I don’t think I’ll ever stop being grateful they picked me. The award did two huge things for for me this year: it boosted me and it outed me.
It boosted my knowledge, my writing skills, my finances, but most of all my confidence in my writing ability. They picked me and invested in me, and I still pinch myself about that. I was always going to keep writing but the award helped me validate making it a priority.
An unexpected outcome/joy was that it outed me as a writer. It wasn’t a secret, but I didn’t stand in the playground and talk about it when other parents asked me how my day was, or tell my colleagues in my day job every time I got a short listing or a rejection. When it was announced, friends tagged me on Facebook and in WhatsApp groups and suddenly everyone knew that I write and the reaction was overwhelming in a lovely way. Luckily the boost helped with the outing.
Thank you Scottish Book Trust.