During the past week, my book received a wonderful award, got panned by a thirteen-year-old, and then I saved a woman’s life and wasn’t good enough to make the finals of a playwriting contest.
Just your typical week. 
UP
On Monday, I had an email from The Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee: OyMG had been selected as Notable Book for Teens, 2012.
DOWN
On Tuesday, I had another email. An online site was going to review my book but the editor contacted me to tell me the thirteen-year-old reviewer had written something less than glowing. Did I still want him to run it? (Uh…NO!)
UP
On Thursday, my mother-in-law called to tell me she’d been wearing a shirt from my advertising copywriter days. It had the tagline I’d written for an anti-tobacco campaign: Tobacco. Tumor-causing, teeth-staining, smelly, puking habit. She told me a woman stopped her and asked about the shirt. That shirt, the woman said, had saved her life because the campaign had helped her stop smoking.
DOWN
On Friday night, another email. This one from the Jewish Play Project. I’d written a stage version of OyMG and submitted it to this contest. They had over 175 entrants, but I was hopeful. Then came the list of finalists. OyMG was not among them.
Is it any wonder I’m feeling a little motion sickness from it all? And it continues…after writing a thank you to the play project, I heard back that OyMG is actually a TYA (Theater for Young Audiences) and those won’t be judged until mid-February!! So, I’m back on pins and needles.
I’m guessing that it works like this for everyone. Some ups and some downs, right? It’s just how life goes. The trick is not to focus only on our DOWNS, because honestly, that just seems easier somehow. (Why is that? Or is that just me?)
Even better, remember that most of our DOWNS were first an UP. The fact that I even contacted the online site for a review and got them to accept my book for review was a huge UP. And creating that play in the midst of everything else, giant UP.
How about you? You on the same roller coaster? And what DOWNS are you dealing with that could also be seen as UPs?
Oh goodness . . . at the mercy of a 13-year-old reviewer . . . it’s nice that the blogger gave you the heads up first. So they didn’t run it? Fingers crossed on the play!
Wow! What a week. I feel dizzy just reading all of that. Seems like more UPs than downs though, so I’d say you’re WINNING! And so what about the 13 yo – at least she didn’t say you had cheesy dialogue!
And I loved your book and I’m old enough to be 4 of her – so there – more winning!
Congrats again on the Sydney Taylor award!