I have some INCREDIBLE people in my life.
I have people who send me emails to check up on me when I'm having rough days.
I have people who send me DMs to tell me they randomly thought of my book and how much they want to read it, or how they can't wait to see the cover.
I have people who send me care packages with various forms of chocolate.
I have people who give me killer pep talks, and people who put up with my rants, and people who offer endless digital hugs and support. (Nicole, Tye, Rachel, Scott, Leah, Tiff, Suze, Courtney, Daisy, Emily, Linda, the list goes on...)
This is one of those incredible people.
Vania Stoyanova is an incredibly talented friend and photographer, whose work you might have seen around the web. If you haven't come across it yet, you will. She did the book trailer for Beautiful Creatures, and for Prophecy of the Sisters, as well as The Body Finder and others. She also did that fabulous photo for The Near Witch.
Vania has always been a wonderful source of smiles and support.
A couple weeks back, Vania sent me this three massive prints from her Near Witch photo shoot and I giggled and bounced around. And then last week, she sent me a cupcake-themed care package, complete with an emergency chocolate kit. I almost cried. Not because I love cupcakes, which I do, but because this kind of support is something I've been lucky enough to encounter, not just from Vania (but man is she good at it :p) but from many people.
I was having a hard time of it the past couple weeks, between grad school drama (it looks like I'm not going for the MFA, enabling course correction now), and waiting on edits and a few other key pieces of news, and so many people stepped forward to make me smile. They're my cheerleaders. I don't know what I did to deserve them, but I'm thankful every day. Vania is just one of them, but she cheers so loud that I can't help but smile.
Thanks, V.
And thanks, everyone.
Hi Victoria (posting here because I can't find an email; hope that's okay),
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me, but I'm a BIG fan of the YARebels. I got my MFA in 2009, and so I follow those danged MFA blogs quite a bit--I had spotted someone with a YARebels username on there, and was hoping it was you and cheering for you!
My own graduate school experience was tumultuous and odd--I went for poetry, had a really really hard time there and ended up coming out a hopeful YA writer, weirdly enough. And as someone at the other end of it, though I don't regret my school experiences, I can tell you that the YA world is a much healthier, more productive, and generally more awesome place. Anyway, I'm always really glad to talk to people considering MFAs about my experiences (good and bad) and if you ever need someone who's been through it before to vent to about the whole process--even just the application process (mine was hellish), feel free to shoot me an email: whoasweetjane@gmail.com