In what I wish was the beginning of a joke, I ate so hard during the Thanksgiving holiday I may have injured my esophagus. Probably a gift from my trip to Vietnam, where one of my anti-malarial pills got stuck in my throat as I went to bed. Suffice to say, I was in quite a bit of discomfort and in the market for some good news when, lo and behold, I was contacted by the Iceland Writers Retreat.

I’m happy to share that I’ve been selected to receive one of five Alumni Awards to attend this workshop. My fellow award winners look to be doing meaningful work, and I am very excited for this opportunity. As a side note, I was a finalist for this award last year, so I recommend that anyone interested in this experience to persevere and keep applying.

For more information, you can find IWR’s release here and see just a few of the amazing people I’ll have the pleasure of meeting this coming April.