May 18th, 2010 / 10:43 am
Craft Notes & Random

1st trip 2 the pub

Ok, George Saunders first published in that little Conde Naste magazine out of New York City. But this was (I think) my first publication. They claim to be “Reviews from Rural America.” The last two pages are poems, and this is where I appear, with a little ditty about squirrel hunting. Mimeographed, 10 pages, 3 staples, out of Healdsburg, CA, a Misty Hill Press production. This was 1996. I can find nothing about the publication now, though I did locate a Misty Hill Press, in another California town.

I was/am happy to begin with a stapled together newsletter. There is a sort of ladder (naturally subjective) to these things, and the process of climbing makes one a more serious/less serious (not a contradiction) and humble writer. Possibly. I certainly look back now at the title and have to give a chuckle. I teach a lot of beginning writers, and many, many of them need to understand it’s a hard row to hoe. Not impossible, just hard. Some of them seem to think the writer’s life is a water slide–just chuck yourself down. Wheeeeeeee. I prefer the image of the dirt field. Here’s your seeds and your gardening tool. Start hoeing and pray for rain.

Where were you first published?

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69 Comments

  1. Nathan Tyree

      A chapbook called ‘Star Crossed” was my first publication. It was quickly followed by several on-line ‘zines, then a couple of real magazines (this would have been in ’98-’99)

  2. Marco Kaye

      Correction: George Saunders was first published in The Northwest Review.

      http://thefastertimes.com/fiction/2009/08/14/lost-george-saunders-story-found/

      And an interview…

      http://www.georgesaundersland.com/paris

      Can you recall your reaction to your first publication?

      I became engaged to it. I had a story accepted in The Northwest Review, and became engaged to the issue when it came out. I carried it everywhere with me, and placed it in the passenger seat next to me and took it to the drive-in, etc etc. But then I introduced it to my parents, and things went wrong. They noticed immediately that it was a “small literary magazine” and, because they had different ideas about my future – preferring, I suppose, a human being, or at least a copy of Reader’s Digest – well, it made for a certain tension.

      As for myself, I consider my first publication of the online variety, which I hope doesn’t discount it any, though I do love the pulp and glue litmags as much as the next writer.

      http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2007/6/19kaye.html

  3. Sean

      Good call. Is that a writing urban legend? Was the second the Nyorker? I’ll go look.

  4. Brendan Connell

      First thing I had published was some poetry translations in a book called Literature of Asia, Africa and Latin America from Prentice Hall.

      First fiction in RE:AL, some journal from some University in Texas I believe…..I had sent out about 100 short stories before getting that published though.

  5. stephen

      my first publication is in my new magazine, Pop Serial. hopefully other people will publish me in the future, heh….

  6. Sean

      stephen is a smart guy. Whitman did the same.

  7. jesusangelgarcia

      My first publication 1000 years ago (back when I attended ye olde university on a poetry scholarship, ya see) was in a cool zine called Alternative Fiction & Poetry. My poem appeared alongside the work of a bunch of writers I hadn’t heard of at the time, like Charles Bukowski and Lyn Lifshin. My professors (Black Mountain fetishists, as I recall) were not impressed.

      My first fiction, a short story adapted from my 3xbad novel (which is inching toward a publishing deal…), appeared a few months back in 3:AM Magazine.

      My first journalism/criticism was published in ROX (that’s right: with an X, baby) Magazine… about 999 years ago. Memories…

  8. Lily Hoang

      My first publication was Square One, a now defunct journal from somewhere in Colorado, I think. They misspelled my name three times in four different ways (one way was correct). It was a big let down.

  9. Trey

      my first (and, to date, only) was online, in elimae.

  10. Nathan Tyree

      how close to publishing deal?

  11. stephen

      damn… i am not worthy. whitman is a singular eminence.

  12. stephen

      thank you, though, sean.

  13. Brian Spears

      First publication was in a small magazine called “The Small Pond Magazine of Literature,” and while I received a number of issues, I never got the one my poems appeared in. I’m not sure whether or not to be thankful for that, given how wretched they must have been.

  14. Kristen Iskandrian

      My first was Spork. Which makes me happy.

  15. Ryan Call

      huh, i always thought it was quarterly west.

      mine was in barrelhouse

  16. Dan Wickett

      A short story that had artwork added to it in a zine that maybe 30 people saw called Meagre Effort (it was pretty appropriately titled). Would be the first and last had Quick Fiction not taken a flash last year.

  17. Roxane Gay

      My first publication was in a magazine called Moxie. I still have my contributor copy. I use it to level a filing cabinet because my floors are uneven. The year was 2000.

  18. Joseph

      Word Riot in 2007. Something about a meal I’d eaten in my employee cafeteria.

      Aside, of course, from “Anthology of Florida Middle School Poets” in 1998.

  19. Matt Bell

      Mine was in the Fall 2004 issue of Metal Scratches, a little staple-bound zine out of Minnesota. They didn’t have a website then, but thanks to Google I just found out that they now do: http://metalscratches.com/PastIssues.html

      It’s amazing how long ago that feels now. I think that story would embarrass the hell out me now, not because it’s necessarily bad–hopefully not awful, anyway–but because so much about me has changed that the ideas in it would make cringe at my younger self. I would have been almost 24 when it came out, so probably 22/23 when I first drafted it? Not an age I need to revisit via my own fiction.

  20. Nathan Tyree

      A chapbook called ‘Star Crossed” was my first publication. It was quickly followed by several on-line ‘zines, then a couple of real magazines (this would have been in ’98-’99)

  21. Marco Kaye

      Correction: George Saunders was first published in The Northwest Review.

      http://thefastertimes.com/fiction/2009/08/14/lost-george-saunders-story-found/

      And an interview…

      http://www.georgesaundersland.com/paris

      Can you recall your reaction to your first publication?

      I became engaged to it. I had a story accepted in The Northwest Review, and became engaged to the issue when it came out. I carried it everywhere with me, and placed it in the passenger seat next to me and took it to the drive-in, etc etc. But then I introduced it to my parents, and things went wrong. They noticed immediately that it was a “small literary magazine” and, because they had different ideas about my future – preferring, I suppose, a human being, or at least a copy of Reader’s Digest – well, it made for a certain tension.

      As for myself, I consider my first publication of the online variety, which I hope doesn’t discount it any, though I do love the pulp and glue litmags as much as the next writer.

      http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2007/6/19kaye.html

  22. Sean

      Good call. Is that a writing urban legend? Was the second the Nyorker? I’ll go look.

  23. Brendan Connell

      First thing I had published was some poetry translations in a book called Literature of Asia, Africa and Latin America from Prentice Hall.

      First fiction in RE:AL, some journal from some University in Texas I believe…..I had sent out about 100 short stories before getting that published though.

  24. stephen

      my first publication is in my new magazine, Pop Serial. hopefully other people will publish me in the future, heh….

  25. Sean

      stephen is a smart guy. Whitman did the same.

  26. jesusangelgarcia

      My first publication 1000 years ago (back when I attended ye olde university on a poetry scholarship, ya see) was in a cool zine called Alternative Fiction & Poetry. My poem appeared alongside the work of a bunch of writers I hadn’t heard of at the time, like Charles Bukowski and Lyn Lifshin. My professors (Black Mountain fetishists, as I recall) were not impressed.

      My first fiction, a short story adapted from my 3xbad novel (which is inching toward a publishing deal…), appeared a few months back in 3:AM Magazine.

      My first journalism/criticism was published in ROX (that’s right: with an X, baby) Magazine… about 999 years ago. Memories…

  27. lily hoang

      My first publication was Square One, a now defunct journal from somewhere in Colorado, I think. They misspelled my name three times in four different ways (one way was correct). It was a big let down.

  28. Trey

      my first (and, to date, only) was online, in elimae.

  29. Nathan Tyree

      how close to publishing deal?

  30. jesusangelgarcia

      very close… can’t reveal any details yet, but it’s close.

  31. stephen

      damn… i am not worthy. whitman is a singular eminence.

  32. stephen

      thank you, though, sean.

  33. ce.

      My first was a poem in Poetry East. I still like the poem well enough, though I’d write it much differently now. I still feel the surreal bit of satisfaction that of all places, Poetry East would be my first pub, just a few pages from Tess Gallagher, especially after I’d already gotten numerous rejections from other places.

      The day I got the acceptance letter was so jacked; I was doored riding my bike back to my apartment from campus. I was hauling ass because I had to be back to campus with a forgotten assignment before my prof’s office hours were over, this girl threw her door open in front of me, and I Tommy-Boy’ed it. There’s actually blood on the acceptance letter from where I’d read it before scabs could dry on my hands.

  34. Brian Spears

      First publication was in a small magazine called “The Small Pond Magazine of Literature,” and while I received a number of issues, I never got the one my poems appeared in. I’m not sure whether or not to be thankful for that, given how wretched they must have been.

  35. Kristen Iskandrian

      My first was Spork. Which makes me happy.

  36. Ryan Call

      huh, i always thought it was quarterly west.

      mine was in barrelhouse

  37. Dan Wickett

      A short story that had artwork added to it in a zine that maybe 30 people saw called Meagre Effort (it was pretty appropriately titled). Would be the first and last had Quick Fiction not taken a flash last year.

  38. Roxane Gay

      My first publication was in a magazine called Moxie. I still have my contributor copy. I use it to level a filing cabinet because my floors are uneven. The year was 2000.

  39. Joseph

      Word Riot in 2007. Something about a meal I’d eaten in my employee cafeteria.

      Aside, of course, from “Anthology of Florida Middle School Poets” in 1998.

  40. Matt Bell

      Mine was in the Fall 2004 issue of Metal Scratches, a little staple-bound zine out of Minnesota. They didn’t have a website then, but thanks to Google I just found out that they now do: http://metalscratches.com/PastIssues.html

      It’s amazing how long ago that feels now. I think that story would embarrass the hell out me now, not because it’s necessarily bad–hopefully not awful, anyway–but because so much about me has changed that the ideas in it would make cringe at my younger self. I would have been almost 24 when it came out, so probably 22/23 when I first drafted it? Not an age I need to revisit via my own fiction.

  41. Eric Anderson

      My first published poems were in Rune a few years ago. It’s a small zine put together by undergraduate students at MIT. Looking back on it, I’m not happy with the poems (as is the case with most writers and there early work) but it was nice to hold them and smell the glossy pages.

  42. jesusangelgarcia

      very close… can’t reveal any details yet, but it’s close.

  43. ce.

      My first was a poem in Poetry East. I still like the poem well enough, though I’d write it much differently now. I still feel the surreal bit of satisfaction that of all places, Poetry East would be my first pub, just a few pages from Tess Gallagher, especially after I’d already gotten numerous rejections from other places.

      The day I got the acceptance letter was so jacked; I was doored riding my bike back to my apartment from campus. I was hauling ass because I had to be back to campus with a forgotten assignment before my prof’s office hours were over, this girl threw her door open in front of me, and I Tommy-Boy’ed it. There’s actually blood on the acceptance letter from where I’d read it before scabs could dry on my hands.

  44. Hank

      My first story was published just this month in a little online place called “Moon Milk Review.”

  45. KevinS

      A really great little poetry zine called Blank Gun Silencer out of Racine, WI. 1990. Dan Nielsen was the editor and a very encouraging person.

  46. Eric Anderson

      My first published poems were in Rune a few years ago. It’s a small zine put together by undergraduate students at MIT. Looking back on it, I’m not happy with the poems (as is the case with most writers and there early work) but it was nice to hold them and smell the glossy pages.

  47. Hank

      My first story was published just this month in a little online place called “Moon Milk Review.”

  48. KevinS

      A really great little poetry zine called Blank Gun Silencer out of Racine, WI. 1990. Dan Nielsen was the editor and a very encouraging person.

  49. Artwork on Canvas can be extra special | eps3games.com

      […] HTMLGIANT / 1st trip 2 the pub […]

  50. Dave Wirthlin

      Denver Quarterly. Not sure how that happened.

  51. Lincoln

      Discounting college lit mags, I think my first acceptance was from McSweeneys.net for a short jokey piece.

  52. Mike Meginnis

      The Sycamore Review. Weird times.

  53. ZZZZZIPP

      THE HTMLGIANT COMMENT PAGE. THOSE GUYS WILL PUBLISH ANYTHING

  54. mimi

      THAT’S WHAT MIMI WAS GOING TO SAY.

  55. mimi

      mimi had some ‘artsy-fartsy’ b&w photographs published in her college mag. does that count?

  56. scgarz

      my first was in a mag called Black Dirt. it was well funded, perfect bound, but in terms of quality probably worse than the undergrad lit mag I’d had stuff in. So a disappointment.

  57. Adam R

      The Union League of Chicago’s short story contest journal. I won second place, which was $1,000 and publication. And attendance at the fanciest dinner thing I’ve ever seen, even on TV.

  58. Dave Wirthlin

      Denver Quarterly. Not sure how that happened.

  59. Lincoln

      Discounting college lit mags, I think my first acceptance was from McSweeneys.net for a short jokey piece.

  60. Mike Meginnis

      The Sycamore Review. Weird times.

  61. ZZZZZIPP

      THE HTMLGIANT COMMENT PAGE. THOSE GUYS WILL PUBLISH ANYTHING

  62. mimi

      THAT’S WHAT MIMI WAS GOING TO SAY.

  63. mimi

      mimi had some ‘artsy-fartsy’ b&w photographs published in her college mag. does that count?

  64. scgarz

      my first was in a mag called Black Dirt. it was well funded, perfect bound, but in terms of quality probably worse than the undergrad lit mag I’d had stuff in. So a disappointment.

  65. ZZZZZIPP

      MIMI WE SHOULD PUT OUR BEST COMMENTS IN AN ANTHOLOGY AND SELL IT TO VIKING

  66. Lincoln

      man, that’s sweet second place prize money

  67. Adam Robinson

      The Union League of Chicago’s short story contest journal. I won second place, which was $1,000 and publication. And attendance at the fanciest dinner thing I’ve ever seen, even on TV.

  68. ZZZZZIPP

      MIMI WE SHOULD PUT OUR BEST COMMENTS IN AN ANTHOLOGY AND SELL IT TO VIKING

  69. Lincoln

      man, that’s sweet second place prize money