I don't mean to bump Amber's post down when it's only been up for a day, but when she posted it we didn't know that she'd won first place in the school age category of the DragonComet short story contest, sponsored by the Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium.
After we did some happy yelling, I spread the news on facebook (just to Hawaii friends since everyone on the mainland was already asleep) while Amber went back to her room. I found her there a half-hour later, typing away at one of her novels.
"You're writing?" I asked. "You're just calmly sitting there, writing?" Life, the Universe, and Everything is one of the biggest and oldest academic symposiums on Science Fiction and Fantasy in America. Some of our favorite authors were there, and they all heard my daughter's name announced as a first place winner! I was still geeking out.
Amber hunched down in her big, orange writing chair and peeked up at me from behind her computer. "Mom, winning first place doesn't change the story."
Whoa.
She already knew she'd written a great story. It was nice that some other people agreed, but in the end, what mattered most to her was the satisfaction she'd already got from writing that story, and the need to work on her next one.
Now that is a winning philosophy.
Woohoo!! A huge congratulations, Amber!!
ReplyDeleteYes!! Winning should spur one on to greater heights! And it should not take the place of the intrinsic love of doing the thing itself. Congrats to Amber (and to a supportive mama...what a benefit to grow up with a writer mama)!
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