Spring's Edge: A Ranch Wife's Chronicles is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award
In 1997 my first collection of poetry, Glass-eyed Paint in the Rain, was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. It was a very exciting occasion for me and I was an extremely nervous first-time author. My publisher, High Plains Press, and I didn't win that year, but now twelve years and many books later, my memoir Spring's Edge: A Ranch Wife's Chronicles is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. What makes this finalist nomination especially poignant is that in Spring's Edge I wrote about that first book award event and my fears that success as a writer would change my life. I have had repeated success and without doubt my life has changed.
Despite some very difficult times and some extremely painful losses, I feel as if I have come through the tumultuous storm as a stronger woman, a better writer, and a less fearful human being. Through it all, however, I'm not sure I have ever figured out why we fear success as much as we fear failure, or perhaps better said, as much as we fear change. I've gone from being a hard working ranch wife and tentative poet to a hard working poet and a tentative novelist.
I've won awards, fellowships, grants, scholarships and critical acclaim and yet I still consider myself a creative novice. Every day I learn something new about the writing life and the publishing world. I have grown less fearful of success and change, but I still take time on a regular basis to thank the gods, pray for guidance, ask for strength and direction. I also try to give credit and recognition to all the people who have helped me along the way (including my mother, my sisters, my first husband and his family, my new husband, friends, fellow writers, editors, agents, publishers and reviewers).
While writing may be a solitary endeavor, being an author depends on help from many sources, both human and divine. You can be assured that when I attend the Colorado Book Awards on June 22nd in Aspen, Colorado, I will be filled with delight and thanksgiving for the honor bestowed upon my story.