Pushcart Prize Nomination

Friends, way back when I was an undergrad at Colby College taking creative writing classes, this puppy was required reading:

It was good stuff, and it helped to inspire the only kid taking the class because she actually wanted to be a writer, and not for an easy humanities credit. (Spoiler alert: That kid was me.)

Well, yesterday I learned Typehouse Literary Magazine nominated my story, “John Cutter Entertains a Visitor,” for a Pushcart Prize.
Actual footage of Samantha MacLeod

Yeah, I know there are jackasses on the internet who say this nomination is meaningless (e.g. this jackass).

But it doesn’t feel meaningless to me.

It feels like this.

Most of writing is painful drudgery, after all. For me, it’s a lot of forcing myself to write when I don’t feel like it, then worrying about whether or not my ideas all suck, then staring at one sentence for forty-five minutes wondering if I should say, “the idea which woke him” or “the idea that woke him.”

Then I send off the story I’ve spent hours and hours struggling with…and it gets rejected.

Or I publish it on Amazon…and don’t even earn enough to buy myself a gingerbread latte.

You can’t afford me!

So when I get a victory like this?

You bet your sweet ass I’m going to shout it from the rooftops.

Samantha MacLeod: Pushcart Prize Nominee

You can read my Pushcart Prize nominated short story, “John Cutter Entertains a Visitor,” for FREE right here. It starts on page 11 (although I highly recommend reading the whole thing – it’s awesome).

As for me?

Well, I’ll be enjoying the scotch I forced my husband to buy me last night…

Yes, I’ll be wearing that down vest till May. Maine is cold, yo.

 

And then I’ll get back to writing.

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