Risky Business

Okay.....So.....I've sent out a piece to GreenPrints magazine to see if they will publish it. I had a goal on my New Year's Papers that we completed on January 1, that I would try to get something published this year and it's taken me until November, but at least I've sent something out. It wasn't so much a matter of putting anything off--it was more that I didn't know where I would send the kind of writing that I like to do. And then I found this little magazine in the oddest place. I had gotten a Garden Supply catalog and I ordered some plant staking stuff from them and in the invoice that came along with the stakes was an advertisement for GreenPrints: The Weeders Digest. I looked them up on the Internet and could see that they were a publication for gardeners, by gardeners, but the stories weren't about how much fertilizer to put on your garden or how to get rid of aphids. One of the sample articles was called The No-Grow Azaleas, about a person who kept waiting for the azaleas to grow bigger only to realize that they were a dwarf variety.

That sounded like a publication that I might be able to write at least one story for, so I bought a subscription and while waiting for my first issue I started a piece about a hydrangea I have, that I bought for my brother's memorial service 6 years ago. The thing about the hydrangea is that it was very flowery at first, when it was in the pot, but has only produced one (very beautiful) flower since I planted it. In my story I compare the slowness of the plant's growth to the friendship my brother and I struggled to have. I was nearly finished with it when I got my first issue of GreenPrints. After reading it I was still convinced that I might have a chance, so I did the final polishing work on the story and sent it to them last weekend.

Now I wait. I don't really know why it's so important to me to get something published at this late date. I've dreamed of it for years, been in writer's groups, read Writer's Digest for a long time--I've written practically my whole life and have loved keeping a blog. I guess I've been thinking about what kind of regrets I might have on my death bed (which hopefully won't be for a long time, but you never know). I think I would regret if I never tried to do anything with my writing, if I wrote, put things in notebooks and none of it ever saw the light of day. I'm still looking for other places I can send things to, because now that I've sent one piece out I'm kind of hooked on the process. Blog writing is fun, but there's no risk to it, other than maybe putting an unpopular opinion out and upsetting a friend. I've never taken too many risks in my life, maybe now is the time. And how much of a risk is it, anyway? The only risk is that they'll say, "No, this isn't for us". Disappointing, but not life shattering.

So we'll see what happens. And I'll keep looking for other outlets and if you have any suggestions, let me know. You've been reading (I hope) the kind of writing that I like to do. And if you are a gardener, you might be interested in that little magazine. Here is the online address: www.greenprints.com