The Not-So-Secret Path to My Publishing Success

New Publication Alert! 

"Welfare Baby" 
in the New York Daily News on Monday, September 14, 2020

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I’ve written before about the ways in which I can often trace my publications to personal and community relationships I’ve developed along the way.

My most recent OpEd, "Welfare Baby," which ran in the NY Daily News is no different.

What does it take to get published?

The simplest answer? ​​

Write, Revise, Submit, Repeat
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That’s it. You keep doing those things until your work is accepted and published. 

The order might change, there might be some revise and resubmit thrown in there, but at the heart of it, that is the work.
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My Not-So-Secret Path to Publication Success

There is also another underrated or underreported step most writers I know prioritize: 
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Get yourself good people.

People who see potential in you and your work when all you see is spit up on your shirt. Let them lift you up and help you get published!

There are a lot of roles these good people have played for me: they've invited me to submit work as editors, they've sent me call for submissions, they've joined me for writing or submission sessions.

These community pieces have helped keep me motivated, accountable, and submitting.

My OpEd was no different.
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From FB Post to Published OpEd in 35 Days​

 I had NO INTENTION of writing an OpEd. 

I was remembering Papi, and decided to share on Facebook one of my favorite stories about him. That memorializing turned into political commentary.

Then it did that thing that FB posts do: it got engagement. People started liking and commenting which led to more liking and commenting.

My Papi’s story, my family’s story, really, resonated with folks and I was so glad to have his memory touch hearts in this way. Every bit of memorializing that keeps him alive, every lesson that he taught me that can help others, all of it feels like a blessing.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this weekend, and the Jewish refrain “may her memory be for a blessing” is everywhere. Though I’m not Jewish, I love that refrain. It resonates deeply with how I try to honor and grieve my Papi: May his memory be for a blessing.

For me that was the end of it. A FB reflection that allowed me to share the best of Papi with my little corner of the world. A memory that helped friends embrace their own “Welfare Baby” stories as the stories of resilience and triumph that they were.

And then one friend said: turn this into an OpEd.

And I said... oh well I couldn’t...

And she said: Yes you can.

Here are pictures of the actual exchange (read transcript below):

Transcript of the Comments:

Blanca: Preach!  I suggest you flesh this out and pitch it as an op-Ed to a major newspaper or mag.

Li Yun: the littles give me little headspace to pitch & write these days, but we'll see...

Blanca: op-Ed's are like 600-700 words. You can knock it out!

Blanca: But I feel you. I haven't written much in months with my two wee ones running around

Li Yun: oh that's good to know. I haven't done op eds, so part of worries me even more that the writing is the learning curve around figuring out where / how to pitch. But thank you so much for the encouragement & the info!

Li Yun: and since I have your ear, any pubs you suggest I approach?

​Blanca: I will DM you some ideas.

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How to Publish an OpEd

I didn’t know the first thing about writing or submitting an OpEd, so the option of turning my musings into one would never have occurred to me.

Like they say: you don’t know what you don’t know.

Sometimes all you need is that one person to nudge you in the right direction.

Behind the scenes Blanca sent me more encouraging words, some suggestions on where to submit (start with some NYC outlets), and this helpful article on writing an OpEd: "OpEd Writing: Tips and Tricks."

Then she followed up to make sure that I submitted and to find out what happened.

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Timeline: FB Post to Published OpEd in 35 Days

• T 8/11 FB post; friend encourages me to turn it into an OpEd & sends useful resource to help me

• W 8/12 Draft an OpEd based on the original post

• Th 8/13 Submit to NY Times (wait 3 business days before submitting elsewhere as indicated in guidelines).

• W 8/19 Submit to NY Daily News

• T 8/25 Editor sends me a Revise & Resubmit Request (get it down to under 700 words)

• W 8/26 I revise & resubmit a tightened version

• Th 9/10 I send Follow Up e-mail; editor confirms he plans to use it; editor sends me an edited version that’s tightened further for approval; I approve

• F 9/11 Editor send contract; I sign & return contract

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• M 9/14 OpEd runs in the NY Daily News

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Writer Friends & Happy Accident

Blanca and I met quite by accident. 

In 2013, before we had kids, my husband and I decided to take a last minute drive from LA up to San Francisco for our friend’s birthday party.

At the party, the birthday boy introduced me to his cousin, Blanca, also a writer. 

We chatted and soon realized we both had essays featured in Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education (a collection I was in because the editor, Jennifer De Leon, a fellow VONA Alum, invited me to submit work for consideration -- but that's another story).

Blanca and I became FB friends that night and have used that medium to keep up that Facebook acquaintanceship.

Blanca’s generosity and her desire to see more Latina voices — voices of color in general — in print in our newspapers, inspired her to encourage me to turn my Facebook post into an OpEd. She then went the extra mile of providing resources to help me get started.

I turned around that OpEd in 35 days (you can see the full timeline above).

I didn’t have an “in” at the NY Daily News. I didn’t need one. 

All I needed was that good idea, a well-crafted draft, and, most importantly, the nudge to actually craft and submit this particular piece.

If you don’t submit, you don’t get published.

So get yourself some good people.

And BE that good person for others.

I’m so grateful to Blanca and will continue to do my part to pay it forward each and every time I can.
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