What was your first literary publication?
Ignore Me | Kathryn Mockler on My First Literary Publication
My First Literary Publication
I remember when I got the phone call from Andrea Strudensky that Broke wanted to publish four of my poems in their first issue, I was over-the-moon excited.
Broke started in 1994 in “Darius Snieckus’ living room on St. Urbain street” (according to Facebook) by Andrea Strudensky.
I also lived on St. Urbain and was taking the call on a landline phone, twisting the green cord tightly around my fingers because I could not contain my excitement.
My poems were going to be in a magazine! A magazine that would be on newsstands…in Montreal anyway.
I couldn’t believe it. The magazine paid in copies, and I still have mine.
I had just finished my English and creative writing degree at Concordia and was eager to get some work published.
The year before I had a false start when I foolishly submitted to a $10 000 poetry contest in the back of a Harper’s magazine.
When I got the acceptance from the contest saying that my poem would be published, I jumped around my apartment and immediately called my sister to read her the letter—including the fine print, which stated that contributors had to purchase the $100 volume if they wanted their work published in the anthology.
As I considered how I could afford this (I could not afford it), my sister gently said, “Kathryn, I think it’s scam. I don’t think you’re supposed to pay for your writing to be published.”
Rereading the letter with tears in my eyes, I knew she was right.
Of course it was a scam.
I even recalled our poetry teacher telling us to be wary of poetry contests.
Once the fantasy of being published had dissipated, I took a good look at the photo of the leather-bound volume on the order form, and I could now see that the book was terribly cheesy with its gold lettering, decorative flower illustrations, and large-print format.
That disappointment made Broke’s acceptance all the sweeter.
Broke was the real thing because I knew who the editor was and where the magazine was published.
I’m not sure when the magazine stopped publishing, but in 2010 Broke created a Facebook group and shared some of the photos from past issues.
Although I hadn’t looked at the publication in years, I was delighted to see that I was in the same issues as filmmaker Matthew Bissonnette (Who Loves the Son, Passenger’s Side).
Small world.
Here’s one of my four poems that was published in Issue 1.
This poem came from a childhood memory of my dad taking me out to shoot at tin cans on a friend’s land.
In fact, it’s one of my best memories of spending time with my dad although the poem seems somewhat depressing reading it now.
After my parents divorced, my father lost interest in my sister and I, so I guess the poem reflects how I felt about him at the time.
Things are somewhat better between us, but it hasn’t been an easy relationship. Unsurprisingly, it was one of the first things I wrote about as new writer.
My first publication was a flash fiction piece I wrote at the age of fifty and it was published a year and a half ago in Wrong Turn Lit, which is here on Substack. https://wrongturnlit.substack.com/p/death-by-jimmy-buffett
My first publication was a story in The New Quarterly in 2007!! I will never forget the joy of receiving that news. It meant everything.