Tayari's Blog: This is NOT my Lucky Sweater
Posted by TayariJones on November 9, 2007 10:03 AM
Filed under
The Writing Life
I bought the sweater picture here when I was living in Arizona. It was about 103 degrees outside. The purchase of the sweater was an expression of my confidence that I would get into Yaddo. Just after I mailed the application, I fell in with a rough crowd, the Name-It-And-Claim-It Crew. "You have to put it out there in the universe that you are going to The Yaddo!"
I did want to make it clear to the universe that I planned to spend January in upstate New York. That I had every intention of spending the winter of 2001 drinking hot chocolate with famous people while working on my masterpiece. And besides, you can get a fluffy wool sweater really cheap in Arizona.
So, I bought the sweater.
And I didn't get in. Everytime I went into my walk-in closet (which doubled as an office in those days) the sweater mocked me and all my positive thinking.
Flash forward to one year later. The tags were still on the sweater. Arizona was still the third hottest state in the union. I received a letter in the mail. The MacDowell Colony had granted me a winter residency for 2003!
I took the sweater with me and when I arrived, I tore the tags off with my teeth.
![[divider]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/divider.jpg)
There are 2 comments on "This is NOT my Lucky Sweater". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Judy ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
I am always so inspired by your honest reflections on rejection and eventual triumph. I too believe that we must let the Universe know what we want in order to receive it. I also really enjoyed your "storytelling." You are such an interesting writer. Just call me a fan!
November 10, 2007 12:12 PM
Comment #2, by kgs
Bravo, Tayari. Hope is a lot like love, and both are a lot like sweaters.
November 10, 2007 06:44 PM