Thursday, April 05, 2007

a kinda big thing makin' me happy!

At the beginning of the year, I made some scrapbooking resolutions. You can read 'em here.

I'm sorry to say that the majority of those resolutions remain pie in the sky ideas. My scraproom isn't tidier, I haven't added my new pages to albums yet, I don't keep regular hours, etc.

But #4? Number 4 I've strived to do.

I don't know why I've put off submitting my layouts for publication for so long. I've considered the idea of being published many times, and last year, I even entered the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame contest. Out of 9,000 entries, only 25 were chosen. I wasn't one of them. And while I knew in the back of my mind that my chances were close to zip, it was still a big disappointment to not receive that call.

The truth is, I'm good at the things I love. People have always sort of laughed off my good luck, because typically, when I enter a contest - whether it be for my writing, or photography - I win. Or when I try something new, like mural painting or playwriting, I do really well. It's sort of uncanny, really. I can do pretty much anything I set my mind to.

Notice, however, that I've never set my mind to things I DON'T think I'd do well at. I've never entered a beauty pageant. I've never tried out for Jeopardy. I've never trained for a marathon.

And I've never submitted for publication. I've been writing for years- since about the 4th grade, to be exact. That was the year my gifted and talented teacher told me that I had something special, and I believed her. I've written weekly columns for a local church publication. I've written stories and skits and eulogies. For as long as I can remember, people have urged me to submit for publication. I dream of doing so. Someday, I believe I will.
I really don't know what holds me back, except for fear of failure.

I'd also never submitted any of my scrapbook layouts, save for that one contest. In my artist's mind, I know that I'm good at what I do. But I also know that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of us who are good at what we do, and I'm not any better than the rest of them. This year, I decided to just TRY. As my friend Elaine loves to say, "The answer is a guaranteed no if you don't ask." So I asked.

In March, I submitted twice - once to Donna Downey's column in Simple Scrapbooks magazine; she passed me by. Ten days later, I submitted to Layout Blueprints 2, the sequel to the amazingly successful idea book that came out last year. Actually, I submitted 7 layouts for the book. Yesterday, I got an email. They're requesting one of the layouts for publication!

I was so giddy when I called Darren with the news that I could hardly speak. I just giggled and squealed. "It's about time. It's about TIME!" he exclaimed.

I can't share the layout online until the book has been published for 120 days. Oh, how I wish I could show you. It's one of my favorites, because it features my two boys, and their two closest friends, who happen to be the sons of MY two closest friends, Cara and Kristi. I love it, too, because in a way, Cara and Kristi get to be published with me. And that's just the coolest thing.

Kind of a big deal to me, maybe not so big a deal to the rest of the world. But it's makin' me happy. I'm published! :)

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you, I have tears. I know how much this means to you and I can't wait to see the layout!

Jonesee

nandmmom said...

Congratulations, Your layouts inspire me on SS all the time!

CyndiAKADisneyqueen said...

Yah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you. You have inspired me to keep trying.

Menjiness said...

I am so excited and so PROUD of you! YEAH! Doing the hapy dance for you!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Although you don't know me, I feel like I know you- from scrapshare and your blog! You are so talented and I was sad with you last year when you didn't make HOF. I love your clean style and can't wait to see it in print! Please keep on submitting!

Nesa said...

that's great! and that's one of my "goals" for this year. here's hoping there are many more for you around the corner

Anonymous said...

Yippee! Congrats Stacy! You are so talented, it's time the world gets to see your pages! I'm thrilled for you!

Anonymous said...

Oops! That last comment was me, not supposed to be annonymous, didn't want you to think you had a stalker! LOL

Elaine said...

Don't be annoyed with me for this little bit of trivia, but it was 900 entries in the Hall of Fame last year, not 9000.

There were only 550 entries this year and I didn't win either. So I lost against better odds. LOL

Martha in CA said...

Woo Hoo!!!

Congrats to you!

(still waiting for Stacy to scrap all of my pics...already offered to do her laundry...)

Anonymous said...

Stacy: Couldn't find an "email me"
button on your blog so I'll take this opportunity to tell you that in the next week or so you are going to be getting two big, full boxes of CM stuff that I promised you some time back, it's been so long (I don't even know how long ago; I'm truly ashamed of myself!).

I was cleaning this weekend (!!!)and found the promised items for your scrapbooking ministry and DH and I boxed them all up and they will go out via UPS early this week....

I hope you and the ladies at church enjoy the stuff in there, there is TONS and since I deactivated I am sure some of this stuff looks positively antique by now but it's all new, packaged and usable; however I did put some old loose stock of die cuts and MRS G. stickers in there, too.

It's coming from Michigan so don't know exactly how long it'll take to reach you!

ENJOY!