Category: Odyssey

Clarion, Clarion West, Odyssey, plain silliness, Writing Workshops

Playing the Waiting Game Again

M.E. Garber

MP900341439The Clarions application deadlines are over, and now the waiting for results is driving the applicants (like me) a bit crazy. Or crazier, as the case may be. (Odyssey doesn’t give their results until later, so that isn’t hanging over my head the same way as the Clarions are right now.) It’s the worry that is always in the back of my mind: will I get in? When will I hear? And oh, do I fear acceptance or rejection more?

Like I said on one of the CW forums, with non-writers, it’s like trying to ignore the dancing elephant in your living room because only you can see it. I look out my window at all the snow that fell today (yes, snow, despite the forecast calling for 52F tomorrow, there’s over an inch of snow melting off the ground right now!!! Oh, wait, now I’m veering into a parenthetical weather-rant. Sorry.) and I think about Clarion. I open the fridge to see what’s for dinner tonight and I think about Clarion. It seems like some strange form of OCD (Clarion). And I’ve just about concluded that there’s no hope for me this year, no way that I’ll be accepted…and yet, I can’t quite bring myself to make other plans yet, either. *sigh*

So, that’s been my week. Worry. And, oh yeah. I managed to get to my writing this week. After the last 2.5 weeks being complete wash-outs, writing wise, I was ready to kick butt and take names! And I did. I started, completed and submitted to the Shock Totem Flash Fiction contest, and I finished two other stories started before/during the move. Woo-hoo! This feels so awesome! Good distraction, too.

So now I get to go look in the Clarion and see what’s for Clarion. (My poor hubby!)

Clarion, Clarion West, Odyssey, Writing Workshops

Feeling Fresh and Light!

M.E. Garber

fresh+light.jpgYay! Not only are my Christmas cards made, signed, addressed and mailed, but today I also finished my applications to Clarion and Clarion West!!! The relief is falling off my shoulders in waves, and my toes are twinkling and floating, light as air. Odyssey’s application has been mailed off for a few days, but that was easier in a way — the application was available online long before December, so I printed it off and worked on it, off and on, until it was done.

These applications being done mean only one thing: the unending anticipation, and dread, of the wait. I’ve got no ‘sure thing’ going here, only my hope and my best writing to date. The CW forums are quiet, with only a few peeps from the choir of potential applicants, so there’s no wringing metaphorical hands with others in the same boat yet. Still, I’m feeling optimistic right now. Hopeful.

If you’re finding me from the forums, feel free to say hello! And whether you’re applying or not, keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?