I am in SHOCK! I just found out that I WON the Society for Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrator’s 2021 Magazine Merit Award in the poetry category for my poem, “Lemons!” which first appeared in Countdown/The School Magazine. What a cool and super unexpected surprise!

What’s so amazing about this is that (some of you may recall) this particular poem was written on April 27, 2020 during a poem-a-day challenge that I participated in during National Poetry Month. You remember April 2020, don’t you? You know, the start of the pandemic when the world shut down and we were all dazed and confused and quarantining and wondering what the heck was happening and how we would ever survive being stuck inside for a WHOLE MONTH!?

Ah, the good old days, right? But here I am now, celebrating receiving this award and it would NEVER have happened if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. Because if we weren’t quarantining, I never would have looked to poetry for comfort and purpose, and if it hadn’t been for that poetry challenge, this poem and this award (and a lot of the success I’ve had these last couple of years) would never have happened.

So, sometimes there really are silver linings, even amidst the dark times. So when someone gives you “lemons,” well… you know what to do. 🙂

Thanks everyone, as always, for your support and kindness. xoxo