Writerly Virginity

Getting something published for the first time is like contemplating losing my writerly virginity.

Lately I've been seriously looking into places where I can get my work into print, and as a fledgling writer with very few credentials, I should not be picky with where I send my stuff, so long as it comes out on a glossy page gleaming with ink. But for some reason, I really don't want to get published just anywhere with just anything: I want my first piece to be a really awesome one, in a really awesome magazine, and ideally I'd like to get paid for it. Not only is it highly unlikely that the first two will happen (well, it would probably have to be a pretty good piece to be published), but the latter is probably impossible. While Lucy Maud Montgomery might have been able to sell stories as "pot boilers" back in the day when she was supporting her husband and herself and biding her time until Ann of Green Gables went to print, short stories these days are just not as needed as they used to be. Of course, this is mostly because of the flood in the market - but also because no one reads short stories anymore, unless you're in an English class.

That being said, I don't really want to whore out a piece of writing that I think is really quality to a low end rag when it's possibly something that could go alongside a more prestigious collection of work. I really want to start of a high note and stay strong.

Also, I am a total snob about getting printed in an e-zine. Unfortunately, and here comes the first test of where I start to draw the line on my personal views of money vs. artistic self worth: e-zines pay money, printed magazines don't really. Do I send my stuff to be push-button published and get paid, or do I be self-righteous for art's sake and suffer brokeness but get a physical copy of my work on a real, pulpy, ink-scented page?

Anyway, lots for consideration. What I should do is stop deliberating and just send my stuff out. Don't think, just do it, as one of my good friends likes to say.