Guess Who Won a Sustainable Arts Foundation Promise Award?
That would be ME! Wow, I’m still in shock. Or still delirious from this flu Kilian was kind enough to share with me.
Picture it, I’m out of bed finally, after my third three-hour-long nap of the day. Sitting in a purple club chair while Penny steps onto her potty and Leaps off. “Look at me, Mama! Mama watch!” Kilian is hanging out with me in the chair. In fact, this shot was taken moments before he squirmed to the floor and I opened my iPad to check email.
The words in the subject field didn’t make sense.
“Congratulations: Promise Award”
My first thought was, “Uuhhhhhhhh.”
Because in the two days of feverish baby who wouldn’t eat, husband out of town, relentless nausea and fatigue, I’d forgotten all about, well, everything. Like how I applied for the Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, squeaking in just before the deadline, and how I’d checked the site a week ago and marked May 12 in my head as the date winners would be announced.
From the website:
The Sustainable Arts Foundation is a non-profit foundation supporting artists and writers with families. Our mission is to provide financial awards to parents pursuing creative work.
Too often, creative impulses are set aside to meet the wonderful, but pressing, demands of raising a family. The foundation's goal is to encourage parents to continue pursuing their creative passion, and to rekindle it in those who may have let it slide.
It’s fitting somehow that I received the news when I was so deep in the trenches of motherhood I’d forgotten any other life existed.
My winning manuscript was an excerpt from a Middle Grade novel draft, ONE SUMMER. More details should be on the Sustainable Arts Foundation website soon!
Update: it's there!!
An ever-growing collection of interviews. Going forward all will be linked here for your (and my) convenience! Because I’m not much better at keeping track of links than anyone else. This list could easily serve as an FAQ, with some questions appearing in interviews more or less frequently than others. I hope you’ll enjoy pursuing the links and sharing broadly and widely with all your wonderful people!