I had sent my pitch to HuffPost Personal on October 1st, 2019 at 9:47am and within minutes at 9:52am the Editorial Director responded requesting a draft of my full story to see if it would be a fit for HuffPost Personal. He sent along some general guidelines (word count/style/format) and some example articles that he had already accepted and published.
We went back to the drawing board, and I started writing. Most of the segments I have published came to me on dog walks with tiny typing on my phone making sure my feelings, personal experiences, emotions and everything I wanted to share with the world would be captured in this article. Within less than three days on October 3rd, 2019 the full article was born and submitted at 8:48am. And once more, very quickly on October, 4th 2019 at 6:46am I received an email from the Editorial Director accepting my article and promising to publish it after a few edits. The new deadline was set for October 14th. I was suppose to nudge him to remind him about my piece.
So I did, but the Editorial Director kept postponing the date to publish. First, his assistant editor fell ill. Then one of his family members was ill. He kept asking me to nudge him over and over which I did, but it seemed all a little strange to be honest. No contract was ever sent to me. Just promises in emails. December came and after another nudge he promised to publish early in January. But edits never came … although, he did mention he would “…definitely need photos…” There was a lot of nudging from my end and a lot of promises on his, but then Covid-19 was declared a National Emergency on March 13th 2020. And of course, the Editorial Editor apologized, “I’m sorry that your piece slipped through the cracks. It was completely my fault and I owe you a huge apology. After this whole coronavirus nightmare is over, let’s talk again and see if there’s something else we can do instead. In the meantime — I’m sending you the best thoughts and hope you’re staying as safe and sane and healthy as possible. xx.”
That was a big bummer. I do belief that my article could’ve easily been edited to fit the covid-19 pandemic — after all, California Supreme Court throwing me out of stripping was in the end a blessing. Who knows, maybe if I would’ve not quit when I quit I might’ve contracted covid-19 and be dead by now.
So you’re probably wondering why I’m even wasting my breath on this mini series. Here is why: I know nobody gives a damn about the California law anymore and how it affects strippers. Nobody gave a damn back then, and nobody even gives a damn right now that almost all strippers (expect the ones that are stripping virtually) are out of work. And that is why my article is still timely. It’s about us women who are literally forgotten. Whether it’s a law or a deadly virus, nobody really gives a shit about us strippers and what we do with our money, how we made a difference, saved lives, and fed our families (fury or not).
And therefore I choose to at least publish my own article, because in my opinion, it’s damn good …
Stay tuned … to be continued …
Jonesing for more? http://www.amazon.com/dp/1257802860/ref=dra_a_rv_ss_ho_it_P1400_1000?tag=dradis-20
Or watch http://vimeo.com/59749732
Or click on https://www.amazon.com/author/aajones
Tilt: Diary of a Virgin Stripper 