2007 Arts and Letters Awards recap and more

Phew. What a busy time it has been but now it is time to catch up and let you know some things that have been going on with me. I've been kind of saving things up.

Let's start on the writing front. This weekend I had the great honour to receive a 2007 Provincial Arts and Letters Award for Short Fiction. This was for my short story "Divided by Three" (thank you, Lori, for the perfect title). The event was held at The Rooms and 70 artists, in both junior and senior divisions, received awards in various categories. Minister Tom Hedderson was there and presented the awards in the senior division. The ceremony was wonderful with readings and musical performances. It was my first time in The Rooms and I loved it. What a gorgeous place.

My parents drove all the way in from Aspen Cove on Saturday so they could attend the A&L Awards ceremony and went home again yesterday (not even 24 hours). They had major car issues last week and the fates seemed to be conspiring to prevent them from getting here. By Friday, we had given up on having them at the awards. However, my brother and sister-in-law stepped in and insisted my parents take their car (thanks Derrick and Tammy). Mom and Dad loved the whole event, despite the trouble getting there, and I was delighted they were there, along with my wonderful husband Vince. It was a very memorable evening and, as always, our pathetic camera means that we have no decent (or even half-decent) pictures. But that's cool because I have the award (oh, and the thousand dollar cheque--maybe I should get a camera).

The Arts and Letter Awards are important because they encourage so many young artists with the junior division awards. Of course, they encourage the senior ones too but I couldn't help paying special attention to the younger award winners on Saturday night, knowing that they have such promising futures and thinking how exciting it must be to have their talents recognized at such a young age. The awards are blind judged so no one who is judging knows who has written the poem or painted the picture, or composed the music. It is based purely on merit. Also, even if you don't win, if you request it you will get an adjudication back which provides valuable (blind) feedback on your work. And there is no entry fee. It is truly a terrific thing for anyone who is interested in submitting his/her writing, visual art, or music.

Also, this month the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council were kind enough to give me a grant to continue working on my current novel, A Few Kinds of Wrong (or,as my friend Natalie calls it, AFKOW). This is the second grant I received for AFKOW and I am so grateful to the NLAC for their support of this project.

And, as long as I'm on the subject, I'll tell you about something you'll be hearing much more about later this summer and that is that I have been invited to be on the New Voices panel at the Winterset in Summer Literary Festival in Eastport. I am a big fan of the festival so it is a huge honour to be part of it.

I celebrated my birthday on Friday and, although I was disappointed that Mom and Dad were not here because of that cursed car trouble, it was a great one. My friends, the Strident Women, had a virtual birthday party for me on Facebook and I went out to supper with hubby (thanks to MJ for babysitting). Hubby gave me a great mp3 player that I had researched and asked for. No, it is not an iPod; it is better and I'll tell you all about that at a later date.

After the awards ceremony Saturday night, my sisters-in-law were here (thanks to Sam's Aunt Kem for babysitting while we went to the awards) celebrating with me until the wee hours. My son, who has a hangover detector, decided to get up the next morning, extra-early and extra-loudly. Not good. Then later in the day, to celebrate the great month I have been having, along with my birthday, the Strident Women went out to a long brunch. Lori gave us all Strident Women t-shirts which was a huge surprise and so much fun.

Now though, it is back to reality and back to dealing with my ever-increasing to-do list. Much going on, much to be thankful for, and still much to do. No rest for the wicked.