When the Pulitzers are announced each year I look for my name.
I have yet to find it.
The prize time of year does remind me that if I’m just writing to win a prize, I have bigger problems to deal with.
I don’t sit down in the chair in my office, stretch my fingers and say with confidence, “Yes indeed, I’m going to write a prize winner today.”
If only I could do that.
Instead, I sit in my chair, take a sip of tea and say, “I’m going to do my best today. I’m going to stretch my skills (as well as my fingers), tell a good story, and have fun.”
There are no prizes for that, but there should be.
I do read the writing of prize winners. It is something to strive for, yet maintain my own voice. In other words, write well, but write like me.
And in the end, my friends, it is the hardest of facts that most of us may not get a prize of gold or one that will get our name in the paper or on TV. But we can give ourselves accolade for working hard at writing, learning to better ourselves, and for our concentration and dedication.
That prize will shine nonetheless.