Category Archives: mla

Hopelessly Excited

I just got my first article accepted for publication! I received the email from the editor just a few minutes ago, and it hasn’t completely sunk in, and I am so excited I can barely type in coherent sentences, which is rather ironic considering the reason for this post, but I am practically bouncing off the walls! It won’t appear for several months, but that doesn’t matter, it is an article, in a reputable publication!And I need to calm down before I give myself a heart attack and end up with a posthumously published article.

There are two things wrong with it that need to be corrected before anything can go further.

The first is a very easy fix. Instead of double spacing, I spaced it 1.5. I am not sure why I did that. Also, don’t they reformat for publication anyway? Actually, what do I know? As I said, easy fix.

The second problem, however, is kind of a big deal. I didn’t know I did this, but I didn’t follow standard MLA citation. As far as I know I combed through this thing a zillion times for that very reason. I consulted the MLA handbook more times than I can remember. And I failed.

It is a little frightening because if I haven’t figured out MLA by now, I am kind of screwed. If what I have done so far isn’t good enough, then I don’t even know where to begin.

She said they really like the piece, but what if they won’t publish it because I can’t put the parentheses in the right place? Yes, I know this sounds hilarious, except right now I am not laughing. I am too excited to think straight, so trying to go over it tonight is futile.

I at least want to email her back tonight, but I haven’t the slightest clue what to say. Um… “thank you for letting me know.” No.

At work people always say my emails sound curt. I am not being curt, I just don’t know how to properly communicate. I either ramble on and on (i.e. every blog post I have ever written), or I send out one sentence responses.

I was able to email her in the first place because my email was a cover letter. I can do cover letters. But to promise proper MLA revision? I don’t know how to do that without sounding like an idiot. Not to mention, if I couldn’t do it right the first time, what makes anyone think I can do it right the second time?

I am hopeless.

And ridiculously excited.