Yes, I received the grant. Here’s what I get to do.
After a pins-and-needles week, I got the grant! I had received e-mails from writer friends who had also applied for an IAC grant, saying that they didn’t win one. I hadn’t received the rejection e-mail, but no acceptance e-mail came either. Maybe it had to come by postal service because of the forms to turn back in? I spent the week swooping to the mailbox as soon as the carrier left. Nothing. Then the unexpected e-mail: Congratulations! You have been selected to receive . . . .
Once I was done squealing and jumping around the house, I zapped cyberspace messages back to my friends and finished packing for a Writing History conference in Illinois. I don’t remember an awful lot of the 2-hour drive—my mind was busy with what this next year would entail.
I applied for the grant to finish a humorous chapter book for young readers and to attend several particular writers conferences. I also included plans to teach creative writing workshops at middle and upper-elementary schools in areas where the schools and/or the PTOs can’t afford author visits. And I guess the panel liked it! (Yes, I’m still grinning and bouncing in my chair.)
Now I need to write a letter to my congressmen saying thank you, print, sign and send in all the forms, and decide what writing sample I want to send with my application to the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop. And somehow, someway, get myself settled down and back to work.
Good luck on your own projects, and if anyone has good news, start a discussion and post it so we can cheer you on!
