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2024 Contest Finalists

Sunday, September 15th at exactly 2pm I sat in eager anticipation at my desk awaiting the announcement of the finalist in the Scrivenings Press Get Pubbed contest. I contemplated forgoing the Facebook live announcement all together and coming back at a later time to hear the results, but my eyes were glued to the screen unable tear away.

The day before at our CHARIS writing group, a friend and I both agreed we had a slim likelihood of being a finalist, but the critique we’d receive would be valuable insight to our projects.

Putting my work out there is easy for me. I don’t mind people reading my writing. I’ve generally been an open book for much of my life, unable to hide my emotions and opinion, however, dealing with rejection has been difficult for me. I’m a novice writer and have only submitted my work to a handful of contest and received less than five rejections, but each time feels like it’s personal. Intellectually, I know it’s not, not everyone can be selected all the time, but when you pour your heart and soul into your words, rejection stings.

To protect myself from that sting, I set my expectations low. You can imagine my delight when I heard my name announced as a FINALIST! I must of rewatched that Facebook live ten times that night thinking is this real? To my amazement, I now have a chance at winning a publishing contract.

This whole project from the beginning has been God inspired, so I trust that publication will happen in his perfect timing. Will I be published with Scrivenings Press? Stay tuned. The results will be revealed on the evening of November 9th at the ScrivCon writing conference. I plan to attend and am sure sweat will pool in my armpits and palms as I sit on the edge of my seat.

While the cut of rejection is sharp, the taste of success is as sweet as taking a bite of my favorite cinnamon roll with a steaming cup of coffee sitting next to me. If I had to eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner it would get old after time. Success just isn’t as sweet without the cut of failure. Knowing both sides of the coin makes you treasure the wins.

Life is a rollercoaster and we are only along for the ride. I’m glad that Jesus is my seatbelt and he’s given me companions to weather these ups and downs. Let me know how you deal with success and rejection. I’ll take any tips I can get.