Well. I do. And I recently got some.  

Thanks to the kind folks at 4Culture, a King County (Seattle, WA) arts organization, I have been awarded $4,000 to complete my first full-length poetry manuscript (currently titled Native Song).  The Individual Artist Award will allow me focused creative time, funds for the ever-expensive contest and submission fees, and money to produce a public reading for the residents of King County.  I am truly honored to be recognized by this fine organization.  See the full list of this year’s fellows here.

Less than a week after receiving that great news, I was award the Loren D. Milliman Fellowship from the University of Washington.  The fellowship pays $12,000 and is awarded to one MFA student entering their second year at UW.  I am deeply humbled by this award, especially as all of my peers are as deserving of such generosity.  And with our baby on the way, the timing couldn’t be better.

I spend a lot of time submitting poems to literary magazines, researching grants, applying for jobs and funding and anything else that comes my way.  The work is hard and slow.  But to receive this kind of generosity truly restores my faith in the value of the busy work that swims alongside the dreamy world of being a writer.  For their kindness I’ll be putting my shoulder to the wheel.