Twenty-five years ago...
I've been a writer for about 30 years now and a published writer for 25. My first article appeared a quarter century ago this month. It was entitled, "All About Pagers" and was in the now defunct Radio Electronics magazine.
Please allow me a bit of indulgence by sharing a link to a scanned image of the cover and article. (If you look at it) you will notice that my article is plugged on the cover, in the upper-right corner. At that time, I went by Pete DeHaan, which is what my wife still calls me, along with a few others who have not yet been retrained.
Most people I showed this to were duly impressed, but their eyes quickly glazed over as they attempted to read it. The most commonly asked question, was "Did you do the cartoon at the end?" That was what they were most impressed with, but sadly, the answer was "no."
I agonized immensely over the writing of this piece. Even though I repaired pagers for a living, when I endeavored to write about them, I quickly realized just how much I didn't know. I was brought to the verge of tears on multiple occasions and swore I would never write another article — which is now quite ironic, since I make my living wielding words. It was only my personal promise of submitting an article and the lure of a paycheck that kept me going. The payout was $300, as I recall — and it was the only time I have been directly compensated for writing an article.
All these years, I have dutifully saved a copy of this issue, never thinking I would have any suitable use for it. But now it was been scanned and posted on the World Wide Web for you — and the whole world — to stumble upon and enjoy.
Thanks for listening.
Please allow me a bit of indulgence by sharing a link to a scanned image of the cover and article. (If you look at it) you will notice that my article is plugged on the cover, in the upper-right corner. At that time, I went by Pete DeHaan, which is what my wife still calls me, along with a few others who have not yet been retrained.
Most people I showed this to were duly impressed, but their eyes quickly glazed over as they attempted to read it. The most commonly asked question, was "Did you do the cartoon at the end?" That was what they were most impressed with, but sadly, the answer was "no."
I agonized immensely over the writing of this piece. Even though I repaired pagers for a living, when I endeavored to write about them, I quickly realized just how much I didn't know. I was brought to the verge of tears on multiple occasions and swore I would never write another article — which is now quite ironic, since I make my living wielding words. It was only my personal promise of submitting an article and the lure of a paycheck that kept me going. The payout was $300, as I recall — and it was the only time I have been directly compensated for writing an article.
All these years, I have dutifully saved a copy of this issue, never thinking I would have any suitable use for it. But now it was been scanned and posted on the World Wide Web for you — and the whole world — to stumble upon and enjoy.
Thanks for listening.
Posted by Peter DeHaan at 1/28/2008 6:49 PM 
Categories: Publishing, Writing
Tags: published writer Peter DeHaan blog author Peter DeHaan Peter DeHaan Musings Musings of Peter DeHaan
Categories: Publishing, Writing
Tags: published writer Peter DeHaan blog author Peter DeHaan Peter DeHaan Musings Musings of Peter DeHaan
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