Platform

So it turns out the homework is actually a lot of fun. Copying by hand, my favorite writers best work. It reminds me of tracing Renaissance floor plans and photographs onto sketch paper in architecture school.

Although not every aspect of writing is fun, it should at least be what you want to be doing.  I have to want to be doing this, or I won't prevail in the long haul.

Having a platform is equally important as being a good writer and having stamina.  This blog is my platform.  But I do have one other claim to fame.

A while back I decided to get more serious about promoting myself as a writer.  I subscribed to the Writers' Market online listing of publications to which one can submit.

I thought about it, what has the best chance of getting in somewhere?  Well, people seem to like the pieces about having cancer.  What was that magazine in all the doctors' offices?  Oh yes, Coping With Cancer.  I liked that magazine.

So I looked it up and sent in my own favorite piece, one about losing and getting back my hair. Then I went about the rest of my life and looking for work.

After a while, I found a job.  I'd been out of the job market for a while and it was a steep learning curve getting back in.  All mail that wasn't a bill went into a pile to look at later.

About six months later, it seemed a good idea to check to see what was in that pile.  I came upon a 9x12 envelope I vaguely remembered said Coping With Cancer in the return address.

Opening it, I found a copy of Coping With Cancer and a letter, thanking me for my survivor story.  I didn't get it at first.  Then I remembered at work, if there was an article about my employer, they sent us a complimentary copy.

I thumbed through the magazine and there was my story, and even the picture of me post cancer with lots of hair. They'd printed my little story, six months earlier, my first article in a national magazine, and I didn't even know!

Pretty funny, I think.  Something I wanted so long, was in an envelope in my cabinet for six months without my realizing it.  Makes one think about keeping the faith.

More later.