P-p-p-published!!!

Hey readers! Did I mention that I contacted the Korean Times recently about writing an article on Mungyeoung, my old home in Korea? Well, that was about a month ago and today they printed my piece on page 11 in the travel section!

To read the article, click here: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/04/135_65111.html.

I'm so excited! Even though I have lots of experience as Editor in Chief for my university's newspaper, The Talon Journal, I've felt a little self-conscious about writing since I left. Probably because I left The Talon an absolute wreck and needed counseling afterwords! Also because as an Editor, you never get to write what you want to write. You only ever write what no one wants to write or what never came in, so everything I put out was either a. something I wasn't proud of, b. too rushed to have been good, or c. nothing really worth bragging about.

But this is worth bragging about! I really needed a confidence booster and wow, I am so grateful! Not only is it my first submission, it was published! And not only was it published, it was published by a national paper! And not only is it a national paper, it's in the travel section (a notoriously difficult field to break into)! And to add to all my joy, they also published TWO of my photos!

I am beside myself with excitement! Pride is a word for lesser forms of joy!

And I'm determined to get more published! So what's next, you say? Some top secret stuff has been piling up on my mental list for a book and I aim to be 50% through it by January next year so I can pitch it to agents. I'm also working up a pitch for Lonely Planet to write their Washington section. Having been out of Washington for a while, I've realized how much I love the place and what a deep connection I have with the people and the land. I really want to share that with the world and help people find Washington's hidden gems because there's a lot of them and the current guide doesn't do it justice. I've also got several article ideas in mind and I'm planning to start submitting photos to magazines.

I can't wait! New motivation, new vision! I'm published! Yes!! This girl is going to make her dreams happen!