The last week has been filled with preparations for our first Saturday Children’s Art Class (I teach Art Education full time at Ball State). I’ve been grading lesson plans, sending confirmation of registration emails to parents, and simultaneously double-checking and affirming my beginning teachers. Writing was far away.

The Saturday class went fine. The teachers were elated. Everything that said I had done a good job. But driving home, I thought about the essay I’d started four weeks ago, the short story that needed editing. They felt out of reach. Which was a little scary.

When I got home that afternoon, I found this announcement on Facebook.

“Returning in the Snow” nominated for Sundress Publication‘s 2018 Best of the Net by Atticus Review.

It was a nudge, a sign, a signal: don’t stop.