Day 4: VCCA Taking Stock

More breaking news:

1. My first every short-short (fiction) has been accepted and will be published in Cold Flashes, an anthology about Alaska published by the University of Alaska press. Wow!
2. I had my 2nd interview with TopSecret school today and it went well. (“How do you teach writing?” “What is a lyric essay?” “Tell me your life story in 3 minutes.” “What is a young student’s greatest challenge with writing and how do you teach them through it?” “What is your greatest challenge as a writer?”)
3. While I did not get the $30,000 Andy Warhol grant for arts writers, I was notified that 45 applicants, including myself, have been selected as finalists for the International Art Critics Association Art Writing Workshop. Of this 45, only 10 of us will be chosen and, if chosen, we get an all-expenses paid trip to New York to meet for a four-day workshop with this association. Translation: The 45 finalists are sort of like the bronze medal winners. Not quite good enough to qualify as finalists (silver medal) for the real Andy Warhol grant (gold medal), but good enough to show “potential and promise of their writing and their ability to benefit from the workshop process.”
4. Three more copies of Lost Crossings have been ordered via PayPal and today a woman placed a large order for 25 additional copies to give as gifts to everyone in her family. That puts our total copies at 200, nearly all of which are already sold and spoken for. Yeehaw!

Efforts at VCCA thus far:
1. I have sent out 6 submissions.
2. I have finished 1 book and 2 literary journals and am far into several more.
3. New friends.
4. Lots of exercise.
5. Feeding apple cores to horses.
6. Completing a daily writing prompt. (Today’s first line: “Once I had visions of being a general,” from Richard Brautigan, “Corporal.”)