Check me out: I’ve been a woman with a mission, checking goals off my to-do list, entering contests, submitting stories, doing what needs to be done as a writer with bills to pay, people to see, and places to go.
I send away, then check things off my list like it’s Taquitos and toilet paper at Costco, vowing to throw spaghetti at the walls until something of mine sticks.
It stuck.
Apparently, I have a voice.
Actually, a Voice of the Year. VOTY. Me. This girl right here.
I am a BlogHer 2017 Voices of the Year Honoree for an essay about my college kid leaving her stuffed animals behind.
Really.
This is a really big deal, this Voices of the Year (VOTY) Honoree thingy, and I’m thrilled, humbled, and honored, after emailing the contact to make sure it was for real.
My essay, When Your College Baby Leaves Her Lovey Behind, was published at Grown & Flown, and I’m forever grateful (but sure am missing VOTY traffic to my own blog and Facebook page).
The honorees are headed to the BlogHer17 conference in Orlando, and I have to do the math to see if I’ll attend. We’ll see.
But wait, there’s more.
Several of my essays were won acknowledgement by the Connecticut Press Club with first (MIL Gift Giving) and second places (My First Love Met the Man I Married) for on-line features stories, but wait, there’s more.
My blog, Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud, this one you’re reading right now, won 1st place for Best Personal Blog in the state of Connecticut. This one. Mine.
CT Press Club
First Place, Best Personal Blog
KathrynMayer.com • Writing Out Loud
Doesn’t happen if I don’t send it in. Nothing will ever happen if I don’t do something to make things happen. Nothing sitting on my desktop in a folder, or scrawled in composite notebooks teetering on the nightstand, will ever get printed anywhere. Never.
None of my ideas or essays will win any awards or be considered for bigger audiences if they sit dormant in my mind so all I can do is keep checking things off the list, and let the spaghetti fall where it may.
Thanks for listening. And reading. And sharing. And cheering, both on-line on Facebook, and on line in the grocery store.
Let me buy you a beer or a coffee sometime to say thanks, would that be okay?
I knew it would happen!! CONGRATULATIONS, so very proud of you!!!
Thanks, hoping to celebrate at the Diner soon!
So much spaghetti sticking to the walls! Congratulations- you worked your ass off for this, and I love to see your talent recognized. Yippee!
much in thanks to you and Writers Rendezvous my friend. Holding our feet to the fire! xo
much in thanks to you and Writers Rendezvous my friend. Holding our feet to the fire! xo
Having coffee with you? OMG yes.
So happy and excited for you, Kate. Dewey was a long time ago but woman, I knew it then.
You rock thanks for hucking spagetti at us. Al dente is definitely not your style. Yay!
So grateful that writing your ass off is one of the ways that you do life. BIG.
xo
xo smooches
Yaayyy!! Congratulations!
Congratulations! Off to share some of your words!
Congratulations, and I love the doll story! I still have some of my old stuffed animals!
My first visit to your blog, but I’m a writer so I totally get your excitement. Congratulations on your achievements and keep at it!
welcome, and thank you!
Congratulations! Well deserved!
thanks funny guy!
And to think I ate cake next to greatness at Erma! Well-deserved success, lady. Bask in the afterglow. Actually, this is a timely message to all of us writers, so thanks!
No doubt your light spilled over! Set your alarm for December for EBWW 2018 tix!
That is awesome, congratulations. It is always nice when hard work is rewarded!
thx friend!
Awesome!!!! So well deserved!!!
thx friend!