A Quick Story: The “First in Print” Tradition

          For people who write for publication, there is a quaint tradition of framing, and sometimes displaying, a copy of their first words to make it into print publication, on-air, or electronically disseminated.

          In my case, my first written words to go public were in a short housekeeping item in the community daily newspaper in Columbia, Missouri, on renewal of fire tags with the local volunteer fire department.

          I was an undergraduate student at the University of Missouri-Columbia working my way through the required curriculum in the school’s Advertising Sequence. Firmly based in community newspapers, one became a print journalist first and then specialized in broadcasting, magazines, or advertising.

         Thus, all ad sequence students were required to take a basic newspaper reporting course which required one to be a reporter on the university’s community daily newspaper for a semester. My assigned “beat” was the Boone County Volunteer Fire Department.

         As a primary responsibility, I covered fire responses made by the department. These were obtained via a daily telephone call to the fire chief’s wife and then writing up reports of fire facts which were generally minor in nature.

         Reporting minor fire calls became uninviting very quickly. As a bored creative writer, I included in a response to a kitchen fire involving a pan of beans that the “fire damage was confined to the beans.” That, of course, earned me a trip to the editor’s office and lecture on the importance of serious news reporting.

        My first in print, however, was a reminder for people served by the fire department to renew fire tags. These are still available today, mostly for rural people who don’t pay property taxes which support a department.

        For those who don’t secure a subscription, the local fire department will fight your fire or provide other emergency services but will then send you an often very large bill. So, my mini news story item was a small but important item.

        I, of course, sent a copy of the clipping to my biggest fan, my mother, who then proudly sent it back in a 3 1/2 by 6-inch frame. It was my “first in print”, modest start of a career as a professional writer, and as you can see, I still have it.