Here's what it feels like, right now

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squirrel on our back fence, yesterday, sheltering itself from the rain

I've been quiet.

There's a time to be quiet and a time to make noise, and it's time to be quiet. I've made a lot of noise this fall, that's what it feels like. I've done my best. And because I chose to write about every stage of this journey, it seems only fair to close up the chapter begun on October 2nd, when my book was named a finalist for one of Canada's biggest literary prizes.

A quirk about the GGs is that there is no instant reveal ceremony. Instead, all the finalists are informed of the results in advance, and then asked to keep their knowledge secret until the day of the announcement. I've tried to play by the rules, but you can read me like a book. I carry my happiness and my sadness in my body. I've been through a massive range of emotions since Oct. 2nd, and I've tried to accept every shift, every climb, every jitter, every fall. I've tried not to resent what I'm feeling. Just feel it. Just be there with it.

I've known for over a week, now, that The Juliet Stories was not chosen by the jury as the last book standing.

I've felt quite alone in that knowledge. It's a lonely place to be, accepting good wishes for a result that you already know will disappoint. I suppose that's been my rawest emotion: the sense that I am disappointing friends and family with this result.

I told my two big kids on Sunday, after I'd had a difficult day, struggling with how I would get through one more day until the announcement. I was so weary, so distracted, so short-tempered, it wasn't fair to them. So I told them, to give them context; I make a habit of naming my emotions (and encouraging them to name theirs) so we all know what we're working with. This was late on Sunday evening. They were sad to hear the news, yes, but mostly they were purely compassionate, empathetic. They forgave me my snapping.

I said, "I'm really sorry to be disappointing you."

And my daughter came across the room like a heat-seeking missile to hug me, hard. She said, "You're not disappointing me, Mom. I'm just disappointed in the jury's choice."

I needed to hear it, and I'm blessed to have heard it from my own thoughtful child.

It's not like I ever felt that my book deserved to win over anyone else's. I still believe it was luck that landed me on the list. But if luck got me that far, it meant I might get luckier still. And I got pretty close to that light. I've lived a simple life, propelling myself toward this possibility from a young age. Writing books was the one thing I consistently wanted to do and so I figured out how to write books with a singular focus: reading, studying, practicing, and working toward this goal -- which is an amorphous goal, and I'm not sure one that should rely so heavily, in my own judgement, on prizes or sales, but I'm also not sure how else to measure my success in meeting it. Essentially, it's been the goal of signing my name amidst the names I've read and studied and admired.

It's been the goal of writing a beautiful book. Or two. Or more.

I'm not sure, now that I'm here, what I imagined it would be like. What if this is as good as it gets? The festivals, the readings, meeting other writers -- all things I've truly enjoyed this fall, but also things that are new and strange and exciting because they are out of the ordinary. Would I enjoy them so much if they became ordinary? The prize part has surprised me most of all. It's left me drained. I'd say humbled, but it's more a sense of helplessness, a lack of control. I ask: wouldn't I do this all over again? And yes, I would. Without question. Crazy, huh.

I'm still feeling quiet. November is a good time for quiet, and I'm craving winter's hibernation. But I'm going to try not to hide out completely, not to avoid people. Now you know how I'm feeling. Now we know where we are. Right?

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