By Mark Ambrogi
Once is nice, twice is even better.
Judy M. Miller is thrilled to be included in the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series for a second time.
“It’s quite an honor to get into one because they have so, so many submissions and they only publish 101 stories for each,” the Carmel resident said. “In this case, it’s such an honor to be in there. The payment is not foremost for me, but it’s nice to have it.”
Miller’s personal essay, less than 1,000 words, called “Knowing” is published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions,” which was published in September. The books feature a series of themed anthologies.
“It’s a story about my youngest son,” Miller said. “I had a dream, and I knew about him before he was placed in our arms. He’s adopted. It was a dream, and it kept nagging me all the time. It was a constant dream. The dream was he had been born or was going to be born, and he was waiting for us.”
Her other essay was called “The Chest” for “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom: 101 Stories of Gratitude, Love and Good Times” in 2009.
“It is the story of a hope chest my mother gave me,” Miller said. “It was about her hopes and dreams for me.”
Miller wrote that essay 11 years after her mother died.
In addition to being a part-time freelance writer, Miller is an adoption educator. Miller has four children, three have been adopted.
Miller has written two books, “What To Expect From Your Adopted Tween,” and her second book, “Writing to Heal Adoption Grief: Making Connections & Moving Forward” is due out in a few weeks.
“It’s a workbook for older adopted teens and adults,” Miller said. “It’s a series of prompts to get them writing because we all know writing is cathartic. I have pastors and counselors who have expressed interest in to using this in groups or one-on-one with their clients. It’s just a series of writing prompts to help them go deeper and explore in a safe place.”
For more, visit judymmiller.com.
