I live in a relatively rural area about 20 miles from Burlington bordering Lake Champlain and the amount of ATV traffic we get through here is absurd. One night, a couple of drunk ATVers drove right through our yard and ripped a foot gash in our pool that couldn’t be repaired. (Those pools with the inflatable top ring that are 48 inches deep by 10 feet across).

My husband and I were furious, but it was July with the hottest months to come and our then 9 and 12 year olds were suddenly without a pool for summer vacation. I couldn’t afford a new one and the police told me I had no way to prove that the kid I was certain was responsible actually did it – though that morning in the dew I saw where the tire tracks went – apparently that isn’t proof enough. We didn’t have the money to buy a new one and the kid who I am certain did it obviously wasn’t going to be held responsible by the police.

I fired off a letter to the local newspaper about having these ATV trails open so that people wouldn’t drive across yards. Within hours of that editorial being printed, I had people calling up telling me that they loved the letter. But one phone call really stood out, the area ATV association called up and said they’d bought me a replacement pool and wanted to deliver it ASAP. So my article truly paid off that time!

Another milestone was when I wrote for a paper that’s owned by the NYT company (unfortunately, not the NYT… yet) and got a paycheck with the NYT logo on it. I have the envelope clipped to my bulletin board for when I need a little boost of confidence.

But yes, I was thrilled when I received my first byline in a glossy, local magazine, and my picture was in there, too! I think I got my biggest thrill when I had something published in Family Fun Magazine and I received a $100 check! It was such a pretty check, too, that I didn’t want to cash it, so I took it to a copy place and had a color copy made of it. And, keeping the Disney theme, I spent the $100 on tickets to Disneyland and took my son there for the day!
Also.. there have been times when I’ve seen my name in the magazines and wanted to take it up to the checker at the store and say, “Look, see this, that’s ME!” LOL!

Have a lovely day.

After acting as Editor-In-Chief for a couple of years, I started getting requests to do interviews on the topics we covered. One of those interviews was on MSNBC’s Hot Lunch. For me, it was no big deal, a spot on a segment on a Labor Day as filler. To my Dad, however, it was a bit more.

Pops taped the show, and for the next few months, dragged it out whenever someone came to the house. He’d force them to sit through it, showing off my 4 minutes on national TV.

But the priceless moment was when an aunt told me “Your Dad is so proud of you! He said he was so proud that one of his sons was on TV, and it wasn’t on ‘COPS’!”

That may have been the best ever. It wasn’t exactly from a byline, but would never have happened without them.

I had my first article printed in (say whatever you want) 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.

About a year later, I did it again.

Not a major accomplishment for many people, but a big one for me, especially since it was the first article I had EVER written for any reason.

Oh, for the record, it wasn’t about breaking into anything, it was about a piece of radio/tv equipment called a Gentner GSC3000.

Like you care ;P

*grin*

What really does it for me these days, though, is when people actually *READ* what I write. Like when people drop me emails to tell me they’ve read my stories, or when companies unexpectedly thank me for featuring their products, or like that time when one of my articles got a link at the New York Times.

(As much as I want to get my name on print, I’m also self-effacing. I always, always tell my mom to never enumerate my publishing credits to relatives who come over.)

I felt after re-reading it maybe I sounded too self-serving, that it’s all about the byline. It’s not about the byline, it’s about the excitement of knowing you’re a writer.

And it sounds like you have a wonderful job. Being able to make a difference is why many of us do this. Congratulation for being a person who isn’t afraid to make changes – or rather the person who challenges others to make changes.

I find it very exciting to see policy change around what I’ve been saying. I love it when I read a State Senator repeating my arguments on the floor. That’s a real thrill for me, and I’m about to get another big one when a major project here takes a nosedive and I can salvage the whole operation through the power of my writing (I hope!).

Nearly all writing is inadequate in some way. I’m as hard on other people’s work as my own, so it’s all even. What matters is the spark you can create in someone else, that feeling that they are somehow aware of something that they weren’t before. I do my level best to write something that will do it, but the proof is in the reading as far as I’m concerned.

That first moment I saw my name in the by-line, I knew only that it was judgment time. I appear to have passed that test, and once I was sure of it I got as excited as I was when I wrote it. So I wrote more. I heard my arguments repeated, and I kept at it.

It’s a lot of fun, but being in print is just not my goal. I want to hear my stuff repeated with someone else’s name attached before I get excited.

What I’m talking about is the excitement of seeing your byline for the very first time and the feeling it gave. Writing should always be so exciting. When it’s humdrum it’s time to throw in the towel.

That’s my problem in this whole thing. And I think if I wrote to entertain, I’d feel the same way. This ain’t about *me*, it’s just not that kind of party.

[O, the perils of being Taoist!]

@ Jenny B and Phi: I show my husband his name in the phone book so he doesn’t feel left out!

@Phil my husband’s name is in the phone book so unfortunately I can’t see my name in print there.

1973, back when we used glue and exacto knifes to paste galleys at Circle’s (now UIC’s) newspaper. Article was cranked out on manual typewriter at home and brought in.

By the way, if I want to see my name in print now, I look in the phone book.