A couple of weeks ago, I announced my big stepping-stone event ... I earned my first paycheck through winning second place in the Actuarial Speculative Fiction Contest. Despite how groundbreaking this is, I couldn't help but notice how quiet the celebrations were.
Yeah ... it was very quiet. Not that it's at all upsetting ... but where were all the trumpets and the heavens opening up and all that good stuff?
I suppose part of it was realizing how few of my friends even realize that I'm writing. I think I told two people at work about my big win, and they both said, "That's nice," and we moved on to something else.
My gut tells me that's what it's going to be like with every award or paycheck I receive. Here's a hypothetical situation I can imagine at work after I win a Nebula award...
"Hey Frank! Guess what! Did you hear the news? I just won the Freakin Nebula award! Come on ... do the dance with me!"
"Huh? What's a Nebula?"
"You know ... sci fi books. Like Ender's Game. I'm in the same league as Orson Scott Card!"
"You're playing video games? What kind of card did you win?"
"You never heard of Ender's Game? There's a movie coming out."
"Oh ... like TRON? Hey, have you finished up that TPS Report, yet?"
" ... "
Well, at least I got you guys. I'm just letting you know that the celebrations don't last very long. But the happiness ... yeah ... I still got that. My writing is re-energized. I finally have some real validation of the talent that I was wondering if I really had (as is evidenced in that wonderful last sentence I just wrote). I may not be doing the dance, but I got my smile on.
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