I’ve gone home from the Florida Writer Association’s Royal Palm Literary Award banquets with an armful of trophies and I’ve gone home empty-handed. Both euphoria at winning and a tinge of disappointment over not are valid emotions. But there is another set of powerful feelings that I have discovered that transcends my own personal outcomes in the contests. These I would describe under the banner of  “satisfaction.” When I look around the room I see hope in the eyes of … Read More »