Life in the Now

Quick rant: My wedding is only 60 days away! There are a lot of things to be thankful for in this time of engagement, but a lot of stressful things to plan too. Like, a lot. And at the end of the day I think to myself, "I never want to see another centerpiece design again!" But when everything's said and done, I'll still be married to that guy I love, so I suppose throwing a fancy party for everyone else will be worth it.

But there's definitely a reason elopement is so glamorized.

Anyways, on to my intended post. On the day before Valentine's Day I entered a national poetry contest on a whim, expecting to be politely let down because someone else's poetry is "better" than mine. And I was. But I didn't expect to receive an email that said "your poetry was selected for a citation in recognition of its quality". I thought to myself "That's so cool! ...What in the world is a citation in recognition of quality?" So I did a little research. It turns out that there were 3 judges, and each judge had to select their top six poetry collections and rank them from 1-10. I can't say how the judges rated mine, but the fact that I was selected means that somebody liked it enough to rank it in their top six. When all was said and done, did I end up in the top six? No. I did, however, end up in the top ten. So, my random whimsical adventure landed me a place among the top ten collegiate poets in the nation.

I learned from this experience that I know how to work the English language and make people like it. I can write. (Not that I ever couldn't, but now I have proof from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies that I most definitely can work the laptop keys.) And when a person like me gets to the point where it's been nationally recognized that said person can write, it's time to move forward.

And so for the big announcement: I'll be entering a short story contest. For some, this seems like no big deal, but I've had this contest on the back of my mind for two years now and haven't had any material that I felt was good enough for it. Now I do. I have an awesome story idea, I have proof that my writing skills are superb, and now I just have to get through the drafting process and send it off. This long-time dream can suddenly be a reality.

Some of you still might be thinking that it's no big deal. It's just a contest. True. It is. But one of the judges for this particular contest is Orson Scott Card. You know, the guy that wrote Ender's Game? He's kind of a big deal, which makes this contest kind of a big deal. Last year's winners got to meet the cast of the Ender's Game movie. So in the world of writing, this is a big deal. It's quite the scary prospect, but it's high time I take a risk.