Getting Down to Business

It is a day of business work.

I, the recently laid off barista, tie up loose ends: I apply for Family Planning Medicaid. I apply for a student loan deferment. I apply for a reduction in my monthly payments to Blue Ridge Regional Hospital. I call Blue Cross Blue Shield. I email my cousin about tax info so I can get that rolling and apply for my refund ASAP. I draft a letter to my former employer and make early attempts at getting closure, moving on.

I, the full time self-employed writer, leap into my world: I apply for a Resident Writer position at SecretAwesomeSchool. I submit to a paying fiction market via a second-hand solicitation from the editor in chief. I email the publisher I edit anthologies for and tell him to send me more work if he has it. I email an editor I met at AWP and ask if he needs more readers, editors, or staffing in general. I sort papers from AWP, send info to a writing friend, make note to submit my rugby essay to Sport Literate.

I also hear back from Emory University (formerly written about as TopSecret University): “Dear Ms. Schultz: Thank you for applying for Emory’s Creative Writing Fellowship for 2009-2011. The Fellow has been chosen, from a field of 125 highly qualified candidates, perhaps the strongest group in the eighteen-year history of our fellowship. We appreciated the opportunity to read your work, and to consider your application…”

But in consistency with this winter, every rejection letter comes paired with some good news. Today’s good news? The Design Gallery, a business in Burnsville, NC, has decided to donate to Lost Crossings at the $250 level, making them our first official sponsor and pushing our funds to over 50% of our goal. Hooray!