I’m so excited as I type this post! I finaled in the 2013 ACFW Genesis contest for category fiction. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been anticipating the results of the contest. As the date neared for me to hear the results, I tried to talk myself into not thinking about it so much. But thoughts of the Genesis contest kept crossing my mind at random times during the day.
On June 16th (Father’s Day), I enjoyed a lovely phone conversation with a very good friend. After I hung up the phone, I accidentally pulled the phone off the hook. I had some homework to do for a class I’m taking and the children were napping. (Napping children is a highly valued, precious commodity for me.) So I didn’t want to take the time to plug the phone back in. Better to just get to work. (Luckily, the phone downstairs was still connected!)
After the children woke up, I changed the baby’s diaper, pottied the 3 year old and brought them both downstairs to eat. There was a huge pile of dishes in my sink. After getting the bottle ready for the baby and putting her in the high chair, I got started on the dishes.
Then the 3 year old alerted us that the baby just had a diaper blowout. (This blowout occurred right after I changed her diaper. The mom life.) My husband checked the baby and the three year old was right. Huge blowout. But my husband was kind enough to change her (on Father’s Day!) while I finished the dishes. As I was scrubbing away at the sink, I heard the message waiting notification on my cordless.
I pressed ‘play.’
Hubby was wiping a poopy butt.
And I got THE CALL from ACFW
I screamed and jumped. My darling 3 year old screamed and jumped. Hubby said ‘all right!’ as he got rid of that dirty diaper. Baby was smiling (But I think she was smiling because she was no longer in a poopy diaper.) I screamed and jumped.
When I listened to the time and date stamp on my answering machine, it was after the upstairs phone had come off the hook. (Praise the Lord for multiple house phones.)
This mean a lot to me because I have been writing seriously since 2008. I entered this particular manuscript in the Genesis contest in 2011 and it didn’t make it to the semi-final round. But as I’ve written (and re-written) this story, many themes surfaced which were dear to my heart. My passion for the story and the characters grew. I started to believe in this story, and the book felt like my child. So after not making it to the semi-final round in 2011, I grew even more determined to make this manuscript the best it could be. And rewrote and rewrote again. Sometimes writing feels like I’m hitting a brick wall but I keep writing…and rewriting.
So I’m praising the Lord for allowing me to be a Genesis Finalist. All glory and honor go to You. This wouldn’t have happened without You guiding my steps!
P.S. I will be taking a break from posting a Wednesday blog post. I have two days to review/polish my entry for the final round of judging. So you know what I’ll be doing in every spare minute until Wednesday night.
Congrats! That’s awesome news.
Thanks, Julie!