Did You See Me?

When you submit something for possible publication, you don't (at least I don't) expect to hear back from anyone. So when you do, it is such a lovely surprise. And so exhilarating. There is an initial rush to get the artwork in and to fill out all the paperwork. Then you wait and wait and wait. And almost forget.

Then you get a call from your Momma telling you that she's seen you here.


Right in the front of the magazine, the first page of an article (page 23). Not that I have that memorized or anything...


And when you are at the grocery store and you happen to flip open the magazine to your page, you feel a special excited feeling right there in the aisle. And you wish that someone would walk by and you could make eye contact and tell that random stranger that this is your work. But no one does. And that's okay.

And sometimes, you submit something simply because you had extra room in your box and you figure...what the heck? the worst thing that could happen is they will send it back to you unused. (Yes, that has happened before.) And it really wasn't that bad.

Then out of the blue, you get an email from an editor and you can't believe it. You simply cannot believe it. And you kick yourself for not getting to more projects.

And you wait and wait and wait. Until you open your mailbox on a normal Thursday afternoon and this is inside.


So you turn to the back, thinking that your art will be a mini picture in the back. But you don't find it. Anywhere. You start to panic, just a teeny bit. Not much, but...yeah...

Then you come across an article somewhere in the middle (page 75) and you see your name in the teaser.


You turn the page and you get a teeny bit teary because your project is right there. In full color. A HUGE picture that takes up the whole page. And it looks better than you remembered. And the article is about you. And what you said. And you can't believe it.


You simply can't believe it.

And you are on an art high for days and days.