I was flossing my teeth this afternoon and a part of my half-crown fell off. I just had this work done -- it's an old cavity that was deteriorating and you don't want bugaboos getting behind and damaging any more of the tooth. But they had. More than a quarter of my tooth was missing after the dentist was finished with me this spring. She fitted me with a half crown and I was quite pleased with it. So imagine my surprise when I had a little hole in my molar again. Oy! Luckily, they were able to see me this afternoon and give me a temporary. But I returned home from an envelope from the SCBWI Carolinas. I was hoping it's a letter to say I won first place, because that meant my tuition for the conference would be paid ... alas, it is third place. But it is still so wonderful to have my writing rise to this level. I had polished off the first chapter of my first novel -- a YA historical. I guess I'll have to polish the rest of it. Gee ... I hope no more teeth parts fall out.
I highly encourage you all to enter contests. Not only do they help you to prepare your manuscript to specification (that in itself is a big accomplishment) but you can win money (as I did with the ICL contest years ago -- with a contemporary YA short story) or a trip to a conference that helps you to meet wonderful writers and editors (I had the pleasure of going to Chautauqua and to Barbara Seuling's Workshop) and even plain ole recognition is nice to have. I can say that my kids are not the only ones who like my stories.
This reminds me to start submitting more stories. After all, we've been in SC for nearly a year. I have run out of excuses. I can't have a good mail day if I don't send anything out! So send your stories out! I promise the teacher in me is going off-line for the day now.
I know several of my readers are contest winners -- Bish, Faith -- who else? Chime in please.
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6 comments:
Headaches and tooth problems in the same breath? Ouch. And yet I never hear that pain in your posts. And the fact that you post at all... well, amazing.
Congratulations on third place! YEAH.
I always want the bad news first, so I was glad you set it that way. Hooray for the recognition from SCBWI! Winning is 'heady,' and may it cure your aching one.
So happy for you! I need to enter some contests, too. But after I write something, I hardly ever remember to put stuff in the mail!
So glad you remembered AND won!
Bish, thank you. I'm glad my posts do not give anybody a headache! But you should see how many references I have to headaches in my novel -- it's pretty obvious that the migraines worked themselves into the story. My blog is my online writing playground :)
Mirka, like chores, I like to get the bad news out of the way. Thank you for celebrating with me. Unfortunately, work on the tooth left me with a migraine with the rest of the day, but at least I could suffer joyfully.
Donna, a good way to get your work out there is to do it regularly, say once a month. Pick one day and get it out of the way. It is a chore, I know, because I would also rather write than do businessy stuff like write query letters, but that's the only way to do it. If you want, I'll prod you once in a while ... Thank you for celebrating with me. Pina coladas, lady.
Congratulations, Vijaya! That's wonderful!
Yes, contests are such a great opportunity to polish writing and receive encouragement from professionals. I need to look out for more, too...
Thank you Faith! It really has lit a fire ... to finish and finish well. I still suffer from being vainglorious, and have to remember to do it all for the Glory of God.
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