Swung on and missed

**Note, some mild sniveling contained herein.  Feel free to skip this pos

Well, I got my un-birthday present early last night. I didn’t make it into Clarion West this year either.  Swing and a miss.  0 an 2.  Didn’t even get on the waitlist.

Seriously, I’m pretty much done with beating myself up trying to get into this exclusive club.  Fuck it. I’ll do it on my own.  I can get as much if not more writing done this summer on my own. I’ve proved that at the Rainforest Writer’s Retreat.

I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed.  But I’m not going to quit writing over this.  In fact, I started another short story this morning.  I still don’t know what they’re looking for but apparently, I’m not it. So be it. I have an unaccountably high opinion of my own writing skill, for someone who’s had one sale so far.  I’ll keep writing, keep getting better, keep submitting my work.

Eventually, it will happen, whether I have ‘Clarion West’ or ‘Clarion’ or ‘Odyssey’ on my writing resume or not.  Hell, I’m doing this because I love writing and telling stories, not because I want validation.

So.  We keep going.  Forward momentum.