I'm 76, I Live in Two States, and I Just Submitted My First Article to a Real Magazine

My name is Carol. I'm 76 years old and I split my time between Louisiana and Arizona. I travel the miles between them in a 2012 black Volvo S60 with a little terrier named Thumper riding shotgun.
I write about what I know. Aging. Adventure. The road. Survival without drama. I've been publishing on Substack for a while now — a weekly newsletter about life on the road and growing older without apology. But this week I did something that scared me a little.
I wrote an essay about something I've never talked about publicly. Something that happened before the road trips became an adventure. Before they became a newsletter. Back when sleeping in a parking lot wasn't a choice so much as a fact.
I sent that essay to The Sun Magazine. A real literary magazine. The kind that pays writers and takes six months to answer. I hit submit and then I sat with the not-knowing, which is its own kind of writing lesson.
I don't know if they'll take it. But I wrote it true and I sent it anyway. That felt like enough.
I came to Hive because I believe writing should find its readers and sometimes its readers should help pay the rent. I've been on Steemit before — years ago — so I understand how this works. I'm not new to the blockchain but I am new to this community and I'm glad to be here.
What you'll find from me going forward — stories from the road, honest writing about what it means to be 76 and still moving, still curious, still pulling into parking lots at midnight and figuring it out one night at a time.
Thumper sends his regards.
— Carol