My Journey With Books
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” —
Maya Angelou
I never thought that I would end up having a career in Publishing. Honestly, I don’t think that the possibility ever crossed my mind. Like many, I never contemplated the book making process; books were just there. I guess I held books as being a part of a magical world, and lets be real, they pretty much are. Books are filled with pages that link us to stories that take us away from our current realities or draw us a path to information and insight that we further wish to explore. Books entice emotions before, during and after the reading journey: mystery, excitement, joy, sadness, bewilderment, fear. Books challenge us and deep down, I believe that I always knew this.
I remember always being drawn by books. I was obsessed with the Scholastic book fairs, remember those? It was imperative that I always bought at least one book. I would never forget one particular title, El Sancocho del Sabado By Leyla Torres. I was drawn by the familiarity of eating Sancocho and also watching my grandmother make it. I felt excitement, not only in finding myself in the story, but also finding comfort in Spanish words. I genuinely attribute this book to helping me continue my Spanish reading efforts and fortifying my bilingual skills. — The Scholastic book fairs were my gateway to discovering the thrill of Barnes and Nobles. Barnes and Nobles was a place where I could get lost in, for hours. I would walk through the isles, pick up a book, and read the cover copies (the cover contents.) I was fascinated by getting lost, for a few minutes, in a variety of plot lines. I would always leave with, at least, one book. Though my visits weren’t as frequent as I hoped for, there was a passion there that I wasn’t fully aware of.
In college, my life was consumed by school work, a buzzing social life and starting to build my professional career with internships; meaning that I barely had any time to read anything that wasn’t assigned to me by a professor. It wasn’t until 2016, after I graduated college and found myself in the Publishing industry, that I started rediscovering my lost love for books. I like to think that it was fate because when I found the job posting, I already had gone to about five other job interviews. The most ironic part of it all was that my previous place of employment, which I hated, prepared me for the job. Needless to say, I went into that interview very confident. I was sure that I was qualified and more than ready for the challenge that lay ahead, in an industry that was new and mysterious to me.
My journey in Publishing, thus far, has been one filled with enriching challenges, the acquiring of many new skills and most importantly, it has been the path that has let me back into the pages of books; falling in love again with what written stories have to offer. — There’s something enchanting about holding a book that you helped bring into fruition. Apart from the bookclub that I joined at work, that enchantment was one of the motivators for me to read more. I became curious about what laid beyond the cover copy; about how the words came together to bring about the stories. This not only improved my reading tremendously, but grew my library! I now have this goal of one day owning a library that can fill up an entire big wall!
I’m excited because my journey with books and Publishing has merely just begun. Publishing is a passionate industry filled with possibilities and many areas for professional growth. It’s an industry fueled by creativity and kept alive by voices wanting to be heard. If there’s one lesson that I’ve learned from my path is that there’s a story inside all of us. Ultimately, it’s up to us to unfold that story and see where it will lead us.
