You Should Be Grateful
What a privilege it has been to work with Angela Tucker. Since we met in 2017, I’ve been consistently challenged and inspired by Angela’s work, which is a tour de force in the world of adoption and foster care. Angela brings a depth of expertise - both personal and professional - that is compelling. But it’s her endless passion and commitment that really hooked me. Angela’s work is changing lives every day: teaching parents to better support their transracially adopted children, advocating for long-overdue adoptee rights, mentoring adopted youth, and - most pertinent to me - recently completing her first book.
Angela Tucker with her book,
You Should be Grateful
Learn more about Angela: www.AngelaTucker.com
When Angela approached me to help prepare her manuscript for publication, I was six months out from my second concussion in two years. I had quit my full-time job two months prior, after determining it was time to chart a different career path. I literally lept at the opportunity. Like, two feet off the ground in my kitchen. I was nervous about my ability to take on such a big project - I was still consistently struggling to get through a full day without needing to lay down in a quiet, dark room - but I took the plunge, knowing it would be the experience of a lifetime to work with someone as wonderful as Angela on a topic so important.
And, indeed, it was an incredible experience.
Angela’s book, You Should Be Grateful, is a powerful mixture of personal and professional, academic and anecdotal, scathing and hopeful. She shares her own story of transracial adoption interwoven with the academic research and historical context of adoption in the United States. She delves deep into the best research about adoption alongside stories of her professional career working with adoptive families and transracial adoptees.
I’m a huge fan of genre-bending writing. We have all these categories to help us know what kind of book we’re about to read but, as is true of ALL categories, there are things that don’t quire fit in those constraining buckets. In my opinion, it’s usually the best things. Like Orcas. And Angela’s book.
It was an honor beyond words to be part of the early journey of bringing this powerful and important book to the world. Angela and I worked almost entirely remotely (thanks, COVID). Except for one day when I layered up and braved the snowstorm to hike the ¼ mile between our houses. That day we were inspired to create the three-part structure of the book and came up with the titles for each section.
Personally, working on this book with Angela was an incredibly affirming experience for me at a critical moment in my career. It’s scary to set off on your own, leaving behind the security of the 9-5 salaried job. It’s intimidating to step out into work that you love, hoping that in addition to loving it, you’ll also be good at it. Developmental editing You Should Be Grateful with Angela showed me: yes, this is the work I want to do - yup, I’m pretty damn good at it and - wow, I’m really proud of what we created together.
You can order your copy of Angela’s important and beautiful book here.
And if you’re on social media, you’ll very much enjoy following Angela on Instagram and Facebook. Or check out her website to connect with her work: www.AngelaTucker.com
