Today has been a magical day!
Of course, it started out like any other ordinary day, as most magical days do. I finished editing a chapter of a friend’s novel, and then I began Marielle Stolp’s Fantastic Beasts Ever After 2018 lesson. I decided to do the painting on 11 x 15 watercolor paper, which is the largest paper I’ve completed a piece of art on in my life! The sketch for the painting took me six hours to complete, and I absolutely love it! I’m excited to ink and paint it, but I’m exhausted, so that will have to wait for another day. Though completing such a large sketch is quite magical for a beginning artist like me, that is not what made today so special.
As many of you may know, I am a writer. Writing is something I’ve been doing since I was a child. Many of you may also know that I’ve been working on a novel for seven years, but have been stuck for many of those years. I know this novel needs to be written. I know it is something that will bring hope and peace to many once it’s done. But…it’s the getting done that’s the issue.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on Facebook and came across a post about a scholarship to a writing conference and fiction workshop. After a long hiatus, I decided to return to my beloved novel and polish up the first scene of the first chapter and submit it for the scholarship. The decision of who won was supposed to be made last Friday, so I assumed, since I hadn’t heard anything, that I had not won. I felt disappointed, and started down that “my writing isn’t good enough” road. Over the last ten years, I have applied for a scholarship to this conference two other times and did not win, so the disappointment ran deep. I allowed myself some time to feel the disappointment, and then I returned to a focus on my art.
While sketching today, I stopped to take a break and checked my e-mail. As I was scrolling through I saw “Congratulations, Scholarship Winner.” I opened the e-mail, and there it was: “You’ve been selected to receive a scholarship…” So many emotions flooded through me, but what really mattered most was that someone, other than me, believed in my writing enough to grant me a scholarship to attend a conference and workshop that will help me gain the tools I need to bring this novel to completion.
There is this energy I’ve been feeling lately both with my writing and my art. I can feel it building as I sit down to complete my daily practice. I don’t know where all this is going, but I’m showing up every day so I can find out! I can feel that shift everyone talks about happening to me, and I can’t wait to see where it all leads.
Sarah Joyce Bryant 