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This is my old blog, which I no longer update. Feel free to browse around old posts and such, but the much more recent version of my ramblings are to be found at MarilynAnneCampbell.com

Monday, June 18, 2007

Deadline Day at the Toronto Arts Council

There was a time not so many years ago when I decided I would never apply for arts grants. I imagined myself nobly slaving away at my day job, counting down the minutes until I could race home and return to my "real" work. I was going to carry on this way for just a few years, then I would break out with some wonderfully successful novel/play/screenplay that would allow me to walk away from the nine-to-five with a flourish, like those people on the lottery commercials. These days, I'm feeling pretty good about myself if I actually have time to sleep the night before the grant applications are due.

So today Steve and I went by the Toronto Arts Council office with four hours to spare and me running on five hours sleep. Just inside the doors a nice receptionist was doing something on her computer when I stepped up to the desk with my fat envelope of brilliance. "Right there," she pointed, and I went to put the envelope on her desk. "No, no," she said, and I followed her eyes to a big easel with a handwritten sign. There was a whole room set aside for this day, with a large table ready to carry the weight of the last-minute onslaught.

I was disappointed at first - there were only about a half-dozen envelopes on the table, and I began to suspect my tendencies to procrastinate weren't as common as writers' blogs and discussion boards have led me to believe. But then I saw the sign-in sheet, with over forty names on it already. As I was filling in my own John Hancock a woman came in and collected the little pile of envelopes and added them to a very full box I hadn't noticed under the table.

When we'd been approaching the office, one guy was getting in his car to leave - he had the look of someone who was very happy to be done with something. As we were walking away from 141 Bathurst Street, someone else clutching a fat manila envelope was heading towards it. I can only assume their applications were brimming with brilliance as well, since as Steve said, "Only the pros procrastinate."

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:01 pm

    I'm glad to see you're back in BlogLand, Marilyn! I've missed you. :) And wow, best of luck getting a grant -- that's so exciting! I'll be keeping my eyes, fingers, toes, legs, and arms crossed for you.

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  2. Thanks Thomma Lyn. Clearly I'm not back to blogging yet on any sort of daily basis, but I figure once in awhile is better than nothing. :)

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