Better late than never! The reason I brought this thread to the top again is the fact a revised version of the article I wrote relating to Headlights for Lighthouses Cruise of 2004 was finally published.

The article mentions nothing about HFL because of a series of events that happend right when I was ready to submit my article. I spent many hours preparing the article for submission, including photos. I left a voice mail for my contact with the publication that I was leaving on vacation and would be gone a couple of weeks and that the story package was available for pick up at my work place. When I returned from vacation the package was still here. I called my contact and once again I got voice mail so I left another message that I was going back on vacation and the package would still be at my work place.

Needless to say when I returned from my second vacation and the article wasn't picked up, I did some checking and found out that my contact had been diagnosed with cancer and was out of commission having very aggressive treatment. My article seemed of little importance to me then. Nothing is more important than your health.

A couple of months later, my contact gave me a call and asked me to submit the article. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity for an article about a Spring event had passed. The magazine advised me they would publish the article next Spring if the Headlights for Lighthouses was again held at the Cape. I guess you know the answer to that, it wasn't going to be at the Cape in 2005.

The publisher then asked if I would be willing to rewrite the article without reference to HFL, and turn it into a day tour of some of the lighthouses on the Cape. I agreed to do it and this would salvage part of the many hours I spent on the original article.

After several rewrites to reduce the article to a size acceptable by the magazine, my article and two of my photos were published in the May issue of Cape Cod Life. One photo of Nauset Light appears in the index, and the other photo of Highland Light appears at the beginning of the article.

I'm pleased that all my efforts to work with this publication finally paid off. The hardest part of the whole assignment was the editing of the article down to size. It meant sacrificing some direction and lots of color, so to speak. The final product was less than half the size of the original article. I'm just glad it made it into the publication. Now I have my foot in the door for future contributions to the magazine.

Bob