Yeah, I'm getting my Back-to-School story published in the local paper.
Let's just say The Washington Post never returns calls, so I emailed my local paper, The Herndon Connection. After all, as I said in the email, "As my last child enters his senior year in high school, I am struck that this is my last Back-to-School night after attending them every September for the last 26 years....all right here in the Herndon area! Who else can boast a quarter century of such experience? I think it strikes a common chord with parents everywhere, as we attend this annual rite of passage."
So the editor called it an "Enjoyable piece of writing," and said he'd be pleased to publish it as long as I wasn't expecting any payment. Payment? Ha, ha, no, no. Just the instant fame, thank you, very much.
Then the clincher. Could I send in a photo of myself to accompany the article? You know, just a head and shoulders shot. Sure, no prob. Right on it. Yeah. Do you think in the last decade I have ever had a picture taken of JUST ME? Having searched my archives, apparently I do not exist as an entity, but only in conjunction with various other lovely adults and adorable chidren.
Anyway, I finally settled on one of me holding newborn Aaron. I look slightly delirious and hunched over, but at least I'm happy and recognizable as a human being. I cropped the baby out of the photo (bummer) and then tried to erase the glare on my glasses, recreating a left eye that is positively Borg-like. Then I removed the stray bangs from my forehead, simulating the distinct look of a recent Botox injection. Voila! A picture of me!
Hopefully it will be in next Thursday. Unless, as the editor said, "the world unravels by then."
5 comments:
ALRIGHT, you ARE famous. I'm so excited for your story to be published. It IS quite fantastic so I agree it needs to be in there. maybe they'll also offer you a job since you are such a fantastic writer.
Way to go mom!
he he he, you should post the picture here so we can see it.
I think as soon as we become mothers, we no longer exist as a single entity...isn't that what motherhood (and grandmotherhood) is all about?!?
You're awesome! I can't wait to see it in print!
Will you still talk to us when you receive your instant fame?
WOW! Congratulations! This is "epic", as Jeffrey would say (apparently the hot new buzz word--EVERYONE is saying it).
Famous writers have often said that we write best when we write about the people and places we know best. So there it is!
I have always wondered...does the fame come first, and then the fortune, or do they arrive simultaneously? Let us know!
I haven't looked at this blog in a while, but I had to comment on this post. That was HILARIOUS! I love how you high-fived after the last period was over. What a relief! But then again ... won't you kind of miss it next year?
Maybe not next year, or the next ... but eventually. :)
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