How I Met David Boyne and Became a Columnist

Preliminary Note: I’ve been going through old files and came across this “essay” that was posted at A Word With You Press some time ago. I found myself thinking that it might be encouraging to anyone who is just starting out. It’s unedited from the original, so I want to send a thank you and shout out to Thorn, too!

First of all, you probably don’t know that in my younger days, I was an executive secretary and known as Eagle Eye in the proofreading department. Secondly, you probably don’t know that I have suffered from insomnia most of my life, and that it really does mess with your brain. Thirdly, you probably don’t know that I’m not really a multi-tasker, even though I wish I were.

This brings me to the fateful day when I met David Boyne, by accident, and got my very first online columnist gig at the then, newly launched, San Diego Writer’s Monthly site.

So, there I was with my new computer, something called e-mail, and a few minutes of time to search the web. My daughter was napping, my resume was updated, and I was determined to increase my publishing credits!

A friend had given me the name of an editor who might be interested in my work. So I composed a cover letter, plugged in the email, attached my resume, and hit send.

You can probably imagine my confusion when someone else responded to my email. Who is this David Boyne character? I wondered, I didn’t email him. . .

Well, apparently I had. By accident. But guess what? He actually said that he wished I’d been intending to contact him! So, after chatting with him a bit, feeling mortified that I had made such an egregious error (which, I might add, he also teased me about, and for those of you who know David, you know his wicked sense-of-humor!), I realized that there are no accidents!

Since David was still interested in my poetry and articles after talking with me, I assured him that other editor could find himself someone else, and promised to send him some work.

And that is how the Poet’s Workshop column was born.

I worked for David at Writersmonthly.us, and then WORD/San Diego from 2002-2004. He also published my very first poetry collection, Lap Danced by the Muse, during this time.

 Then he fired me. Okay, maybe he didn’t exactly fire me, but he did encourage me to move on as it was time to explore my talents or some such adage, as the articles I was writing for WORD/San Diego didn’t resonate with the same energy as my other work.

But now I’m getting to an even better part. . .All those articles I wrote for David became quite popular, and I had invitations to reprint them, or write new ones, for various sites such as Absolutewrite.com, Writeronline.com and others. Then, I was invited to move my column to MindFire Renewed and the FireWeed Literary Newsletter. The only thing that changed was column’s title, and then, only slightly: “From the Pyre” Poet’s Workshop.”

And then Tyree Campbell, the (former) managing editor for Sam’s Dot Publishing, said something like, “Hey, let’s publish some of your articles into a book. It became Poet’s Workshop—and Beyond, which was re-released in 2012 with additional articles.

So, while you may not be rolling around on the floor laughing with this little tale, which is true, by the way, I can’t help wondering where I’d be today if I hadn’t accidently contacted David Boyne.

Thank you, David! And Tyree, too!

 

The End