March settled on his "nom de plume" after sending out a number of different stories under different pseudonyms; the one that got published first decided his literary name. "The Holly Wreath" was his first publication; it appeared under the name of William March in "The Forum", a literary magazine from New York, in September 1929. "The Forum" would publish more of his stories, as did "", "Prairie Schooner", and other literary magazines. His stories were included in two annual anthologies of short fiction, Edward O'Brien's "The Best American Short Stories" and the "O. Henry Prize Stories", in 1930, 1931, and 1932. In all, he published some twenty stories; four of them were vignettes that were to be included in his first novel.