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Walts, Sierra
12 English
Out of School Essay
4-7-17
Out of School Accomplishment Essay
Anatole French once said that, To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as

act. This means that accomplishments come not from dreaming or acting alone, but from

putting both together. In doing this, you can accomplish great things to be proud of. One

accomplishment of which I am very proud is being one of two editors of a published book.
Eighth grade was when I first started thinking about becoming an editor. One of my

close friends liked to write a lot and I liked to read a lot, so she would have me read all of the

stories that she wrote. While reading these stories, I began to notice how easy it was for me to

pick out spelling, grammar, and continuity errors in the work. I had noticed this while reading

actual books as well, and the idea of becoming an editor started to form. Soon I had people

asking me to look over their essays before they handed them in, and a few more friends asking

for help with their creative writing.

In the fall of 2015, Carey Flores, a family friend, had finished writing a book about my

father. She knew that I was planning to be an editor, and asked if I would be willing to edit her

book, both grammatically and factually. Since the story was about my father, and therefore also

involved me, she wanted a family member to make sure that all of the details and facts were

correct, along with having grammar and other things checked.

When I received a manuscript copy of The Champion around Christmas that year, I read

through it right away. After a few days, I began to read through it again, this time making

corrections. It was a slow process, due to having school work and sports to keep up with as well.

However, I finally made it through the second time, and returned the manuscript to Carey, along

with a stack of photos that she had asked for to be put in the book when it was printed.
Shortly after this, the Flores family moved to Colorado, and we didnt hear much more

about the book, or if it had been published. Then in September of 2016 we received a call from
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Carey, saying that the book had been published and that she was sending us some hardcover

copies. When my copy arrived I didnt read it, but rather just looked through it at the chapters

and the race schedule and the captions she had written for the pictures. It wasnt until a few days

later, when I was looking to see how the book was summarized on the copyright page that I

noticed may name next to the phrase Edited by. I immediately called one of my friends and

told her of my discovery; Id had no idea I would actually receive editing credits in the book.
To this day, I think of this as probably my greatest accomplishment. I am not even out of

high school yet and I have edited a published book. I am very proud of this accomplishment, as I

plan on becoming an editor in the future. Editing has been my dream for several years, and I am

glad that I followed Anatole Finchs advice of both dreaming and acting.