I have been there and know exactly what you’re describing about building up the courage to submit. That hasn’t really gone away for me. I still feel that nervous energy when I submit, especially to my favorite venues — for me, right now, it’s This American Life. Sometimes the rejection gets to be too much. I grow bitter and refuse to listen to the show. I make vulgar rhymes concerning Ira Glass. But then I come around. I start listening (and submitting) again. I just have to keep hoping that one day I’ll crack that market, but here is the only thing one can guarantee about such things: We can only hope to succeed if we keep submitting. We musn’t give up!

TAL just changed the page that describes how to submit and it’s much less formal now. Or maybe it’s been this informal all along and I have just been doing it wrong. If I get a story on that show, you better believe I’m going to post about it here on the blog. I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

Best of luck, RuDee! And thanks for liking Junk on Facebook!

First, thanks for your candor and encouragement on this blog. It’s awesome. As a religious Modern Love reader…soon as you mentioned the hat, I was like, “oooh! The dad one!”

I’ve been building up the courage for more than 5 years to submit to the column. Your words here were the tipping point. Thank you.

~R