My First Writing Accolade

I posted on this blog several entries to writing contests recently. My first attempts--the Fall Writing Frenzie and Halloweensie contests--were fruitless. Boy was I dissappointed. It affected my confidence and my motivation to write. I lost Nanowrimo partly because of it. But I plodded on and then entered Susanna Hill's Holiday contest. Twice.

The finalists were announced on a Monday. It was a snow day here in WV, so I was chasing after my kiddos all day and completely forgot about the contest until I checked my email that afternoon and got the blog post notification. My heart beat wildly. I clicked on the link. I slowly read through Susanna's introduction. Finally, I got to the first finalist. Is that the title of MY story? I don't believe it. Surely someone else titled theirs the same by coincidence. I read the first line of the story. It was MY STORY!!! My eyes prickled with tears, but I held it together.

Now readers got to vote. Luckily I had a concert and exams for school in the following days, so the anticipation was bearable. But by the time Thursday rolled around, I was eagerly awaiting the moment I could check my email for the announcement of the winners.

medal reading "winner"
Photo by AxxLC from Pixabay

You want to know how I did? I got 7th place!!!! Woohoo!!! Readers got to vote on their favorite of the finalists, so it's amazing to know that so many people voted for me. Thank you, readers if that was you! Thank you also to Susanna Hill for running the contest, thank you to the writing professionals that donated prizes, and a big thank you to all of the readers who took the time to read my words and maybe commented or voted.

So here it is, my first writing accolade. 7th place and a wonderful writing prize (can't wait to see what it is). Read my story here.

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