The Joys of Being Published

I still remember the first glorious taste I had of being a published writer...

While taking a creative writing class in high school, I submitted a poem called “After the Day” in a writing contest my teacher told the class about. She told us that the pieces selected would later be published in a small publication called “Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans.” Several weeks passed after my teacher mailed out our submissions before I received a letter informing me that my poem had been selected. I was both shocked and ecstatic at the prospect of having something I wrote actually published and read by others. 

There was a small fee for each copy of the publication you wanted. Since this was my first published work, my mom and I both figured that we would need at least a dozen copies. It might have been overkill, but it’s not every day a kid gets published. We mailed out our request for the copies and then began the grueling waiting process.

Maybe I’m a lone writer in this feeling, but while receiving news that a piece of your work is being published is exciting, it is not what I anxiously wait for like a child on Christmas morning.  What I wait for is that moment when I actually hold the book/magazine/newspaper in my hand and observe my name beaming out from the pages with inky solidity. I wait for the ink to smear off on my fingertips so I know that I’m not dreaming. That’s the moment I know it is real. That’s when I feel the sheer ecstasy of what it means to be a writer.

After months of waiting and checking the mailbox daily, it finally arrived! It was a very small, thin book… but it was a book….with my poem in it! I dashed back to the house from the mailbox, my bare feet scratching against the asphalt driveway and hollering at my mom the whole way.

It was my first taste of feeling like a real writer…..it was intoxicating and addicting....and still is.

In the four years since graduating college I have had a number of articles published in various publications including Queen City News, the Helena Independent Record, and the Helena Vigilante. And regardless of the length or subject matter of the piece, I am still always excited to see the final, printed version.

But after four years of writing for various newspapers, my desire to spread my wings in another direction finally hit. After pestering the editor of Distinctly Montana magazine for a few months, I finally received my first assignment. “Twitterpated,” is the only appropriate word I can think of to describe my reaction to reading that email asking if I would write about the Montana pronghorn. I knew absolutely nothing about pronghorns, but from that moment, on I was determined to write about them as though they were as mesmerizing and glamorous as the Eiffel Tower illuminating the Paris skyline at night. Over the course of the next month, I poured more time and effort into what would only be a 700 word article than I have into any piece of writing in years. I was determined, as always, to prove myself as a writer.

After a month of researching the animal commonly referred to as the “speed goat” and even chasing after a herd of them on a four-wheeler, I completed my 750 word article. I emailed it to the editor and hoped that it would measure up. A few days later, she wrote me back and said that the staff thought it was great and that it would be printed in mid-September. 

Time has never moved so slowly as that month of me waiting for the magazine to print. And even when an online version of it was released beforehand, I wasn’t satisfied. Because like I said, the physical act of seeing and holding your piece is what reminds you that you aren’t dreaming, but rather, living the dream.

The day the magazine hit the stands, I rushed right out to grab as many copies as possible. I even made my mom take a picture of me holding the magazine amid a backdrop of colorful magazine covers. Part of me wanted to brag to others that among all those fancy covers was an article with my by-line on it. And part of me simply needed additional proof that I did in fact have my first article ever published in a magazine. 

Myself, and I think it would be safe to say, that most writers do not write in the hope of gaining some sort of celebrity status at being published. They write because they have been called to do so, because it is who they are, and because they couldn’t imagine living life without writing. But seeing your carefully sculpted words in print does bring a tremendous sense of accomplishment and joy to a writer’s heart. While my transition into magazine writing is small yet, it is still another step towards my dream. Someday, I hope to walk into any book store in the world and find my name and words gracing the cover of one of the thousands of books so humbly shelved on a bookcase. That, I believe, will be the crowning moment of my life.