Humility - Aarsen

I was honored to be a part of The Word Guild's conference a couple of weeks ago. The conference took place in Guelph, Ontario and I was one of three plenary speakers. I also did a workshop. But the best honor I received was tying with Linda Hall for first place in the Romance Writing category of the contest sponsored by the Word Guild. When I found out I was in the running with Linda Hall, I was pleased and humbled and, I have to confess, resigned to not winning. Linda was the first 'real' writer I met face to face. She also took me to my first 'writerly' event - a reading by a mystery writer in Edmonton. I was thrilled to be a part of this ambience and to be spending time with Linda, a published author. At that time I was a starry-eyed wannabe. I had no idea that authors actually mingled with ordinary people or were, gasp, ordinary people. Quite a revelation. I wanted to be like Linda. I wanted to write like Linda. But as I worked with words and struggled with story, I realized I had to be me. And me is a romance writer. But the interesting irony is that now Linda and I write for the same publisher, Love Inspired. We are both writing romance. So to be sharing this award with Linda is a delightful irony. I want to congratulate her here and now. And thank her for the encouragement and the push that she gave me when I was trying to find my own stories.

Carolyne Aarsen