Inspiration breeds inspiration

On Thursday, I spoke about writing at a TEDx Talk in Natick, Massachusetts.

Later, during the reception, I was approached by a woman who told me that years ago, she wrote a poem and planned on submitting it to The New Yorker, but she was too nervous to do so.

“I might just submit it now that I’ve heard you talk.”

I told the woman that she needed to submit it tomorrow. No more waiting to take action. “Let’s promise each other,” I said. “You submit your poem within 24 hours, and I’ll submit one of my own.”

She agreed.

Before noon the next day, I received an email from the woman that included the poem and the digital receipt from The New Yorker indicating the submission of a poem.

I was shocked. Also overjoyed and inspired.

We hadn’t exchanged contact information. We hadn’t said anything about getting in touch with each other, No agreement had been made about connecting after the event to hold each other accountable.

But she did. She found my contact information online and confirmed that she had submitted her poem. She forwarded the poem to me, too.

It’s fantastic.

Immediately upon receiving the email, I assembled a small collection of my own unpublished poetry and submitted it to The New Yorker, too. As a part of the submission process, you’re asked to include a cover letter. In mine, I mentioned my new literary friend and how she inspired me to submit my poems.

I hope the editors at The New Yorker like a good story.

It apparently takes about six weeks for them to respond to poetry submissions, so now the waiting game begins.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for my new friend. It would be exciting to see one of my poems in print. To date, I’ve only published one poem in my life, and that appeared in a small, now-defunct literary journal.

But I think it would be ten times as exciting to find out that my new friend’s poem had been accepted for publication, so I’m rooting for her. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the editors at The New Yorker will love her poem as much as I do.

I hope you will, too.