Magazine writing leaves me short-winded

For this writer, magazine editors have always been a bit of a mystery. One magazine paid me more for my amateur photos than for my professionally written article. In fact, I often get the sense that magazines don’t value writing all that much. Recently, however, I sent a 2,000-word feature to a major outdoor magazine. I got back a glowing note from the editor. He called it “delightful” and “very nicely done.” He said it had “just the right tone, with great detail.” “Funny,” too, he said. I was ecstatic. Then came the next paragraph.

Due to a backlog of feature articles and dwindling editorial space in the magazine, could I perhaps distill it down to 300 choice words AND retain some of the humor?

“Disappointing” doesn’t begin to describe it. And yet, the Sally Field in me wasn’t entirely squelched.  So now I am writing a short piece for one of the magazine’s recurring columns. I’m still excited at the prospect of  a writing credit in a really good magazine. But I’m also anxious. The only thing harder than editing your own (delightful, funny) work is throwing away 5/6ths of it.

Maybe I should have sent photos instead.