Semi-Finalist! Yippppeeee!

Oh. my. goodness. I found out my piece for the #writerscampaign challenge made it to the semi-finalist round. How thrilling to have writers reading my work and then liking it too! I am all a thither. I did a big happy dance in the kitchen. The guy walking by with his dog looked up and saw me and grinned. Then when my kids came home I told them the sweet news. May I just say that was the totally best part?!?! They are my biggest cheerleaders and for them having other writers recognize me was a total affirmation. So, we are happy. I am filled with gratitude for this campaign and most of all—the people! I have been writing, writing, writing and researching, researching, researching because of the very real sense that this work is work, there are other people out there going through the process in at least some ways that I can connect with and that writing really does change lives. I mean, I knew this and all but doing it all alone in my empty computer was so demoralizing. When I said to people, "I am a writer" they often responded with, Yeah, right—looks. But when I say I wrote a piece of flash fiction and it made it to the semi-finals, well, then they actually listen. Of course, I do not want to get too caught up in other peoples responses to my writing as the force that keeps me writing. There will be plenty of times that no one reads my blog for weeks and this campaign will end so I need to stay in the game for the deepest reasons that keep me writing. At the same time I am thankful that this boost has carried me and my writing forward. And no matter what, it made my kids happy and that is what it really is all about after all.