Once Upon a Time

We interrupt this baby-turned-preschooler blog to post some exciting news totally unrelated to big boy beds, toy trucks, or using the potty. Hard to fathom, I know. Mommy, who in a former life studied creative writing and more importantly actually wrote stories, has just learned she's won a $3000 fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council.

Now, once upon a time when Mommy was not Mommy but just another (employed!) English major trying her hand at fiction, she won this fellowship, too. Back then, it was world-changing and hope-inducing. It made Mommy-who-was-not-yet-Mommy think: Oh! Maybe I can be a real writer! Soon! People will take me seriously! Soon! Fast forward eleven years. It's still a great bit of news to get over the phone at the end of an otherwise ordinary if slightly difficult day. Oh yes. But now the thinking runs along the lines of: Oh! Blessed Arts Council! This will pay for preschool for the next year and a half! Which might be a more honest and heartfelt response, anyway, who knows.

The quick and dirty is that Pam Houston chose my story "Wolves and Ravens" and next month I'll read with her in Casper at the Arts Council's annual lit conference. Does it matter that I'm not a fan of her work? Does it matter that this is small pond stuff? Nah. What matters is that I just earned a paycheck for the first time in roughly three years and it feels great. At least as long as I don't think about my hourly rate.