Day #9253 - Goodbye, Raggedy Man

Even though we've all known it's been coming for months, I'm still having a hard time fully wrapping my head around the fact that the day after tomorrow, Matt Smith's time as the Doctor will actually be over. He was my first Doctor, after all. The very first episode of Doctor Who I ever watched was The Eleventh Hour and I was immediately taken. How had I never heard of this before? How could I have ever dismissed science fiction and insisted it just wasn't for me?

Matt Smith, in a way, changed my life. Because of him and his portrayal of the Doctor, a dream of mine was able to come true.

This time last year, I was still grieving the departure of Amy and Rory. Like I said, I was new to the show so it was my first time dealing with saying goodbye to characters like this. At the same time, I was continuing to pursue my writing ambitions. I've been an aspiring novelist for a few years now, always practicing my craft and praying for my break. It came in the form of a short story contest: Lisa Burstein wrote a novel told through diary entries. Her challenge was to write the diary entry of a fictional character, pick finalists, let fans vote, and the winning story would be printed in the back of her novel. So I went back to The Eleventh Hour and there was Amy and the Doctor. I wrote a story about how much I'd love to travel through time and space with this amazing Time Lord, big chin and all. I entered it, forgot about it, and no one was more shocked than me when I found out I won. In March, a dream came true. I saw my name in print, in a book, for the first time. Something I'd written was out there for all to see.

All thanks to the Doctor. In the last few seasons, Matt Smith has had epic speeches and amazing adventures and wacky headwear and two hearts of gold. Through his portrayal of everyone's favorite alien, I learned how to look at humanity though a new lens. There is always hope and the choices aren't always easy, but in this Universe, no one is ever truly alone.

Last year, I welcomed Clara as the new companion with open arms. And over the years I've caught up on all the 'new Who' I'd missed, so I've seen how regeneration works before. I'm sure Peter Capaldi will do a great job and I really am excited to see what comes next for the show. But Matt Smith is my Doctor, and saying goodbye to my Raggedy Man will make this, in some ways, a TARDIS Blue Christmas.

Day #8908 - And Then it Began

It started with reading something on Twitter, which led to a blog post, which resulted in writing my first ever piece of fan fiction. And then just a few weeks later, it led to something that has felt so impossible for so long suddenly becoming very real.

So let me back up. On December 4th, YA author Lisa Burstein tweeted that she was sponsoring a contest in honor of her upcoming novel, Dear Cassie. I went over to her website, read more about it, and spent the month toying around with a few ideas and the prompt. Then finally on the very last day submissions could be sent in, the last day of the year, I threw a Hail Mary and emailed in my submission because, hey, what's the worst that could happen? Rejection? I've been a resident of Queryland for a while now, so I'm so used to that.

On January 7th, I found out my entry, a diary entry from the perspective of Doctor Who's Amy Pond, was a finalist. Voting would take place for a few days, and the finalist that got the most votes would get their story printed in the final copy of Dear Cassie.

And yesterday as I was about to shut down my computer at work and head home for a relaxing weekend, I decided to check my email one more time. And then it began. "Monica, Congratulations you won!"

To say I'm excited puts it mildly. This is what it feels like when something you dreamed of happening finally starts to unfold a little bit. I understand that it's one 750-word piece of fan fiction, but in just 52 days, I'll be able to walk into a bookstore, pick up a copy of Lisa's novel, flip to the back and see the words "By Monica Fumarolo" staring back at me. And that's nothing short of a miracle to me.

So I must of course thank my family and friends who have always stood by me. And there are the many people who took the time to vote for me, too - this wouldn't have happened if not for you. March 5th is the currently posted release date for  Dear Cassie and I cannot wait!

And since I'm also such a music nerd, you should know this is the song playing in my head since I got the news =)