Friday, February 8, 2013

Huffingstein Post

My publisher asks me to write a “Top 10 Cancer-Surviving Tips” article for Men’s Health Magazine in 2010 → I draft the article → send it to my publisher and literary agent, K → K says, “That is among the funniest things I have ever read. I was seriously laughing my a** off” → I am glowing because I love compliments from K → finalize my humor article → submit it to my publisher, who submits it to Men’s Health Magazine → No dice → I sit on the article → work on it again because I have a burning need to see all my projects to completion and hate sitting on things → resubmit the article to humor magazines → and humor blogs → No dice → Now I question whether this article is still funny, or if I over-tweaked it → I publish a different story in The Huffington Post’s “Generation Why” section → nice fella from The Huffington Post says he likes that other story and wants more from me → I re-open the “Top 10 Cancer-Surviving Tips” article → tweak it → tweak it more → send it to Hamburgers to review → He says I over-tweaked it and should reconsider the original version K loved → Hamburgers is right → Hamburgers is usually right → I give it my best effort, combining the best of all versions, and submit it to nice fella from Huffington Post → Nice fella says I should change the tone from sarcastic advice, to warning → I tweak it → resubmit the article → Story posts → I rejoice in another HP contribution → and in finally seeing this two-and-a-half-year-old article to the end → and hope it is funny → It may be funny → or it may not be funny → You decide for yourself after reading it here

2 comments:

Shannon R said...

It's funny!

Benjamin Rubenstein said...

Thank you, Shannon! You're to my writing what my mom was to my soccer games: always saying I rock and boosting my confidence whether I'm on my game or not. I'll continue to (try to) humor you and my other superfans.