I decided I would take the boys to school this morning and then hit the gym, which was a great start to the day. Last night I had planned to go to the presentation of the Bendigo Literary Awards as I had submitted a short story. However, I managed to score a copy of the first episode of Walking Dead (season 4), and as it is mine and my boys favourite television show (yes, I know, a zombie show is weird for a mum to watch), I decided to head home straight after work and make a special night of it.
It was a great night. The whole family joined in (ie. Lauren and Paul as well) and it was nice to enjoy a favourite show together. We tend to like post-apocalyptic shows for some reason...morbid hey?
Anyway, back to my day off. As I missed the awards last night I thought I would pop into the library for a writing workshop by the judge of the Bendigo Literary Awards, an author by the name of Josh Donellan. I got there early and picked up a few brochures at the counter, then wandered over to the Literary Awards Display to check out the entries and the results. This is what I saw (Hint. Read the fourth blurry line).
I know the photo is out of focus but my hands were shaking by then (and yes, I just had to capture an image). It reminded me of the American teen movies where the kids are craning their necks around the notice board to see who is nominated for prom queen ....then I thought, that's my name up there... "Chasing Tasmanian Devils by Tanya Bielby." Wooowee! My short story received a Highly Commended Certificate (4th place I guess) out of hundreds of entries.
I then proceeded to the workshop to meet Josh (the judge, and published author) and he commented on how much he liked my story and what a difficult decision it was to only pick three winners - he had to award a highly commended....hmmm....that's me. Can you believe it? Anyway, you get the feeling that I was blown away :) This is the first time I have submitted an entry in a writing competition, so to get a mention was a pretty big deal for me. More happy dances...and a big smile that won't wipe off.
My biggest dream ever is to be a writer. I have an unfinished young adult novel that I am editing, and two weeks ago I joined a writers group in Gympie that is hosted by Karen Foxlee who writes (and has had published)....you guessed it... young adult novels. She even won a Premier's Literary Award for her first novel. So, I guess I am feeling a little serendipitous (I so love this word!) at the moment. Everything seems to be falling into place and steering me in the right (write haha) direction.
I will post a little more about my writing in coming weeks. I am looking at structuring my blog a little as there are several categories I like to write about. Some of my favourite blogs have structured days dedicated to various topics which I think is a great idea...it's on my holiday list to look at this.
Anyway, thanks for listening to me jump for joy. Now I will get back to writing my original post for today which is about Financial Balance.
