Gracelyn Mitchell
- Apr 26, 2020
- 19 min read

WRITE ON MY WAY: HOW IT FEELS TO HAVE YOUR WRITING RECOGNIZED FOR THE FIRST TIME

Updated: Apr 28, 2020

From a 2019 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Gold Medalist

Hello again fellow writers, authors, and pen-and-paper extraordinaires! I can feel your stares through the screen and I can just imagine the whispers "Where have you been for the past four months?"

The simple answer? I've been busy. The long answer? I've been busy editing my first completed manuscript, and getting it ready to submit to an editor for proof-reading, then to literary agents. Basically, a lot of opportunities have been opened for me, and I am incredibly and unconditionally thankful. My literary career is finally making some advances, and I am so ready!

Speaking of advances, February 1st of this year opened up one of the greatest opportunities I have ever been given in my life.

Let me explain:

In June 2018, I discovered the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards after being rejected from one of several literary agents (back when I was young, naive, and thought that just a brief skim through would make my very first rough draft ready to ship off to major literary agents and publishers). This literary agent informed me that sadly, my manuscript just wasn't right for them, but they suggested that I check out something called the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. With a brief internet search, a world of opportunities opened up to me.

For those that don't know, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards was created in 1923 by Scholastic Inc.'s founder, Maurice R Robinson. After graduating in 1920, Maurice started a catalog called The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic. After asking teachers and educators what he could do to encourage more students to read and write, he got the response "Create an awards program, one that honors young writers and artists at the same level as athletes".

And that's exactly what he did.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards has been honoring young creative teens in 7-12 grade for almost 100 years (next year will be the awards program's centenary anniversary) with medals, scholarships, exhibition, publication, and recognition.

Today, students submitting to the Scholastic Awards can submit to 29 categories for art and writing including :

• ART

. Architecture & Industrial Design

.Ceramics & Glass

.Comic Art

.Design

.Digital Design

.Drawing & Illustration

.Editorial Cartoon

.Fashion

.Film & Animation

.Jewelry

.Mixed Media

.Painting

.Photography

.Printmaking

.Sculpture

.Video Game Design

.Art Portfolio (for seniors only)

. WRITING

.Critical Essay

.Dramatic Script

.Flash Fiction

. Humor

. Journalism

. Novel Writing

. Personal Essay & Memoir

. Poetry

. Science Fiction & Fantasy

. Short Story

. Writing Portfolio (for seniors only)

Clearly, Scholastic is very diverse in the artists and writers it welcomes to it's competition, and this immediately caught my attention. I was ecstatic!

Unfortunately, I had missed the deadline for the 2018 Awards. They had just wrapped up their national events and ceremony for the award-winners. I had to wait until September to submit any writing. But that gave me plenty of time to prepare my writing.

And, in December of 2018, the day of the deadline for submissions, I submitted a few short stories and one poem to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

And then....I waited.

Through the rest of December and the entire month of January, my only focus was on one date: February 1st, the day the winners for the regional awards would be announced.

Before you can win any prestigious national award, you have to win either a gold key or a silver key in your regional competition, which automatically qualifies you for judging on the national level.

When the day came, nervousness and excitement engulfed me. I watched the clock tick hour by hour, checking both the Scholastic Art and Writing Award's website and Facebook page until...the link was posted, congratulating the goldkey regional winners.

Gulping, I clicked on the link and went to the writing winners' page. I scrolled through names of hundreds of students listed in alphabetical order until....I found it:

GRACELYN MITCHELL................SAINT FINDERS........GOLD KEY...............AL

An unhumanly squeal escaped my mouth. I ran down the hallway, skidding around the corners, and bumped into my mom. Falling in her arms with tears streaming down my cheeks, the only thing I could say was "I DID IT!"

Of course, I knew there was still more to be done before I could say "I did it". The list for nationals still had to come out, and my name still had to be on it for me to receive a national award and go to New York.

On March 13th, the day finally came. The list for national winners came out. I was so scared to look, I almost didn't. But when I finally worked up the courage to click on the link, and scrolled through page after page of names once again listed in alphabetical order, I found it:

GRACELYN MITCHELL............SAINT FINDERS..........GOLD MEDAL.......AL

The feeling of finding out I was going to NY, finding out that my work would be recognized for the first time (and on a national level) is almost indescribable. The feeling was just....incredible. It was a combination of both relief and awe.

In this post, I'm going to focus on what it feels like to have your writing recognized for the first time, not necessarily on the national level, but on all levels whether that includes publication, or winning a writing competition, or being included in a news article, or finally finding a literary agent or publisher! I intend to focus on these specific topics and levels of recognition in the near future, and I may also summarize my amazing experience in New York sometime soon......(let me know if you guys would like that story in the comments!).

So without further ado, here's the Long Long List of How it Feels to Have Your Work Recognized for the First Time.

1. You Will Celebrate

When I say this, I don't necessarily mean you'll throw a big party with hundreds of people and champagne and karaoke and the works (though, I would 😁).

I mean, internally, you will celebrate.

If it's anything like finally finding a literary agent, or (fingers crossed 🤞) getting published, you'll be filled with this absolutely indescribable rush of adrenaline. You'll feel like you could climb mountains, or jump 1,000 feet in the air. It feels like being on top of the world, like nothing in the world could possibly bring you down.

It feels like finally making it—like you'vachieveded the most impossible, unreachable dream, and you have MADE IT!

You're finally there, standing in the same place as some of your idols once stood. You've made your way through the slim, golden gates that hundreds of people would battle to the death and wait for a lifetime to get through. Now is your chance.

You think back to all of the hard work you've put in to make this possible, and you're immediately proud of your past self and how far you've come, and you're immediately grateful for all of the people who have made it possible (Thank you, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards judges😊)

However you feel, don't be afraid to suppress it! This is your moment! You've made it!

Let any internal glee you feel engulf you. Celebrate your accomplishment!

2. There May Be Tears

Just expect them. There's nothing wrong with it.

The best way I can describe it is, it's like graduation, or getting married, or having your first kid, or finally getting a position in your dream career. It's a life-changing milestone that will determine a large part of your future. You have just made a massive leap in the path of achieving your dreams. It's very likely, even if you didn't expect to, that you will get emotional. In a guest post called 7 Emotions You Will Feel After Publishing Your First Book on The Independent Publishing Magazine, author Scott Matthews puts it like this:

"It is often said that the greatest human endeavor is that of creation, where a human being goes beyond his or herself in order to give rise to the existence of something that was previously not there. Whether you’re creating a new piece of software, a new painting, a new book, or simply a good joke, there is a feeling of fulfillment that comes with the process. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the perspective from which you choose to view the matter, this isn’t the only emotion you will feel."

You will feel relieved, overjoyed, empowered, and inspired. You may not feel things in that order, and you may feel more than just those emotions. Receiving recognition for your passion is bound to open up a vest, complicated, tangled net of emotions. There's no right first reaction, so please don't feel like you are required to cry the moment you hear the news.

You shouldn't exactly expect to gemotional, but you should prepare for the possibility, and you shouldn't be afraid if it does happen. Because, as I've said, it DOES happen. Everyone will accept this as natural,and you should feel ashamed if you suddenly burst into tears in front of your coworker.

Allow yourself time to course through the emotions and identify them. There is no rush to feel anything. But allow yourself to FEEL if you need to (that includes feeling in the form of tears).

3. You Will Want to Tell Everyone You Know

And that's a good thing! This is a very surreal, exciting moment for you! You should feel free to share your accomplishments with friends and family. In a surge conspicuousness joy and excitement, you'll most likely want to tell EVERYONE you know.

Your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles. Grandma. Grandpa. Your cousins you haven't talked to since last Thanksgiving. You'll probably call your best friends, squealing into the phone like a little kid. You might even call people you haven't talked to in years whose numbers have just been sitting desolately in your contact list. Heck, you may even feel like stopping strangers in the street to tell them about it. Because this is an exciting time!

It's perfectly great that you want to share your fantastic news as long as you don't get carried away. Be attentive to social cues. Your friends and family are probably absolutely THRILLED for your success, but they most likely don't want to hear about it 1000+ times at the dinner table. Don't take it personally or get offended if your friends or family want to change the subject. This doesn't change the fact that they are proud of you and your writing achievements.

The best advice I can give in this situation is just to be aware of how much you bring up your newest success, where you bring it up, and what people's reaction to you bringing it up is. Don't talk about it constantly, unless you feel a flow in conversation when you (for instance, in a group of other writers) bring it up, and certainly don't continue to talk about to an obnoxious amount ( for instance, interrupt people in the middle of conversation to tell them your news, or twist the simplest things into the story of your success. Be aware if start bragging, and try to shut this behavior down as soon as it happens. No one likes a bragger.

The biggest thing to remember is that it's okay to tell people the exciting news (in fact, it's great!). Hopefully, the people you talk to will be just as excited as you are! Celebrate with them! Just don't grow an ego, and you should be fine.

4. You May Get Scared

There are several things to be scared of when your writing receives recognition for the first time.

You could be worried about making a good impression on those involved in getting your writing recognized, including literary agents, editors, or publishers.

Or you could be scared of making a good impression on other writers (for example, if you are going to a writing conference,or awards ceremony, or retreat.)

You could become anxious about making sure the process goes EXACTLY as planned.

You could be scared that whatever's happening (no matter how far along into production) actually won't happen, or you could be scared of rejection.

You could be scared of the recognition itself, that you won't be good enough, that people will think you are a terrible writer, that you have to write absolutely perfectly all the time or otherwise you will fail.

I won't tell you not to be scared, instead I'll just say this: Be in touch with your emotions, and be aware of your concerns. But don't let fear prevent you from doing what you love, especially NEVER let it prevent you from chasing your dreams. That, in the end, will just make you miserable.

When I was recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and started dealing with the anxiety related to that, I found that (as cliche' as it sounds) talking to friends really helped. Or even getting out of the house for a little while. Because the awards ceremony for the Scholastic Awards is in June, I went to a lot of barbeques, pool parties, and even just walked around the mall for a few hours to settle my nerves.

You don't have to take your mind off of your fear (It will be there!), but don't let your fear take away from your enjoyment of this awesome moment!

5. It's Okay to Get Overwhelmed

There's a lot that goes into getting your writing recognized, whether you are getting your book published, or something on a much smaller scale. And naturally, you will get a bit "freaked out".

After all, being a successful writer comes with a long to-do list.

There are a lot of things to remember and keep track of. If you working with a literary agent, you'll have to keep track of deadlines, and emails, and and contracts, and queries, and even rejections. And if you are working with an editor, or publisher, or both at the same time, there will be EVEN MORE of that on a grander scale.

You start worrying about how many followers you have on your social media. You are about to publish a book! How are you supposed to advertise it if other writers out there have 4,000+ followers, and you only have 400?

You might start to feel like every single waking moment NOT spent writing or succeeding is a moment wasted, which can deteriorate your confidence as a writer, and make your passion feel more like a chore.

None of this feels very good. I mean, who in their right mind enjoys stress,anxiety, and fear?

All of these thoughts left to spiral around in your head, like a washing machine on heavy spin cycle, can mentally destroy your joy as a writer.

"I believe that fear of success is a bigger obstacle for most writers than fear of failure,"

Writes author and publisher Brooke Warner on Huffpost.com's "3 Ways Writers Get Overwhelmed-And What To Do About it"

She continues

"You want it, you tell yourself. I want it, you tell your friends. But something is holding you back."

When I was getting ready for Scholastic, I felt suffocated by all of the interview questions I had to answer, travel preparations, and scholarship contest deadlines. Even the happy stuff like my story being published on the Scholastic website, getting my gold and silver key pins in the mail, and my name being put into the 2019 Scholastic Yearbook gave me a pounding stress headache.

Surreal moments can easily become overwhelming.

A way to relieve all of these overwhelming emotions is to take a step back. Breathe. Go for a walk, or read for a while. Go out for coffee. Do something else you enjoy for little while.

Meditate. Allow all of the stress to leave your body.

Remind yourself that you are achieving your goals, and that's big! And it will probably require a big process, but someone saw something in your work, and they believe it has incredible potential. Your work has incredible potential, and you are ready for this!

I have always loved this quote:

"YOU ATTRACT WHAT YOU ARE READY FOR."

This opportunity would have never come your way if you were not ready for it. Remember that.

6. It's Okay To Not Think About It Every Minute of Every Day

"So, what's going on in your life?" "Oh, nothing much."

Have you ever said that after something special happened, like a graduation, or a special trip, or a wedding?

Odds are, even with FINALLY getting your writing(your passion, your hard work, your blood, sweat, and tears), you'll still occasionally forget about it.

That's natural.

And feeling guilty about it is natural,too.

Afterall, you were just handed this AMAZING opportunity, and you just....forgot about it? How could you?!

But the reality is, this will happen. And it shouldn't make you feel like you suddenly don't care about your major achievement.

You'll probably go grocery shopping, have dinner with your friends, go to parties, and just go about your daily life without even thinking about more than once.

But this doesn't mean you've become "ungrateful" or "don't care".

After the initial shock wears off, you'' carry your success like a responsibility. Like your job, or your kids, or remembering to wash the dishes, it will always be present in your mind; you just won't always think about. There will be times when you have loud, pride-filled outbursts about it, and there are other times you will just think nonchalantly about it to yourself.

And that's okay.

The best advice I can give for this is: Just because you don't think about it 24/7, does NOT mean you aren't still proud of yourself, and you shouldn't beat yourself up for the few times your innocently forget about it. You should be no less proud of yourself!

7. Your Friends Will Probably at Some Point or Another Think You're Bragging

This is where you need to be cautious for more than one reason.

For one, it's very easy to slip into the habit of boasting. It should be pretty evident for yourself if you start bragging. You'll see people getting visibly annoyed, or looking both annoyed and uninterested, when you bring up your writing or your success. And your friends or family may verbally tell you to "knock it off" or to please stop bringing it up so consistently.

There are a few ways to tell if you are outright bragging:

. You feel the need to interject in every.single.conversation.

Example: you and your friends are gathered around in your living room, eating some food, having some drinks, and just hanging out and talking casually, when Chad brings up his new promotion at work. Rather than sitting there, listening to what he has to say, you interrupt with "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you guys! [My writing/book/manuscript]is...." or "Oh! I found a [literary agent/editor/publisher] for my book!"

. You do stuff you don't really enjoy just to make yourself more likeable

In other words, you start "accessorizing" your success. You want to make yourself stand out a bit more. It's no secret that several big celebrities are writers, and celebrities undeniably influence the world. You want to make yourself into an influencer. You want to be accepted and respected by society. You might find yourself buying more stuff you wouldn't think was necessary before, or going to expensive restaurants, or going to places you know attract publicity. But you really don't enjoy doing any of these things. You just do it to maintain the perfect "image" you've constructed for yourself.

. All of your posts on social media are bragging about your achievement

Publicity isn't a bad thing, especially when you're trying to get your writing out there. However, if you find that start posting a lot of selfies, or starting your captions with sentences like "I still can't believe I did it!" or "It looks like I'm about to be the next New York Times Bestseller!" or "I remember back when I was a just a little writer, working hard to get my manuscript out there. Now I'm about to be published by the biggest publishing company in the United States!" it might be time to take a step back and remember why you started writing in the first place.

. You fish for compliments. CONSTANTLY.

Does "isn't impressive how many words my book is?" or "isn't it so cool how I'm getting published by-----?" sound familiar? If you aren't getting natural, humbling compliments, it might be safe to say that you're doing something that makes people feel like you don't deserve to get them. Like bragging.

. You look down at other writers who aren't on the same level as you

Honestly, if you are doing thisーshame on you. But again being honest, this behavior probably develops from some sort of corrupt nostalgia. You remember the days when you were hard just to get one letter that wasn't a rejection. And that's just it! You had to work hard! Never forget that what you had to do to get to the position where you are at currently, others are still doing right now. DO NOT disrespect other writers simply because they haven't reached your level yet. They are trying their hardest, just like you had to.

But there's also the other side: Your friends think you're bragging when you're not.

This situation can be EXTREMELY frustrating.

If the situations listed above genuinely do not describe you, and your friends STILL say you are bragging, you may not be the problem.

Take at the list of situations below. Do any of these apply to your friends when you mention your achievement?

. They push away or shut you down any time you try to talk it.

Even when it's appropriate to talk about it. For instance:

"So how is everyone's day going?" "Really good! My writing is getting-" "Okay, Bethany! We get it! You're a writer!"

If you haven't brought above your achievement constantly, or your just sharing a new development, this behavior is a bit....off.

. They make assumptions about you

See if any of these sound familiar:

""Emily's getting published by some big, famous New York publisher or something."

"I bet she'll start asking us if we want her autograph. Ugh." "She finally got someone to her publish her book. I guess she's going to get millions of dollars just for sitting at her computer all day and writing now."

"She thinks she's better than everyone now."

"I guess she's like...famous now...."

First of all, if your "friends" are saying things like this and you have already determined you aren't bragging, I would encourage you to start hanging out with more supportive friends.

Those of us who have been in this situation know it all too well: the condescending,snotty, mocking voices, the horrible misconceptions, the rumors, the lies.

In this situation, it's possible that for some reason your friends are either jealous, or they just genuinely have some misconceptions about you and your writing.

I would advise you to sit down and have a conversation with your friends about the assumptions and rumors they are spreading. It's possible that what you see as them spreading rumors about you could just be them being proud of you but misunderstanding the process.

If you can't clear the air, it's time to walk away.

Surround yourself with more supportive friends, or if you have to, join a writing forum.

In conclusion, just carefully observe yourself and others. Hold yourself and your friends accountable. Be aware of what bragging is and what it sounds like, and how a simple conversations can come off as bragging.But also be aware of rude and baseless assumptions.

When I found out I was going to New York, I rarely talked about it unless it was amongst family, or other writers, or it came up in conversation. But during this time, I was also attending weekly classes (I took debate, anatomy, and photography). A lot of my friends that I made outside of these classes started attending, and already knew about my achievements with Scholastic, which was perfectly fine with me. We would discuss it occasionally, when it was appropriate, like in study hall, or when we were talking in the hallway. And we'd also talk about their successes, too. We kept the conversation flowing and cycling to each person.

But there was one girl. I didn't talk to her a lot, except if we were assigned to work on the same project together. She knew through my mom and following me on social media that I was receiving an award from Scholastic. And once she found out, any time she saw me during class or in the hallway, she would call me "Mrs. New York" or "Mrs. New York-Times-Bestseller" in a snobby voice.

I understand if you are genuinely trying to compliment your friend or jokingly "brag" about them (by all means, that's fantastic!). However, with the fact that this girl went straight to yelling these names out in a snobby and over-dramatic voice, and CONSTANTLY spread rumors that I was "rubbing it in other people's faces".....this really upset me.

Be considerate. Make sure others around you are considerate.

No one should damper on your success, and you shouldn't damper on others.

8. The Day Of...

I actually want to do an entire blog post about nerves before signing with a publisher/literary agent/editor one day (maybe one day when I have a bit more experience with that😆)

The day that the results for that writing contest you entered are released, or you board your flight to travel for your writing for the first time, or you sign with your literary agent, or your editor, or your publisherーwill come with several different emotions.

It will feel like you're on Cloud 9, but you could also vomit with the amount butterflies in your stomach.

You might be very jittery, and drive yourself to the point of a mental breakdown to make sure everything goes exactly right.

The best way I can describe it is like this:

It's like you're standing in line for a rollercoaster, and you crane your neck to look up at the towering, neon-painted, rusty tracks hundreds of feet above your head. And you heard the carts rumbling and clattering up the steep incline and the hundreds of people screaming as they plummet into a vertical drop. And your stomach churns, and you shift your weight from foot -to-foot, second-guessing if you should really go on this ride.But you clench your fists and swallow your fear, because you know this experience will add value to your time in the amusement park. And deep down, you know you're excited about it.

That's exactly what succeeding in your writing for the first time feels like!

So swallow your fear, relax, go with the flow, and enjoy this experience! It will add value to your life as a writer!

9.Don't Let This Be Your Only Success

One writing success opens up a door for a whole world of other successes, so you can't and shouldn't limit yourself. You can go so much further than you will ever know. Why stop now? You are a writer. Seize the opportunities, seek out the opportunities, work hard, keep going, and you never know what could come next.

This is not your final bow. This is not your last performance.

But you have to determine that for yourself, and then act upon it.

In the words of Winston Churchill:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal;

it is your courage to continue that counts."