What if someone told you that writing is the best part of getting published.

It almost seems backward.

You work and work. All that time goes by.

And one day you finally get someone else to print it.

That was the goal, right? Nope – the writing life was the goal.

Look behind you.

You already won.

“I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part.”

–Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird

Now I have not – yet – written a book, but there are few things like seeing yourself in print for the first time.

Even in my limited experience with magazines.

Someone else – who is in the business of sharing ideas – thought that what you had to say was worthy of sharing.

It’s a validation. – a fresh, cool, breeze in the midst of the creative march.

Even online, it’s pretty cool having your work accepted by a big publisher…

“I understood immediately the thrill of seeing oneself in print. It provides some sort of primal verification: you are in print; therefore you exist.”

–Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird