Yes, Taylor Swift Inspired the Title of My Book
When I was writing Lucky Enough, the title initially wasn’t well-received by my publisher. While I knew this wasn’t going to be a bestselling book or make it on Reese’s Book Club, I second-guessed my decision about titling my book Lucky Enough. From publication in 2018 up until January before our TODAY Show appearance, I wondered if I would have been better served to title my book “Dad Lunch Notes” or “Notes from Dad.”
Those were the titles of the handful of interviews I had done since the book’s publication. Would more copies have sold if I called the book by one of those names?
But then I remembered WHY I wrote the book (for my daughter) and WHY I picked the title Lucky Enough. One day during her fourth-grade year, I penned Addy this message:
“If you’re lucky enough to be different, then don’t ever change.”
Why did I, a nearly-40-something bald dad, choose a Taylor Swift quote as the inspiration for my book I never expected to write? Not only because Addison, Jackson, Ashleigh, and I were bullied at some point in school, but because we’re all different.
I didn’t realize being different was an asset until I was older. I was made fun of when I was younger for being different. There are family members who don’t speak to me because I’m different. Ever since some of our national TV stories, there have even been a few trolls trying to discredit my notes and what I write to Addison And while it stings at first, you realize being different is better.
Will Taylor Swift or her legions of Swifties see this or learn about my book, I doubt it, but my book is lucky enough to be different…and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Follow Dr. Chris Yandle on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram (@chrisyandle) for more inspirational #DadLunchNotes.
