So. You know I zipped over to the Southern Breeze SCBWI Conference in Alabama this weekend, just to hobnob, chitchat and any other compound word that fits.
But Southern Breeze also sponsors writing contests and an illustration contest in conjunction with this conference. And one of the categories in the writing contests is "Fiction for Middle Grade and Teen." Which just happens to be the category that my current work-in-progress fits. Which I just happened to send in for the contest...
AND I WON! I WON FIRST PLACE! I SQUEALED LIKE A LITTLE GIRL 'CAUSE I WON!
I almost didn't share the news because then there would be all this pressure. Like to finish the polishing up on the last two or three chapters. And to start doing more than the writing of the manuscript. Like to actually send it out in the world.
But then I thought, Shoot, Cathy, this is HUGE. (When I called my mom with the news, she said a writer should be able to come up with a better word than "Huge." Oh, that mom of mine.)
Yep, it's been a super fantastical, ginormous time here at my little desk in the world. But it's also nose to the grindstone time. Or in my case, fingers to the keyboard, brain to the scathingly brilliant thinking time. I have a manuscript to finish and submit to an editor. 'Cause, you know, I WON!
