moving on

The wait is over; all 331 of you out there, who I'm sure have been holding your breath in anticipation, can now inhale. The finalist list of the CBC Literary Awards has been released, and I'm not on it. Neither, I am amazed to report, are the multi-prize-winning Karen Connelly and one of my favourite writers, Marni Jackson. But I'm thrilled to report that Joe Kertes, who is not only a wonderful writer but an extremely nice human being, is on the list, along with four writers I've never heard of. Go Joe!

It's a huge relief, because I'm going away soon and would have been tormented to miss the finale of this great event, even if I'd lost, as I most surely would have. I'm not surprised not to be on the list, and I mean that. I have told a good story, but it has further to go, and so do I as a writer. Much, much further. It was thrilling to be on the short list. Now I have a story to send around for publication, and a boost to get going on new material.

Competitions, I tell my students constantly, can be helpful for writers: a deadline, a goal, a yardstick. But it's also good not to let them loom too large. All that matters, in the end, is sitting alone in a room and working until you get it right.