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In Print

October 9, 2011 //  by Terra Osterling

Things come in “threes,” or so we all hear.  Pigs, bears, blind mice. Celebrity deaths. General happenings. One work day a few years ago, I returned to my desk and spilled my morning coffee everywhere. My co-worker arrived late, because she had spilled coffee all over the inside of her car. A while later, one of my bosses arrived for the day and – you guessed it – spilled his coffee everywhere. That was one weird trifecta.

So how should I feel about being published in two places within one week? Raw expectation, or quiet hope for a third?

1 for 1

Twice in one week. Hello, I'm a writer.

The October issue of The Conservationist magazine came out this week with my essay, Discovering Adirondack, as the “Back Story.” I knew it was coming, having been told of the schedule by the editor earlier this Summer. When I learned in May that I had won the Great Outdoors essay contest held by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, I was elated at the honor, loved the fine art print that was my prize (and hangs over my desk), but it was the prospect of publication that thrilled me.

To open the mailbox, pull out the magazine, and turn to the back page to see my essay there in print is divinely validating. And then the next day my by-line was in print again.

2 for 2

I am the author of a feature in a local newspaper! Full Disclosure: The editor of said newspaper is the mother of one of my closest, oldest, dearest friends. All I did was “put myself out there,” and she answered with a project. Is it really that easy?

Perhaps the answer is “yes…and no.” I do tell myself that she would not have assigned me an article on buying and restoring an old home for the special Fall Home section of her newspaper if she didn’t think I could write well. Getting paid to write is fairly awesome.

This is credibility. Now when I say, “I’m a freelance writer,” I will have an answer for the follow up question, “What have you written lately?” Because even though I know in my soul that I am a writer, it helps that other people think so, too.

3 for…?

So what’s Number Three? There are twenty-two days left to October. I am hoping for a letter from a certain magazine where I submitted a short story earlier this year. In the meantime, I plan to find an opportunity and seize it.

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Category: Business of Freelance Writing, Motivation, Publishing, WritingTag: Change my life

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Josephine

    October 20, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    I’m so proud of you. I know there will be a third fourth, fifth and so on and ect!! Dreams really do come true!!

  2. suddenwriteturn

    October 10, 2011 at 8:18 PM

    Thank you, faithful readers!

  3. fladack

    October 10, 2011 at 8:33 AM

    Congratulations and just take these great moments one at a time as they come as they come.

  4. morninglightmama

    October 9, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Congratulations- you are indeed a writer, and you always have been. I’m so happy for you in this wonderful journey!

  5. Robin

    October 9, 2011 at 5:13 PM

    WOW!!!! Someone up there LOVES YOU!!!! You just can’t hide a blow-torch under a bushel basket. Congratulations! You’re published!!!

Trackbacks

  1. Hallelujah and light the Yule Log! (I’m published again) « Sudden.Write.Turn. says:
    December 18, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    […] over and waiting on my writing; I’m about to be published AGAIN. A few months back I wrote in this post about being published twice in one week and wondered when the trifecta would hit. Several weeks […]

  2. One « Sudden.Write.Turn. says:
    November 14, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    […] funny happened along the way. I won an essay contest. A friend helped me to edit a short story. I’ve started writing articles for a local weekly newspaper. While I’ve been blogging on and on about changing my life…it did […]

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