As a follow up from last week’s post, I’m taking another trip down the writing memory lane. This time into 1997. This latest writing venture happened in the 8th grade. Scream 2 had already released in theaters. Titanic as well (man was I crushing on Leonardo DiCaprio so hard). A time when cute girls were called chula and cute boys were papy chulo.’ And Bill Clinton was president.
But June 1997 would be my most treasured time as I’d graduated from junior high school then. And with my first publication under my belt. My first publication didn’t happen in a literary magazine or journal. No, my work was first published in my junior high school year book. Still seeing my name and poem, in print and immortalized, made me happy. I think I might’ve cried a little. Anyways, it also helped to confirm that I was on the right track. That my path in life was the one of a writer. Of course, I knew that I'd a long way to go.
A Rose Is A Lovely Flower
A rose is a lovely flower.
You have such a lovely
shade of red.
You have more
than one color though,
What of that?
You look so fragile
yet so strong.
You have a weird shape
yet it’s also pretty,
Why?
You stand for love,
yet you stand for friendship also.
What do you stand
for rose?
A rose is a lovely flower.
© 1997
Do you remember the first time your work appeared in print? How did you feel? Please share in the comments section below.
PS. Elizabeth Sims, author of You’ve Got a Book In You, has posted her ‘publishing history’ in installments on her blog. They’re both inspiring and shows how the publishing process works. You can visit the following links and read her account of how she became a published author:
- Why Spruce Spark Press
- Training as a Writer
- A Flower Watered With Tears
- Breaking Through
- Moving Into the Mainstream
- A Rock in the (Main)Stream
- Champagne
- Throw the Baby in the Maw