The Empowerment of a Win

My big win came at the end of 2022. 

After allllll the edits and proofreads, etc, I finally self-published the best product I had in April of 2022. 

Since I was well in time to apply for that year’s Royal Dragonfly contest…I did. This time I applied in 7 categories out of 62 or 64, since my published status now allowed me that additional advantage. In 2021, when I first applied, with my manuscript only a third ready from the perspective of a full edit, I qualified for the one category of unpublished manuscript. The story of that tiny win is in my last blog. 

Just as an aside—during 10 out of my 16 years long journey to become a “decent writer,” I must have spent precious money I could ill afford on at least 40 contests where I never won a damn thing. I believe in 2017 I made it to the third round of some contest out of California…and the subsequent rejection made me spiral into a month of serious eating disorder relapse…but my eating disorder is a whole other story which is well described in my novels, therefore no need to duplicate it here. 

Regardless…by the end of November 2022, I was a raging mess, because supposedly the Royal Dragonfly contest announces its winners after the last week of November. During my short experience…that date seems to always push into December. However, to protect myself, I refused to “look” for the results as the disappointment would be so acute. 

Instead, I waited for the email I would receive if I had won in any category…and I simply waited and waited…and the email never came. 

At last I relented and searched for the results online…couldn’t find them there either, but then that could be my own limitation, as I was a tech dinosaur. 

Finally, admitting total defeat, I reached out to Cristy Bertini, the contest manager of Story Monsters Inc., the company which sponsors this contest. 

To my relief and joy, she confirmed that in 2022 they had had a serious glitch and delay with posting the contest results, therefore they weren’t out yet.

Only a writer will understand my absolute stupefaction when not only did that email come—the results bowled me over. 

No, dear reader…I didn’t win the grand prize. That went to someone who was the writer and illustrator of his participating book, and had won multiple accolades before this particular win. 

But I did win 2 first prizes, 2 second prizes, and 3 special mentions. In short, my book DRAGONFLY ESCAPING had won some prize in every single category I had applied to. 

I won’t waste your time listing all my prizes—you can Google them in 3 seconds. 

However, I will tell you this with inordinate pride: My 2 first prizes were for the General and LGBTQ categories…where my book’s main character was emphatically not LGBTQ. 

I have not researched it, but the fact that my book won a first prize in the LGBTQ category has to belong in some minority list somewhere, since no judge will give that prize lightly in today’s sensitive social climate.

Therefore, to say how proud I am of that win is putting it mildly!

So does that mean I am some kind of success story? Nope. Not yet…but as one of my favorite Twitter buddies says—it takes 15 years to become an overnight success…so at least I was still in the running. 

Isn’t it all that counts? 

Yes, in the grand scheme…you can already see a pattern, but trust me when I say that living through any pattern is not easy. 

To end with a beloved cliche: Those who play safe never fail…but they also never succeed. 

Do you have any such life story you’d like to share? I know I’d love to hear it because anticipation loves company!