It Never Grows Old

After my recent move. I'm still working on changing my address with people. I called my old mailbox and learned I had a number of things they were holding so they packed it up and sent it to me. If you happen to have my old Arizona address, please change to my new California address because I'm no longer living there. 

This stack of mail included two copies of a Sunday School take-home paper called LIVE. If you are unfamiliar with Sunday School, it is still happening in many churches around the country. Each denomination is different and thousands of people receive printed magazines at their classes. These take- home papers are great opportunities for writers to get their materials into print. LIVE is a weekly journal on practical Christian living and a publication of the Assemblies of God, Gospel Publishing House.

As a publication, they work months ahead and the stack of LIVE that I received was from September 2, 2012 through November 25, 2012. I knew exactly what was in this stack of magazines—one of my articles. I skimmed through the papers and finally located the issue with my article—the final one on November 25. 

My story is on the the cover: Praying for the Bibleless People. It's a short article that I wrote many years ago when I worked at Wycliffe Bible Translators (where I spent 17 years). Over a year ago, the editor at LIVE and I were at a writer's conference. It had been years since I had been published in this magazine. Listening to the editor during the conference, I went home, dug through several of my old articles and updated them, then sent them to the editor for consideration.

Several of my articles were rejected (which happens to every writer). Several of my articles were accepted for publication. I received a short agreement which I signed and returned. LIVE pays on acceptance so I received my payment and the articles are scheduled for the future. Well, the publication date is finally near and as an author, I received a copy of my published article. 

I pulled out my 2012 Christian Writer's Market Guide and quickly looked up the listing for LIVE. The publication has a circulation of about 31,000 and is 100% freelance written. That means they don't have a large staff which writes a huge percentage of the publication but depend on submissions from freelance writers. It spells a great opportunity for every writer. They take reprints which means if your article has been published and you still retain the rights to your article, then you can sell it a second time to LIVE.

If you are not writing magazine articles or need to learn the basics, I encourage you to read this article where I go through the basics of writing an article. There is opportunity for every writer to get their work into print—but you must take action whether it is a brand new article that you are publishing for the first time or an article that you are getting out as a reprint. Are you taking action with your writing and getting it into print? I hope so.

The thrill of getting your stories into print never grows old for me. How about you? Is it old hat? After thousands of articles I still enjoy the feeling of holding a newly published article in my hands.