Personal Victory

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Recently, I was talking on the phone with my mother, no doubt treating her to another one of my endless lists of "Things That Went Wrong Today". After I had exhausted myself, my list and my mother, I mentioned to her how I was desperately in need of a personal victory; something just for me that I could be proud of. I think I went on to say something about how I used to be smart and I used to "do" things and blah, blah, blah. You know, the kind of sniveling that usually makes you want to snatch the sniveler baldheaded. I should have been ashamed of myself, but I wasn't. I felt down and done wrong and I wanted to wallow in it (or waller in it, depending on where you're from).

I guess the Good Lord was listening, or maybe I was just due some good fortune. But, in any case, I do have to report that I recently entered the the Tulsa Library Adult Creative Writing Contest and won second place in the Informal Essay category. I was completely floored to find out that I had placed. In fact, it never entered my mind that I might win. My objective in entering the contest was simply to prove that I could set my mind to do something and then actually follow through. So, the exciting thing for me was to finish the essay and submit it. That was a battle won. To place second in the category was, well, the proverbial icing on the cake.

I'm not sure what this experience means for me, but in the short run, I intend to spend some more time (how???) writing. I hear that there are many publications that take submissions and, if I can get my head straight, maybe I can set some goals and actually pursue writing as either a hobby or maybe even a profession. It would certainly beat the hell out of preparing tax returns!