By Eilene Lyon
It really doesn’t count as a byline, but it’s my first recollection of something I wrote being published somewhere—even though it was just a question. In this case, it appeared in the Teen Action Line column of the Miami Herald international edition on Nov. 17, 1974. For a 12-year-old, this was a big deal!
I can’t recall how I came up with this particular query, but apparently it was good enough for the Miami newsroom. Could they have come up with a better answer? Perhaps.
I like how they pointed out that rainbows are really a full circle, but we see only a portion of it. I have seen the full circles while gazing through plane windows at thirty thousand feet or so.
The thrill of seeing one’s name in a publication of any type never seems to fade. Whether it was something I wrote or something written about me, I enjoy the buzz of recognition in a public venue.
I haven’t saved every one, particularly not letters to the editor (back when I thought writing those made some sort of difference). But I have yet to assemble them into any coherent collection. One of these days…
Myricopia 
😊
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That is so cool! You’ve reminded me that when I was in Grade 8, I published a poetry column in the local newspaper. I guess we were developing our passions back then
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Wow! You were ambitious and settled on that pretty early.
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Well, I moved away from poetry for a number of years before I started writing again – wrote it off as teen angst, lol
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Understandable. I only wrote poetry for fun while I was in college. Wrote little stories in 6th grade, but didn’t turn to writing again (aside from school papers) until very recently.
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I think it’s called “Life”, lol.
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Cool. Were you living in Guatemala then??
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Yes, we lived there for three and a half years. I’ve written a number of blog posts about it.
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That’s very cool! No wonder you were excited 🙂
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I’m easily impressed with myself.😏
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Great question! And I never knew why rainbows were in an arc.
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I expect a physicist could come up with a perfectly incomprehensible answer.
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LOL! for sure!
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How fun Eilene! I vaguely remember working on and also being published in a creative writing “magazine” when I was in 9th or 10th grade maybe. It was a school publication. Sadly my own copy disappeared years ago but perhaps someone has a copy sitting buried in a box somewhere…
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Maybe the school keeps an archive of that stuff. It might be fun to find it!
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Well I hadn’t thought of that! It could be 2 different schools as here we split 9th grade still at junior high school level and 10th grade was officially high school and a different building. It might be plausible to think the high school has it archived somewhere as I think they do that with the yearbooks…
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Let me know if you decide to look!
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I would be excited, too. Hell, 15 years or so ago, I wrote a comment for Victoria Magazine that got published – I was all excited then, too! 🙂
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It doesn’t take much, does it?!
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No, it doesn’t! Easy to please 😉
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😊
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Good question! I’ve never thought to ask about the shape of a rainbow.
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They say there are no dumb questions… I wonder if my dad was stumped and told me to send it to Action Line.
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Now, there’s a thought!
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I think that is so exciting. What a question and answer. The first time I saw my name in print was in the Everett Herald for winning a contest that was for kids. They sent me a prize that was a whistle shaped like a bird!
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Cheers to your wandering mind wondering! Yes, it’s exciting to see your question used. When we were in Alaska many years ago, my wife hopped into a small plane to fly around Mt. Denali (McKinley back then). She took a picture (on film that I think we still have) of the plane’s shadow on a cloud below inside a circle rainbow. Amazing!
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That’s what I’ve seen, too: the plane’s shadow in a circular rainbow. 🌈
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12 year old You was serving notice to your future self!
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I didn’t pay much heed for a very long time!
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You done just fine.
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Just a few detours along the way – all good.
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I still have the “book” I wrote in first grade, What is Quiet? It, of course, has my byline… I wrote it in crayon myself! There is something very special seeing your name in print, whether it’s an editorial, a short story, a poem, or a full-length book.
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I love that you got your first book “published” in first grade! And that you still have it. How delightful!
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How fun that you saved this all these years Eilene. I have a story I wrote about my pets back in grade school, complete with crayon stick drawings. It is in a scrapbook my mom saved for me and I treasure it.
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Bless the parents who save their children’s creative output!
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Yes, we are all grateful. (My artwork never made it to the fridge door, but I don’t think people did that when I was a kid.)
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Mine, neither. But Mom kept just about everything I ever made for her, no matter how ugly!
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Twelve? How cool!
I used to be a newspaper editor. You would be surprised at the number of people who would come in and buy multiple copies of a single issue so everyone they knew could have the keepsake.
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I think people still do that. I’ve received clippings from friends even recently.
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That’s wonderful!!
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