I'm All Over Your Newsstand

The day has finally come when I can make my big announcement.  I’m GAY!  In a little over a month, I will have my first article published in “Dance Spirit” Magazine.  About three months ago, I was contacted to write a story for the magazine about my struggle dealing with Epstein Barr Virus and when the January issue hits the stands it will be out for all the world to see.

It seems like I’ve written about this subject ad nauseam but I was excited beyond belief to work on an official article chronicling my struggle.  Over the past seven months I’ve wrestled with various ways to explain my ailment to company members, friends and family with very little success.  The challenge of writing an article for a magazine forced me to come up with the clearest and most concise way of communicating my struggle to a wide audience.  This proved to be much more of a challenge than I anticipated, but also and incredible learning experience.

Having only written for blogs over the past two years, my foray into the magazine world brought up some different challenges than I’m used to.  There’s the pesky fact that before a magazine sees the light of day, it goes through the hands of various editors who all have their fair share to say regarding ways to improve it.  With “Ranting” and  “The Winger,” I run the show with my posts but I’m also very much in the dark regarding some things. 

With the help of my incredible editor Abigail Rasminsky, I was forced to take my writing to the next level.  She taught me to go through sentence by sentence and streamline my thought so it would have the greatest emotional impact (as well as being grammatically correct.)  With each subsequent draft she urged me to flesh out my descriptions and shy away from broad generalizations.  Part of what made this so difficult was the inherent difficulty in describing an illness as vague as EBV.  Ultimately, through her incredible support, I feel like I was able to get to the clearest description of both the physical and emotional debilitation that accompanies my sickness. 

Even though I feel like I ultimately got a solid article out, it was an emotionally draining process.  I must admit that even now, after reading the article over nearly fifty times it still breaks a little part of my heart each time.  When I first began writing it, we all had hoped by the time it hit newsstands the pain would be a thing of the past but with each passing day it gets harder to accept that it’s still here.  In some ways writing the article helped me purge some of my frustration regarding being sick. 

Going through sentence by sentence to such an extreme degree often found me throwing my hands in the air wondering how I could possibly make my emotions clear to a broad audience.  With each draft I had the little devil known as word limit sitting on my shoulder urging me to cut, cut, cut.  This proved to be the most difficult task because I had to encompass information about my career, the origins of the illness, the emotional and physical implications of EBV and many other things.   Through the gentle guidance of my editor, she provoked me to challenge myself and accomplish the task.   As pesky as word limit is, it's a very useful parameter.  With anything I create, I thrive off of having some sort of boundaries to challenge me and the word limit forced me to be a better writer. 

It’s strange to think that without my illness a door like this might never have been opened.  It’s also strange to think that this was the first contract I signed that wasn’t for the use of my body (i.e dancing…you have a dirty, dirty mind.)  I’m excited to finally have my friends (and all of the other people who will come across it) read something that explains what I’ve been going through in the best way possible.  Be sure to pick up a copy when it hits newsstands in mid-December!!!   

Comments

[Tania]

That's so exciting! I'll be sure to check it out. Also, good editors are god's gift to writers, you know? They teach you so much, and it's so hard to find (or be, for that matter) a really good editor. Bad editors are soul-destroying.

Also, I'm really enjoying your "dancer trading cards" on the winger.

[jennifer]

This is AMAZING! Congrats M!

[Amberlynn]

Congrats! I've also been enjoying your dancer trading cards. :)

[susan]

hang in there, matt! i'm looking forward to reading your article.

lots and lots of hugs,
susan

[Susan Lenz]

Hi!
Congratulations! This will be the first of many, many wonderful written, published (non-blog published!) works. Those of us who've been reading for a long time absolutely know that you were born both a dancer and a writer. In a sense, since I've never actually SEEN you dance, I trust this as fact...but I read you regularly, so I KNOW you're a writer! You leave proof of it each and every day.

I'm leaving a comment here simply because I couldn't bear to leave one on some of the heart-breaking posts you've had to write recently. Also, I don't generally post comments...but, this is too special, too wonderful, and will lead to too many fabulous opportunities that will last a lifetime. I want to be first in line for the books you will write.

Another Susan

[Cathy]

whoa, awesome!!
congrats!!will it be available online?

[Keith]

Wow! I'm very proud of you, Matt. Do I smell a second career coming on? Certainly no one could write about dance better than you. And obviously I'm only one of many who believe that. Can't wait to see the article. And congratulations!

[Ariel]

Congrats! When will it be on newstands, or is it already there?

[Barbara]

This is another wonderful step in the Journey of Matt! Congrats! I hope I can find the magazine in my neck of the woods.

[delirium]

Congrats! that is great news.

I'm so happy for you.

*hugs*