Debra A. Shute

The only after-school detention I ever got was because I was't prepared to share a newspaper clipping of a current event in Mrs. Ryan's sixth-grade social studies class. I'd straight-up not done the assignment because I feared public speaking more than punishment. As I got older, I began to understand that my anxiety threatened to steal a lot of my future if I let it. Fueled by anger about how much it had already held me back, and how many opportunities it took from my mother, I chose to defy the "no's" voiced by my anxiety whenever possible. As well-intentioned and empowered as this policy was, I have said "yes" a handful of times when I should have been more afraid. As with the case of public speaking, my anxiety had prevented me from learning the skills in the first place. I'm pretty sure I dissociated through 99% of the public speaking course I took during my fifth year of college. (It was a core requirement students normally took their f...

So, my byline has evolved a bit over the years. (Attention aspiring writers: Pick a professional identity and stick to it. There, you got the memo that I missed.) To clear up any understandable confusion, here's an annotated timeline of my various name changes: 1978--Born Debra Aili Volk (Debby to friends and family) 2001--Began career as Debra Volk (still introducing myself in person as Debby) 2004--Got married and changed my name legally to Debra Beaulieu (calling myself Deb at this point to sound more sophisticated). 2007--Added Mom to my list of monikers. Still professionally Debra Beaulieu, although my headshot was literally taken at a playground with my daughter on my lap (Please don't tell her we cropped her out.) 2013--Divorced. Lagged on changing my name back legally due to my kids' concerns validating my own laziness and adversity to paperwork.  On advice of an editor/fellow divorcee, I plotted a stepwise transition s...