Today I Became A Published Writer

Well, hey there! See that headline? It's true. My writer pants grew one size bigger today. There is a published article on the everlasting-internet with words that I wrote, and my name attached under the title. Cue the heart-eyes emoji. Cue the confetti and cupcakes. Cue the 12-year-old girl squeals.


Part of my daily routine is to read news sites like CNN and The Huffington Post when I have free time. While reading an article about divorce on the latter website one afternoon, I saw a call for new divorce bloggers.


Divorce is always such a touchy subject to write about. It's a very personal thing, and many things happen throughout the relationship and the breakup that most people don't know about. I went through a divorce at a young age, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do to this day. But writing about things helps me deal with them and get closure-- so I sat down and poured my heart out to my keyboard. I was so nervous, but I submitted the article anyway while I was still feeling somewhat brave.


Months went by without a response, so I put it out of my mind and chalked it up to another rejection letter. I'm getting used to those, as every writer should. Then one day, I saw the glorious, "RE: Story Submission," subject line in my inbox. The Huffington Post was interested in my article!


So I edited it down to half the word count of what I'd originally submitted, and created my HuffPost blogger profile. I finally felt like a real writer, and it was one of the most exciting days of my life. That excitement was doubled today when the article went live, but only for a moment.


The realization of what I'd just posted hit me like a ton of bricks when strangers started to give their two cents on my life, mental health, and marriage like they knew me better than I know myself. That always comes with being published though, and I was aware it would happen when I submitted. And honestly, it's good people are commenting, because that means people other than family, close friends, and agents are finally reading my work.


But I panicked for a moment, worried about who I might offend or hurt with my words, not to mention I was basically walking naked out into middle of the internet, waving my arms like a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man.

E.g.

I just wanted to say that I am proud of myself for telling this story, because my nine-year relationship with my ex-husband was a big chunk of my life. I don't regret any of it, and I still care about his well-being. I mean no hard feelings towards anyone, but there are always two sides to every story. This one is mine. Or what I could condense into 800 words, anyway.


The most important thing is that we are both happy now, as he is getting married this month, and I am blissfully living with the most amazing man I've ever had the pleasure of loving.


I have never been happier in my personal life, and now I have a published article on a national website. Life is pretty good today. :D

Here it is!  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefanie-marks/rang-in-25th-birthday-with-divorce-papers_b_8210454.html

Love Your Neighbor

I have tried my best to hold my tongue over the whole Chick-Fil-A thing. But I have found over the past few days that I feel very strongly about this, and since this is my blog, I am going to use it as an outlet to say how I feel. Read it or don't, I am not trying to change anyone's mind or beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I do not judge anyone who believes anything other than what I do.

LOVE

I recently got this tattoo on my foot:

 

(Yes, I am aware that my feet are translucently pale)

It was my first tattoo (and most likely, my only; though, I feel that if I ever get a book published I will probably want to get a tiny one somewhere to commemorate it).  But when people ask me why I got that particular tattoo, I want to tell them the real reason.  But it takes a while for me to be able to explain it fully.  So I usually just tell them that it stands for my love for my husband and my family (which is true), and that I drew it up and thought it was pretty (which is also true).  But my real reason for getting the word "love" permanently engraved into my skin is this: the world revolves around love.

 

If you stop and think about it, love is all around us.  Almost every song out there, from country music to rap music, is about love.  They are about falling in love for the first time, or falling in love for the umpteenth time.  They are about having your heart ripped out, or having your heart repaired by a new love.  All movies have to have some sort of love plot, or people will lose interest.  Even in the most gruesome horror stories, love plays some part in the plot line. Most books are completely about love.  I have heard several authors joke, "kissing sells books".  And it does! Because everybody wants to play a part in love, whether it's their own or someone else's.   

 

And there are so many different types of love, how could you resist?  We are built for love.  There is the love you have for your significant other, the love you have for you parents, the love you have for your children, the love you have for your friends, and even the love you have for worship.  All of these are different unto their own, but we crave it.  We live for it.  If you were to find one person in this world that doesn't feel some type of love, you will be looking at a dead person.

 

I think it is beautiful that this one emotion can cause so much ecstasy, anger, frustration, happiness, and utter thankfulness.  So all in all, I love - LOVE.  Love can make you feel like nothing else in this world, like nobody is more special, like nothing could be better than what you are feeling right at that moment.  And who doesn't want that?