Publishing Girl

I have always been obsessed with magazines and the world of publication. As a teen, I would eagerly accompany my mom to the grocery store. Not to help her grocery shop. Sorry mom. Rather, to pour through the magazines at the new stand. My mom indulged us each trip and would buy my sister and I one horse magazine each. One of my childhood dreams was to create or publish my own magazine. The closest I got was a newsletter that I designed and published and mailed out to readers every month. I was 16 years old. It started out as The Pal Sheet, but evolved into Horse & Pal Lover's World.

It was designed for people of all ages that were interested not only in horses, but horsey pen-palling, which was a huge part of my youth. Did anyone else out there horsey pen pal? Do horsey slam books? I advertised my newsletter in the free classified section of Horse Illustrated magazine. Interested readers sent me a self-addressed-stamped-envelope to receive their issue.

Note, I am using the terms "designed and published" rather loosely. When I first started, I typed that newsletter up on a typewriter (non-electric, mind you) and made my copies using carbon paper. Remember that black or navy blue stuff? Those of you under twenty probably have no idea what I am talking about and will have to Google it. That meant I produced only two issues at a time. Later, I got really sophisticated. I typed up the issue, added clip art and drawings, then had my mom run the issues off on the copying machine at her work. Brilliant!

I was a self-publishing mini-mogul. Or would that be a mini-mogul self-publisher? I think H&PLW lasted about a year or two. Anyone out there remember the newsletter? Nah, I didn't think so. I developed a small readership (hmmm, about 9 people, including my parents, sister, and grandma.) I pretty much co-authored every article and story. I eventually had submissions from my readers, including some nice artwork and poetry. The staples are now rusted in my spare copies.

When I was 14 years old, I also had two articles published in Horse Illustrated magazine. One was about horse safety rules. The other....I can't recall. I remember getting my first paycheck. It was for $35. That is a lot of money to a young girl back in the mid-80's. I was very excited. I am sure I bought something like..... a new bareback pad for my pony. Which was probably better than my homemade ones.

As you can imagine, as I became more older, this evolved into writing for my high school newspaper and yearbook. And I took a creative writing class in college. Besides a few novel attempts filed away on the monster-sized, intermittent crashing PC that sits at my computer desk collecting dust, that has been about it. My many starts of teen romance novels and issues of H&PLW are now filed in crumpled manila envelopes in a box on my closet floor. But somehow, they were an inspiration. A creative part of my soul. And probably the reason I have found myself into this world of blogging.

Yep, I suppose I missed my calling as a premier magazine editor. However, I did happily become a consuming subscriber. To this day, I still love pouring over the glossy pages of a magazine. I love the way the pages of a new magazine smells. I have a picky and selective eye to layout and design. With the advent of the Internet, I worried that before long, paper copies of magazines would become obsolete. But they have appeared to hold their own. As much as I love reading information online, nothing compares to receiving a new issue of one of my favorite magazines in my mailbox. Or picking it up off the rack at the grocery store and throwing it in my cart.

These are the horse magazines that I currently receive in my mailbox each month:

John Lyon's The Perfect Horse features a lot of basic, common sense horse care and training. I love the cowboy culture of Western Horseman (I have been reading it since I was 10 years old) and drool over the ranches and cowboy way of life. And of course, in honor of my spotted pill, I get the Appaloosa Journal.

I am also a fan of many non-horsey magazines, although I have cut back on them in an attempt to save funds for my horse.

People magazine has recently been putting out these special country editions, which are fun. I am always lured by the elegant fashion and lifestyle spreads in In Style. I also enjoy the quintessential backyard parties using mason jars to serve lemonade in and the antique flea markets featured in Country Living and Country Home, neither of which I could find a copy of lying around here to take a picture of.

What inspired you to become a blogger? What magazines, both horsey and non, do you most enjoy reading, or looking at? Yes, there are months where I do not get to the reading part. I am a master at selective reading. My sister is the only person that will religiously read a magazine from cover to cover, bless her little tired little eyeballs.

P.S. I added my new email link to my sidebar.