took a quick trip over to Dieppe, parked …
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