Friday, January 27, 2012

So long, Jumbo (and hello SUCKER)


“So long, Jumbo”

It is a nice thing, when you are a writer, to be able to answer the question: “What have you published?”  For a long time I haven’t had anything to respond. This week I am finally able to say, “I published a story in SUCKER LITERARY MAGAZINE online.

The characters about whom I write, mostly teens, would probably respond, “That’s so cool!”  or “Sweet!”  I must admit, I stopped briefly to pat myself on the back.  I am thrilled to lose my publishing-virginity, that clichéd elephant in the corner that all writers try to ignore.  There you go, Jumbo, have a peanut.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

So after the long wait for SUCKER’s debut (not so long when you realize a book can take a couple of years to be published after it is acquired), after the months of holding my breath in anticipation, how did the magazine turn out?  Wow!  It’s great—full of teen angst and love, romance and sex, coping with families, and lots of growing up.

Sucker is such a great title for this collection.  With interpretations both sweet and sour, it perfectly symbolizes adolescence—the years we bridge from childhood to adulthood, a time many of us still idolize but to which few would really want to return.

So, congrats to all us authors, but most of all, THANK YOU and congratulations to Hannah Goodman (also the author of a fabulous story in this issue) who did it the RIGHT way and published a quality online magazine for YA writers and readers.  Thanks, too, to her excellent staff of assistants—and a special mention for Alyssa Gaudreau whose sucker-themed photographs accompanying the stories were spot-on.

If you haven’t already read SUCKER, here’s a link: 
Click on the cover of the magazine and download it.  It’s free!

Now that Jumbo’s cleared out, I need to get back to work.

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