Columbia Magazine, Fall 2016

A few months ago, when the editors of “Columbia” magazine asked to use an excerpt from my Jailhouse Stories, I was quite pleased.  It had been a long time since I’d had an article in that prestigious publication – the quarterly periodical of the Washington Historical Society.  They asked for my suggestions and I thought part of Chapter Eight, “The Hanging of Lum You,” might be of interest.  I submitted the excerpt plus eight photo possibilities.

As it turned out, the editors decided to go in a different direction entirely.  They asked, instead, for an excerpt from Chapter One, “Justice in a Timely Manner,” which deals more with my process, showing how a simple object–a register- can reveal so much important history about a place. This would cover pages 17-32.

Subsequently, there was a lot of ‘discussion’ (maybe ‘dickering’ is a better word) about exactly what this “excerpt” would entail.  Their ideas of an excerpt differed from mine.  They sent me suggested copy which did, indeed, use my words but took them somewhat out of context by deleting sentences or entire paragraphs from my original chapter.  But it would be over my byline…

Published Excerpt

When I objected, they kindly gave me an opportunity to write the article, myself – 2,400 words regarding how I had utilized Pacific County Prison Log No. One to write Jailhouse Stories from Early Pacific County, the word count to include an author’s bio.  I complied with that request.  They didn’t like what I wrote. Too personal. … it focused too much on the new book and on yourself to be suitable for COLUMBIA.

In the end, I agreed to go along with their “excerpt” after all.  It just seemed easier and, besides, I was probably being way too exacting and persnickety.  Plus, they said, as you probably know we are a quarterly so it usually takes a year to get published but it may happen sooner. It depends on what we need to balance out the issue.  Maybe by the time it was finally published I would feel less attached to my own words and context and could look at this “excerpt” with more objective eyes.

But… I guess the balancing act was not so difficult after all.  The Fall 2016 issue is out and the excerpt is contained therein.  Pages 22-26 including six photos!  Check it out!  It looks great!