Becoming a Winner
For years I said my lucky number was 13, using the most sarcastic voice possible. I didn't win things. Sometimes I achieved things through a helluva lot of hard work. But I didn't win.
I can't really say that any more, because:
1) On September 1, I won a Speak Up T-shirt and a signed ARC of Chains from Laurie Halse Anderson, who is one of my writer heroes and was even before the #SpeakLoudly campaign. Laurie's keynote several years ago at the New England regional SCBWI conference inspired me to make a serious, daily commitment to my writing.
2) Two weeks ago I won a copy of I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett from HarperCollins. I don't read tons of fantasy, but I love, love, love Terry Pratchett, and the Tiffany Aching books are, I do believe, my most favorite of all his books. I was excited about this one coming out and Tweeted about it and...things happened.
3) Last weekend I won a copy of 20 Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler, who is the other living author whose work challenged and sparked #speakLoudly. I'm once again delighted, because I wanted to read this book.
Three books won in close to three weeks, after years and years of not winning anything. I can no longer say, I don't win things, because I have won, big time.
I like to think it has something to do with StT, my current wip, which is so close to my heart, and which felt--and continues to feel--like a gift. Yesterday I shared another fifteen pages with the Teen Advisory Board at a local library. They gave me some excellent, excellent tips on a few current ways to say things (not slang, exactly, but different phrasings). Best of all, they laughed in places I hoped would be funny, one made a connection that is there, but isn't and won't be made explicit because it's not crucial. Several of them--blessings on them--made some copyediting corrections or had suggestions, which makes me hope for the future of the English language. We also had a terrific amount of fun with an exercise that resulted in some song titles and band names--it was a bit like the three-column chart for band names in the John Grandits' Blue Lipstick.
Today brought more good news. This spring, the college where I teach is offering a course on Gender, Sexuality and Communication that I'm going to audit because, not only is it a topic of interest, but it's being held on a day when I'm on campus anyway. Yes!
That's my winning news? What about you? What makes you feel like a winner these days?
