Well, there will be no TOBY nomination for me this year. Bummer.
My immediate internal response (I spoke with Mindy directly by email; she's a great and accessible gal) was a disappointed and sad, "Oh, POOP!" But then I roared back into feisty, won't-let-it-get-me-down form, with an inner roar of "grrrrrr.... well, I'll get one again NEXT year,... yes I will!"
Although I certainly have my own inner, personal experience in these rejection moments -- and we all have them, in one form or another -- it's also excruciatingly, pretzel-twistingly difficult for me to watch other bearmakers question their work and their WORTH when the call about a nomination just doesn't come.
Those of us who enter contests, for whatever reason (personal growth and goal setting; peer group approval and notice; expanded customer base; potential price increase per item; etc.), really MUST, I think, in order to compete healthily, have the attitude that a nomination or win does not DEFINE us as artists or our work as "worthy." Rather, a nomination or win simply draws attention to our work -- work which will be worthy, appealing, and sellable with or without contest nominations and wins under our belts.
Happily for me, there's a silver lining to this disappointing TOBY news. The sting of that ego boo-boo was lessened significantly when friend and artist Karen Lyons (who attended IDEX last weekend) made the very public announcement, on the Teddy Talk forum, that I was nominated for a Golden Teddy award (sponsored by Teddy Bear Review magazine.) Yay, me!
I'm still awaiting official word from the contest sponsors on that news, but Karen is as reliable as reliable gets, and I'm sure she wouldn't have announced that news so publicly if she weren't 100% sure of what she wrote.
So I'm feeling very honored and grateful and happy about that wonderful news-- and, yes, guilty a little too, because again, it's hard to watch others doubt themselves when their pieces don't get the same notice. Maybe someday I'll move past that kind of guilty co-dependence and just dive into personal celebration, but for now I figure that my worry about how others are experiencing things keeps me grounded and kind and approachable, so that can't be so bad, right?
I was SUPREMELY excited to read that so many of my bearmaking friends, lots of them "regulars" at Teddy Talk, got TOBY nominations this year. There's amazing talent on that board -- please check it out if you haven't yet -- and I'm so excited to be in the middle of it and to be able to participate there so meaningfully.
It's been a really energetic and exciting day for many of my bestest beary friends and for me too; I'm really happy for us all!!!
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