THIS TOTALLY REQUIRES CAPSLOCK

OMG OMG OMG GUYS GUYS GUYS.

You know how I sometimes write stuff that isn't fanfiction? No? Well...I do. Not lately, but I do. And last spring, back when I was still at the glorified high school that is Niagara County Community College, one of my professors convinced me to enter an essay I'd written about my uncle's funeral into a contest. I hadn't expected anything to come out of it -- the contest was open to schools all across the country, two- and four-year alike -- and after I sent in my entry I kind of forgot about it. I had a million other things on my plate at the time (getting ready to graduate in May, working on a secret, ongoing project with Harper, trying - and failing - to improve my art skills by taking a drawing class, and so on...), so my entry in a contest that was open to the entire country and probably had thousands of people entering it kind of slipped my mind. I figured that it was enough just sending something in, putting myself out there and all that, and then I went back to being terrible at drawing shadows on boxes.

This morning, I got an e-mail from the president of The Norman Mailer Writer's Colony, the people who hosted the contest. I didn't win, but I was one of the five finalists out of over 2000 entries. I don't get the $5,000 check and I don't get to go to the Colony's writing seminar in the summer, but I do get a trophy. This. Is. AWESOME. *dances*

I'm typing this on a computer at school so I don't have the essay with me, but if anyone is interested I will definitely post it later!

(And gaaah, I know all of this sounds horribly vain and shallow and completely self-centered, but this kind of thing almost never happens to me. Writing is one of the few things I can do well - my talents really only include baking, singing, writing, and balancing coins on their edge - so to now have proof, to now be able to tell my circus freak family that I actaully can write well enough to make money at it and have them stop giving me pamphlets for jobs I don't want? That's pretty freaking sweet. 8D)