It couldn’t have been more poetic. I was at the first round of the 5×5 Roller Derby tournament, my first ever gig as a tournament head official. Ten participating teams, a ridiculous number of officials. Head reffed an absolutely insane game which ran over time, dealt with the first injury of the season, kept the game and the crew flowing. Finished up, pep talked my crew, confirmed the next game was ready to go and then stumbled into the ref room to de-stinkafy.
And read this on my phone:
Congratulations, you have been selected by publishers at Pan Macmillan as a recipient of a Varuna PIP 2014 Fellowship to further develop your manuscript Snakes and Ladders…’
Then proceeded to head out into the foyer of the venue, sit on the floor and laugh cry like a baby. The commentators got word and announced it and I then spent the rest of the day sweaty hugging, high fiving, and explaining exactly what the hell this all meant. Oh yeah, and did a bit more reffing.
Angela J Williams 