Congratulations On Your Award! What’s Next?
It’s a great feeling when a piece that you’ve worked, struggled, fought, cried and smiled over wins an award or becomes published. That ever elusive feeling of true accomplishment swells inside of you and you feel that you’ve finally found the road of accomplishment that you’ve been searching for.
So what happens after?
While that sense of accomplishment and success won’t ever really go away, it will fade. It’s up to you to note your success and keep moving forward, keep striding on toward your next success. And you can guarantee that your next success will feel just as elusive as your first. Keep working hard and challenging yourself to be better, do better, write better, perform better. Find your limits and surpass them. Find your hurdles and leap over them. Try to be better than you ever thought you could be.
It’s important that you acknowledge and celebrate your victories, but it’s also important that you remember the sleepless nights, frustration, crumpled and ripped up pages and the seemingly endless writer’s block that won you that award. Nothing worth having is easy, and it’s important that you remember that.
So hang that award on your wall where you can see it while you’re composing your next award-wining poem. You’ve earned one award, now go earn some more.