Idaho Magazine

A while back, the Life Editor on The Sentinel submitted a story that he had written for our paper to Idaho Magazine. Low and behold, they published it! They even paid him about $25, and used one of the pictures he had taken, also.

My life-long dream has been to get published in a magazine, from Highlights for Kids to Sports Illustrated to being named one of People’s Sexiest Men of the Year.

I really am not picky.

Now, I have always known Idaho Magazine existed. I even knew that they were always requesting submissions. However, I had never seen anybody get anything published (save for my buddy and old photo editor James Hannibal. But he is a freak of nature in all aspects: drinking, living and most importantly, taking phenomenal photos). So I never even considered Idaho Magazine. Meanwhile, I always thought the publication lacked a certain luster; it just wasn’t a huge read like Gentleman’s Quarterly or Maxim.

But after Eli’s success with Idaho’s perennial publication, I decided to give it a try. The only other time I had submitted anything to a magazine, Playgirl told me to start working out…

Nevertheless, I figured my best bet was a story I once wrote about a pal who hunted “Anything that Moves.” That also happened to be the headline. It was a nice feature about my buddy John who had moved from Hawaii, and – never mind, here is the e-mail:

Jake wrote:
Hey, I was just reading Idaho Magazine and thought this was a good fit. It's an article about a guy from Hawaii who moved to Coeur d'Alene, and now hunts "Anything that moves." He's got some funny quotes, so I just thought I'd submit and see what you thought. I also have some photos.

Idaho Magazine replied:
I think you're right, Jake, it's pretty funny. Also a bit of a worry,
especially with what's been going down on campuses in recent years. Makes me wonder what happened to this guy along the way. I could see running it, especially if we learned a little more about his personal history and got a better notion of why he's overwhelmed by the power trip of killing things. Psychologically, he's interesting, but of course the problem is we're starting work on the January issue now, which is a long way from hunting season. I'll file this, and if you're interested in looking a little deeper into what motivates him, shoot me a reminder in four or five months. Thanks for thinking of us.

Long story short, just look at these five words: “I COULD SEE RUNNING IT.”

Boom shakka lakka!

While my timing may have been off this time, at least they didn’t tell me “No!” My ego took a small hit when he told me to e-mail him in 4 or 5 months, as I figured he would be frothing at the mouth in anticipation of next year’s hunting season to unveil the first Idaho Magazine boasting a byline from Jake Donahue.

But I can wait.

Besides, there are plenty of other magazines. And if I can start shooting out previously written articles, I don’t even have to work on writing anything new. I love being lazy!