Saturday, March 20, 2010

Something nice happened

So something happened to me this week. I got an email.

It was from a major, big-time women's magazine. Like, one you have most certainly heard of, and most likely read. They saw something I wrote, and thought I would be a good fit to write for them. 

Really. 

Does that really happen? I waver between believing it and not. I have trouble believing this magazine does not have the best writers in the country knocking down its doors, that they need to go reach out to people like me. But the email had the editor's name, her address (New York, naturally), a phone number. It looked legit. It mentioned my article. She said they're trying to find new talent and new stories from different parts of the country. Which could explain why she'd seek me out here in Detroit.


But still. Really??

Two years ago, when I was pregnant and scared I'd have to quit my job, and we'd go broke and lose our house and everything we owned and our kid would have to wear hand-me-down diapers, back then I looked into freelancing quite a bit. I looked at this particular magazine. I even started writing an article proposal and was almost finished with it, when in my research I discovered that very magazine had run a similar story a year before. I'd thought my idea was really unique. I felt so deflated to find out it wasn't. Freelancing seemed like the most impossible thing in the world. So many writers out there telling so many stories. How can one voice stand out, start out, find something new to say? I worried I'd never find the kind of material that editors would really want. I'd never make it.

And now I am so scared the same thing will happen -- I won't be able to come up with stories that really interest them, that fit what they're looking for, that are fresh and new. The word that comes to mind is squander. I'm worried I'll squander the chance, an opportunity that I never imagined I'd be given.

I know that as nice as it was to realize they want me to (maybe) write for them, that won't compare to actually getting something published. I need to get something published. Not for the paycheck (although that will be nice) but because it's something I've wanted for about 10 years. And of course, it would knock off a 20 Little Thing (write something not for work) in a fabulous way. 

So, I need to come up with my story ideas. If you know of a good one, you just be a peach and let me know, mmkay?

1 comment:

  1. WHOOOOO HOOOOOO This is AWESOME Krista!!!! I am SO happy for and proud of you! I, for one, KNOW you can do this. I know it. I will help you come up with ideas from what interests me...not that that will interest others, but it might. ;)

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