It is every author’s dream to receive awards for their work. Or at least oodles of money. I could go either way, though both would be preferable. How about we combine them, a Hugo Award for best Novel of the year, and massive amounts of sales for the same work, including a Hollywood movie starring Matt Damon. Ah, I am a dreamer…
Yesterday was the day I won my First Major Award. OK, so it an award in an online forum for best Halloween story, there were maybe ten stories total, and there weren’t that many votes by members of the forum for the winners and losers. I mean, it’s not like I submitted a story to Analog Magazine and it was voted by ten thousand readers as “Story of the Year” and I was awarded a publishing contract. In this case, I got props plus special “flair” next to my name when I post for the next thirty days. Give me another four bucks, and that’ll get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
The ultimate upshot of all this is that we, as writers, and much like most humans, crave recognition for our work. We want people to love it, tell us its great. That’s why critiques are so hard for so many writers, hearing about our weaknesses makes us doubt our efforts. No one likes to be criticized, and authors – all artists really – are more apt to be criticized for the work they have produced because so much of it is subjective and based on personal opinion. I love a good Stephen King book, but there are plenty who think he goes on too long and is a hack. I enjoy Connie Willis’ time travel stories, but lots of folks despise science fiction. Neal Gaiman is the person I’d love to grow up to be as a writer, but he has his critics as well.
I think, as my previous post said, I’ve developed a much thicker skin as I’ve aged. Reject me, and I will just smile and keep soldiering on. I no longer respond to trolls online with outrage, it’s a waste of effort (though I did make a habit out of “writing my reply and deleting it”… another form of good therapy, I get my thoughts out but don’t pollute the world with my own brand of bullshit to match theirs). But at least now I have a reason to, as my darling wife suggested, start an “ACCEPTANCE” folder to go along with my “REJECTIONS” folder. I’ve already added an email to myself with a screenshot of the Award Winning Short Story.
Hugo awards, here I come… or a Nebula, I’m not picky…
Congratulations! And an award is an award! And an acceptance folder is a great idea. Someday it will be as thick as your rejection folder. As much as we writers loathe rejection, we do learn from those rejections, or so i try to tell myself. 🙂