So my teacher Julia Dahl suggested my story about the New York Times Travel Show might be right for Time Out New York Kids.

An earlier version of the story can be found at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mbcoudal/3/1267469654/tpod.html (The Travel Show is Feb. 25th to 27th. I’m going back!)

So I called the magazine and immediately got a live person. I can’t tell you her name. Because, like Valerie Plame, I keep my sources secret.

One of my favorite lines is from the outed CIA agent, Valerie Plame, played by Naomi Watts in the movie Fair Game, who said, “You can’t break me. I have no breaking point.”

Back to my story — I talked very briefly to a lovely editor who accepted my submission, and then within an hour, sent me a wonderful rejection, which basically said, “This isn’t right for us, but feel free to pitch to me in the future.”

So, I feel great! I have a source. I have to continue to make connections, write a lot, learn a lot. I have to gain more insider info. I want to become the Wikileaks of online writing classes. At least for a few more weeks until my Boot Camp for Journalists class is over.

I do want to get some of my millions of essays published. And this boot camp is not going to break me. Because I have no breaking point. And who knows? It might make me.

I am nothing, if not optimistic.