Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

When I started teaching 8th grade English, I had the urge to do some writing for myself. Modeling essay structure for my students became fun, not work. I had many papers to write in my graduate courses for certification to teach, and my instructors would tell me I was a good writer. But, teaching full-time while earning my teaching certificate did not allow much free time for creative writing. Once the certification process was complete, I began to tinker around with short stories and an idea for a young adult novel, but my beta readers all told me the same thing: Too much exposition. Takes too long to get started. You don’t write the way you tell your stories. Your stories are so much more exciting. This was also confirmed when I sent a piece off for a professional critique. The one positive comment: Your dialogue is so realistic!

So, I decided to back up and try a different tactic. Since telling stories seemed to be my strong suit, I decided to concentrate on writing creative non-fiction. So, on December 31, 2014, my daughters helped me create a website, this website, Cajun Girl in a Kilt. I set a goal: An Essay a Week for One Year. My hope was that in that one year of disciplined writing, of putting my work out there for all to see (and hopefully read), my writing would improve. I would learn to get to the point. I would learn to dive into the story rather than dilly dally around it. I would strengthen my ability to write something with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. I would hopefully learn to write the way I tell stories, with more imagery and excitement. Practice makes perfect, right?

My first essay was about our dog, License to Carry. I pushed the “publish” button and the line was drawn in the sand. I’ve never ever given up on anything in my life, so I had no intention of giving up on this goal either.

However, 2015 proved to stretch me to my limits. For some crazy reason I decided to direct High School Musical Jr. for my former school’s spring musical. Rehearsals began in February, and middle schoolers came out in droves. It was the biggest cast ever, almost fifty 7th and 8th graders involved in the production. Think cheerleading uniforms for 25 girls and basketball uniforms for a bunch of boys, the largest number of boys we’d ever had show up for auditions. Balancing the extra workload of directing this mega-musical with teaching full-time, and squeezing out enough time to write an essay each week before my midnight Sunday deadline, was quite the challenge.

And, then God sent me yet another cross. My father in Louisiana became critically ill and was in and out of the hospital and rehab center. Things really escalated in April just before tech week for the musical. I flew to Louisiana to help my brothers manage my father’s care and make many difficult decisions, leaving the production to the care of the teachers on my team. They did a wonderful job of pulling it all together, and I returned to Maryland just in time to see the closing performance, which was a splendid success.

Sadly, my father died less than two weeks later, sending me back to Louisiana for his funeral, at a very busy time in the life of a middle school teacher: exams, graduation, report cards, permanent records, closing up a classroom for the summer. Somehow, in grief, I managed to keep my deadline each week, with several essays being written on my father’s computer. Those essays are still difficult for me to read, but most importantly I continued to pursue my goal, to write and hone my craft.

Fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2015. Hurray, I had reached my goal, 52 essays, one a week for one year, all written and published on my website before midnight each Sunday! Whether out of habit or out of some competitive need to continue on, I continued writing my weekly essays until the end of April of 2016. At this point, a friend said to me, “Stop! You did it, now work on getting published in print!”

But, how? The answer came to me when I happened to pick up a copy of Washington Family Magazine, a regional parenting magazine dropped off at my former school once a month. In the February 2017 issue, I read the article, “Local Mom Profile: Welcome Back to the Table”. It was a great article, but as I was reading it, I thought, “I can do this. I can write an article like this.”

Later that week I queried Washington Family Magazine and asked if they would be interested in a profile of a local mom who had converted her garage into an art studio where she hosts the ever-popular paint night parties and uses her art to promote her social justice causes. After getting the green light to proceed, I signed up for one of her paint parties and subsequently scheduled an interview with her. I submitted the article in March, and then radio silence. In the months that followed, I followed up with the editor periodically while I shopped the article around to some national publications. I received polite rejections, although one did tell me it was well-written and enjoyable to read.

The article, “Local Mom Profile Artist Angie Kilcullen and Barn Again Home” was eventually published in the March 2018 issue of Washington Family Magazine, almost a year later. In the subsequent five months, I am happy to report that I’ve developed an ongoing working relationship with this local magazine:

April 2018: “Finish Strong: End the School Year on a High Note”

June 2018: “Squash the Summer Slump” and “Local Dad Profile: Mark Turgeon, Father of Three and Father to Many More”

July 2018: “Can’t Travel? Take a Literary Staycation”

July 2018 (sister publication): “Book It: Take a Literary Staycation”

August 2018: “Armchair Traveler: Books That Let You Travel the World (Without Leaving Home)” and (local kid profile) “Flying To Infinity and Beyond”

And, I’ve submitted one for the upcoming September issue.

As with “An Essay a Week for One Year”, I’ve accomplished my goal of getting published in print. Onward to a new goal, to reach outside of this local market and get published in a national publication. I continue to work on my fiction writing as well, having spent some of this summer fine-tuning a short story that takes place at the popular PBS program Antiques Roadshow. I’ve submitted it to a local literary contest. We’ll see. I’ve had good luck locally!