I’m freakin’ out, y’all. Like, really freakin’ out.

Yesterday, I emailed a draft to Human Parts, and today they said yes!

“Hi Darcy! Thanks for sending this over, it’s an interesting perspective and I think it’s great for Human Parts — which is why I’d like to publish it in our Partner Program (read more about it here). I’d also like to compensate you with $250.00 (or more) as part of this offer. Details below!…”

When these milestone moments happen, we need to take the time to feel them. Successful folks are always saying it never feels like enough. The more success you get, the higher your bar goes.

Right now, THIS FEELS BIG.

Getting published in a Medium-run publication has been my big goal for so long now, and Human Parts is a natural fit for me, since I mostly write personal essays. But I thought I couldn’t actually submit to Human Parts. I thought I had no choice but to hope they magically noticed me.

That’s how it’d always happened in the stories I’d heard from my writer friends: they’d get an email that Human Parts wanted to publish their fantastic, already-published stories. I know this was the case with Sarah Lofgren’s amazingly weird piece:

I love publishing almost everything I write in publications run by Medium writer-editors. But I figured for Human Parts to pick up an already published Medium piece of mine, it would need to not be in any publication. So, each time I’ve published with P. S. I Love You, I’ve wondered whether I should instead leave that piece outside of a publication, just in case Human Parts noticed it and chose to swoop it up.

Then yesterday, I saw this:

That’s a Medium post from the Human Parts writer account (not the actual publication, full of lots of named writers) posting for the first time since 2015, with a call for submissions, and submission guidelines to write for Human Parts.

The post tells you exactly how to query Human Parts and includes their email for submissions: humanparts@medium.com

I thought I couldn’t actually submit to Human Parts. I thought I had no choice but to hope they magically noticed me.

This meant, rather than wondering whether to leave my best, personal stories outside of great publications like P. S. I Love You and Fearless She Wrote, on the off-chance that Human Parts might notice them, I could email a draft straight to Human Parts.

If they said no or I never heard back, oh well. I’d go on to do what I usually do: submit to another fantastic publication on Medium.

I wouldn’t even feel bad about the rejection, because I know Human Parts only publishes the very best personal writing.

But if they said yes?… They did!

Whoa! Wow! Ooh! Aah! Yeeeeeeeeah!

If you want to submit to Human Parts, check out those submission guidelines. They’re simple and tell you how to query them, either with a pitch, or with a full, unpublished draft.

I submitted a greeting, a quick synopsis of my essay along with its length — 6 minutes — a link to my unpublished Medium draft, and a quick run-down of my Medium credentials:

“I’m a frequent contributor to P. S. I Love You; and a Top Writer in Feminism, This Happened To Me, Culture, Relationships, and Love.”

I’m a Top Writer in some other categories as well, but those are the topics that relate to the personal essay I submitted.

Want to submit a story to Human Parts?

“Human Parts is Medium’s home for personal essays and perspectives — from the mundane to the extraordinary to everything in between. More than anything, we strive to inspire our readers to close their browsers and start writing themselves.”

— from the Human Parts submission guidelines

Hey, no harm in trying.

I tried, and it actually worked.

(Wooooo hooooooooo!!!!!!!!!)

Here it is:

Edit: As I said at the top, as of August 2019, Human Parts email submissions are closed. Human Parts will instead find self-published pieces on Medium and invite the writers to add those pieces to Human Parts.