2008-02-09 - 7:33 p.m.
Wow. I did something last week that was unexpectedly transformative. I�ve been writing a series of autobiographical essays for a book (titled for now �Punk Rock, Ivy League, MS, and the Search for Love: How I Went Back to College with Multiple Sclerosis at Age 28 at Brown (After Starting at Harvard at 18), Developed a Visible Disability Along the Way, Broke Up with My Longtime Girlfriend, Wondered If Romance Was Behind Me Now, Started Dating Again, Graduated, and Re-Met My High School Sweetheart Right After� � bit of a long subtitle and it no doubt will change, but that lays out what happens pretty well) in hopes of becoming the next David Sedaris.
Last Thursday, I submitted the first one (an early draft of the final section is here) to a couple of creative nonfiction writing competitions. The competitions wanted a paper hardcopy, so someone from school went to a street mailbox and physically dropped in my submissions. There was a big snowstorm that started that afternoon, so I�m not sure if they actually got picked up to be postmarked in time (I know �neither rain nor snow� will keep these carriers from their appointed rounds� and all, but personally I wouldn�t want to brave the storm for anything).
But I really don�t care if they got postmarked in time. I don�t even really care if I win (not that it wouldn�t be nice). When I was told that my entries had been put in the mailbox, I realized that in a flash I had magically been transformed into a Writer. All the essays I�ve been working on and even this blog can be seen as no longer just a hobby but an actual purposeful avocation. Wow again. Thank you all for reading. You (I mean you) have shown me that I can tell a story well. For that, you the Man/Woman!
� 2008 Geoff Gladstone
If you�ve ever enjoyed my writing, please donate to the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and/or the Montel Williams MS Foundation.
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