I hate to brag, unless I am trying to impress you. Even so, I’ve been a bit reluctant about telling my faithful Barnestormin readers that I’ve managed to “sell” a couple more of my blog-published essays to other publications.
I put “sell” in parentheses because in this case I didn’t actually get paid for publishing the pieces elsewhere as I have with stories I’ve re-printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Magazine and other publications. But I did get some folks over at the online literary journal Sampsonia Way interested enough in my Sago Mine essay “The Other Side of the Pittsburgh Seam” to publish it in their journal.
For Sampsonia Way I also had my friend, Pittsburgh Tribune Review photographer Chaz Palla take my mug shot. I put the photo up on the blog, so those who don't know me get to see my handsome mug. The wind was blowing when the photo was shot, but that doesn’t explain how hunky my eyes look; I have no explanation for it, other than my Croatian heritage.
It’s not the first time I have had essays published in a journal—I have published a few of them in TPQ Online, the online version of literary journal The Pittsburgh Quarterly (not to be confused with the glossy magazine known as Pittsburgh Quarterly, which began after TPQ). I also have had my essays published in Philadelphia Weekly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Engineering News-Record magazine and elsewhere.
I have my friend author Hilary Masters in part to thank for the appearance in Sampsonia Way, since he recommended me to them as a Pittsburgh writer whose work might run with his in the same issue of the journal. Sampsonia Way publishes mostly international writers, but likes to publish a couple of Pittsburgh writers in each issue—an old pro like Masters, and an “emerging” writer, like me. (I do like to emerge from my cave-like dwelling occasionally, to get coffee and other essentials.)
Hilary has a couple of new, critically acclaimed books on the market now—“In Rooms of Memory,” a collection of essays, and “Elegy for Sam Emerson,” a novel. Masters' wife, author Kathleen George, also has a new book out—“The Odds,” which also has gotten great reviews. The novel is the fourth in a series she has written, and the setting is Pittsburgh. Places in the North Side and East End will be recognizable to readers of “The Odds.”
I also recently had my Barnestormin original humor essay “At The Salon” published in another online, Pittsburgh-based publication. The publication also is named after a thoroughfare: Ophelia Street.
Obviously, I am trying to raise my profile a bit; to put a few more planks in the platform, so to speak. Again, thanks to Ophelia Street, Sampsonia Way publisher Henry Reese and others at that publication, TPQ Online, and all of the wonderful people who currently publish my work. And to those who are interested in what I’m offering, please keep reading.
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2 comments:
This is very encouraging. I've been off and on blogging for a while now on a few sites. One of my profs last semester told us to be careful about what we post on our blogs, if we hope for them to be published someday. He said that some publishers see the blog as a publishing alone, so they will not publish it themselves.
I have always thought the blog would be a great forum to hopefully bring in some views and ideas. I've decided I wanted to write a book, a compilation of essays rather (similar to Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller) and some of the short essays I've wanted to include, I've posted on one of my blogs.
Do you think I should continue posting items I might want to publish someday, or just keep a catalog of them on my computer?
Thanks again for your blogging.
Thank you, Lydia. Go for it! Yes, post away! The worst that can happen is that few people pay attention, and the best could be that you sell the essays to others after the fact.
And also, try to keep some stuff unpublished to entice agents or publishers to print a book of your stuff someday. Good luck!
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