After four more pieces, the publishers of Mothering offered Anne a regular column in their magazine. It was an incredible honor.
Anne found that when you were a columnist, there were a lot of rules. Because she was officially employed by the magazine- she was on their payroll now, and would receive her checks every four weeks- she could not just write anything she came up with. Instead, she was given specific topics the publishers wanted to see in each issue. Often she had ideas that she couldn't use in her column, and struggled to come up with something on a topic they requested.
She had been thrilled at finding out she was going to be given a two-page spread in each issue, but that meant she needed to write each piece to be exactly the same length so that it would fit- if she wrote even a few sentences too much or too little, she'd have to adjust it.
And then there were the deadlines. Each piece had to be postmarked by a certain date for the editors to go over it with a fine tooth comb. Anne would receive her document back with all kinds of editing marks- removing or re-phrasing lines, and so on- and she needed to have it edited and sent back to them. Once in a while, when she read the published version, there would be a line or two that she hadn't written, that had been added in by the editors just before it went to print.
Being a magazine columnist was fun. But she could see now that it was a job. And if writing was to be her profession, she had to understand the ins and outs of the business.
Anne kept Gilbert updated on her successes, and asked him if he'd mind her using his address as her own. Her checks were sent to his farm, as well as the editing notes the magazine sent her. Anne put up a letter box on Gilbert's front porch, and went over every few days to check for new mail.
Gilbert was excited for her- and immensely proud of her- but he did not know that her success was a secret. She still would not tell Matthew or Marilla.
According to Mothering magazine, she was a married woman who lived on her farm with her husband and their little boy. And as her column continued, her story grew. Eventually she had a lovely nursery for Walter, complete with a handpainted mural on his wall, of an enchanted forest full of woodland creatures and fairies. In one column she described it, with directions for mothers to make their own. Her little boy already knew how to read, and she instructed mothers on ways to give their toddlers a head start on their education. Anne told her readers what her husband was like, and described their home and all the marvelous ways she decorated it.
No, she couldn't tell Matthew and Marilla what she was doing.
One day when Anne went to check for mail at Gilbert's house, she was surprised to find a handful of letters with names and postmarks she did not recognize. Curious, she opened them all immediately and began to read.
Dear Mrs. Blythe,
I am so enjoying reading your column in Mothering each month...
Dear Mrs. Blythe,
I wonder if you might have advice on…
Dear Mrs. Blythe,
Perhaps in your next issue you could tell your readers how you…
Anne gathered up the letters and took them into the house to read them in full. It took her a long time to respond to each of the five women, and when she returned home, she told Marilla she'd stayed over to clean Gilbert's kitchen.
The next time she went, there were more letters, and the time after that, the mailman was unable to close the letter box.
Anne finally gave up on answering all the mail. She wondered how long she could keep this a secret.