My First Publication

As I’m sure is the case for most writers, my writing career has taken a few twists and turns along the way. While I didn’t publish my first book (WILD ONE, Pajama Press) until I was 30, I actually published my first story all the way back in 2002, when I was just a shy, angsty 17 years old with big dreams and even bigger ideas.

I can’t remember how I discovered the Claremont Review (which unfortunately seems to be defunct, as their website is no longer available) or who first encouraged me to submit to the journal, which published short stories and poetry from teens 13-19 years old. Someone must have given me a good prodding, because I’ve always been nervous about letting people read my writing, and I can’t imagine that I would have come up with the idea of submitting a story to a publication without some serious encouragement! But, whatever the reason, I submitted a short story called The Hunter, which follows a big game hunter and the crisis of conscience they experience after killing a majestic lion. The journal accepted the story, and I worked with an editor to refine the piece before it was published in the fall of 2002.

 

Looking back on my first-ever publication, I’m pretty impressed by the quality of my work. Sure the story is just the tiniest bit pretentious (I was a teenager after all), but the writing is still solid, and the piece is quite moving. It was my first experience working with an editor, and the end result is something I can actually be quite proud of, even almost twenty years later. As has always been the case with me, my story was unlike anything else in the publication – how many teenagers write about big game hunters in the pre-war era? Funny side story – in one of my college classes we were given the opportunity to write our final paper on anything relating to children’s literature, as long as we ran our topic by the professor for approval. I chose to write on the impact of the First World War on children’s literature produced in Britain in the inter-war years. My professor was…amused, if a little surprised. I’m nothing if not consistent in my oddity.

Honestly, more than anything else, I’m impressed that I was willing to submit my work for consideration in the first place. I was so debilitatingly shy as a teenager, and was crushed by a major case of imposter syndrome. Teachers were regularly commenting on the strength of my writing, but I never really believed their words, or felt like my writing was anything special. Yet somehow I found the courage to submit my writing to a journal, and to respond to critical feedback (rather than let it crush me and confirm my self-doubts, like I often did). And from that first publication were sown the seeds that would one day result in WILD ONE, A GOOD DAY FOR DUCKS, and QUEENIE QUAIL CAN’T KEEP UP.

I’ve submitted more stories to publishers than I’d care to admit, but this, my very first submission and publication, will always have a special place in my heart.

Do you remember the first story you ever submitted, or had published? I’d love to hear your experiences!