Prose. Copperplate Award Changed My Life
My name is Mandy Elliott, more commonly known as MEsolushospes here, and I'm the winner of the NON-Fiction Copperplate Award here on Prose. This is the first, first-place award I've ever received for my writing, and that alone makes it pretty damned special to me (as well as surprising, being that my staple these days is painting!)
I didn't enter to win (though there was the occasional secret hoping), I entered the challenge because no one had ventured into NON-Fiction at the time, and that had surprised me. Surely every one of us has a true-story of temptation! The first and only story that came to my mind, I almost didn't write... because I blush to admit I let myself slip. Yet, it's a true story and I've always said that what people know about me doesn't change who I am so, I did write it and I'm glad I did. (link attached to this post)
I'd forgotten about it, that I wrote it and that it was being judged (award worthy?). My life got turned upsidedown, uprooted, and re-directed; I had more important things to be thinking than about winning. Need to find a new home, new job, and as a professional Artist just starting to try making it a living, I don't make a lot of money. So, the first thing that impacted me about winning the Copperplate Award with my twin (Remmy Ar'emen, @Another_Proser in Poetry for "[Sollicitatio Venditatae]"), half of what we needed to make moving happen just came to us! Plus, an ipad to Prose. and Vango app! I was in disbelief, then relief, and then practically jumping from my skin.
But there was still work to be done, money to make before we can even secure a place to stay so, I didn't celebrate, I busted ass and sold 10 $100 paintings to get me the rest of the way. The funny thing about it is, that's a lot of packing, and packing involves a lot of measuring, cutting, folding and wrapping, etc. It's boring. There was a lot of time for thinking and not about the money, but the story (Temptation Surrenders to Experience) in between my gratitude for my new and returning Art buyers!
So, while I'm packing all these paintings, I got to thinking and wondering, what about my story spoke to the audience? Did they need, as I had, to be immersed and tempted along with memory-me? To giggle aloud at the silliness of reality? Did the trip of emotions, from panic and uncertainty, to defense and fight-ready, to embarrassment and straight comedy ring in reader? Was it the different shades of temptation felt, from the last drink that started it all, to the options that drew me to toe the line of action, and the unspoken lingering questions of what happened next? Was it the punchline and moral to my temptation story; that some temptations are worth following, if only for the story?
Well, I don't really know, but I do know that to me it was a confirmation of the latter. If I hadn't been tempted to share my real-life temptation story, I wouldn't have had this new story to humble me. Interestingly (to me) winning this award made me cry not because of the money and ipad (which make moving possible, and working with our Art sales easier with the ability to see the user-experience in the Vango app), but because in this moment of my unexpected need, I get the feeling past-me and present-me worked together to succeed. It's a powerful feeling for someone who's struggled not to conform to society's demand I again slave for corporations that don't care about me as a person (and indeed, nearly killed me), only what I can do for them... but here and now, I wrote and I painted from the heart, and it feels good to see it result in the success everyone told me I'd never have.
So, I may not know why my story spoke to the readers, but I can't express my gratitude without crying. The Copperplate Award tells me that my stories can reach people as well as my painting and I don't have to limit myself to one or the other. I don't have to know what the future will hold for me to know that as long as I'm giving it everything I got, every day, it has meaning. In this particular instance, it also helped make ends-meet, and secured a more versatile future for otherwise lowbudgt/low-tech Artists.
This is my long-winded thank you to those who made it possible to create this award, and those who made it possible to have such a massive (positive) impact in my life. Experiences will do that. ;)
-M.E.
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