Celebrate The Wins

Because this is a tough business.

Long ago, when I was still in college and just starting out as a writer, I developed a habit that I’ve retained to this day: scrapbooking. Not just any kind of scrapbooking, though. Career scrapbooking. Whenever anything at all good happened, I’d stick it in an album I’d dedicated for that topic. No vacation photos here—just clippings of the events listing of a poetry reading I’d given, or a copy of the somewhat-encouraging rejection slip I’d received. No win was too small for my scrapbook, no mention too minor. I saved event flyers I’d made and photocopied myself. I saved programs. I saved letters informing me of the honorable mention I received in a contest. In other words, I behaved exactly like a proud mother, except that the child was my infant writing career.

Some pages from my early scrapbooks. Lots of flyers!

Fast forward a few decades and the habit remains. Each year, I go through my phone and gather up the photos I’ve taken at events, the screenshots I’ve taken of nice reviews, or even a particularly flattering social media post or a complimentary email. I archive all of it in an actual photo album that I can hold in my hands. I will never show these photo albums to anyone because their very existence (and the need for validation they reflect) is pretty embarrassing. But showing them isn’t the point. They’re for me.

Most of us remember the bad things that happen to us with more precision and accuracy than the good things. Nowhere is this more true than among writers. 2024 was an exceptionally good year for me, but without a little prompting, my brain is still likely to focus on the fact that I was rejected for every writing residency I applied for in 2024, or that I amassed a hefty pile of rejections for a short story that I count among the favorites I’ve ever written. We’re all good at remembering the prizes we didn’t get and the rejections we did, no matter what else happens.

All of which makes it vital to celebrate the wins, both big and small. Sitting down to write is a win. Finishing something is a win. Sending it out is a win. Publishing it is a win. Getting any sort of positive response is a win. And so, as the year winds to a close, I encourage you to take stock of your triumphs, large and small.

Here are some of mine:

January

• I taught winter term at Hamline’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and had the privilege of workshopping some incredible student writing.

• The adapted excerpt of Accountable I’d published in the New York Times in 2023 was republished as one of the newspaper’s Great Reads alongside an essay I wrote about the experience of talking to kids about racist humor.

• I went back to Albany, California, the town where it happened, for a moving community conversation about Accountable.

• Accountable received the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Gold Medal from the American Library Association and the Golden Poppy Award from the California Independent Booksellers Association.

Clockwise from left: Talking with Aishatu Yusuf in Albany. My workshop students and co-faculty Swati Avasthi. YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award announcement.

February

• Love, Escargot, the third book in the series, was an Indie Bestseller.

• I was a featured author at the Blue Willow Book Festival in Houston, Texas, and the Western Washington University Children’s and Young Adult Literature Conference in Bellingham, Washington, as well as visiting schools (virtually or in person) in Korea, Maryland, and Kentucky.

• Accountable received a Golden Kite Honor from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

• I went away to work on a new book.

From left: Keynote at WWU Children's Lit Conference, Love, Escargot is an Indie Bestseller, Authors goofing around at the Blue Willow Festival

March

• Accountable received the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from the Columbia School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, becoming the first young adult book to ever receive the award (previous winners include Alex Kotlowitz, Shane Bauer, Andrew Solomon, Jeffrey Toobin, Lawrence Wright, and Jane Mayer).

• I celebrated the launch of the fourth Escargot book, Escargot and the Search for Spring, at Linden Tree Bookstore and a variety of schools.

• Dangerously Ever After, a short stop-motion animated film based on my picture book of the same name, premiered at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

April

• Accountable won the Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World from SCBWI.

• I visited schools (in person or virtually) in Oregon, New York, and California.

May

• At the Bay Area Book Festival, I was on a panel about book bans that was moderated by librarian superstar Mychal Threets.

• Accountable won the California Book Award Gold Medal.

June

• I went away to work on a new book.

• I traveled to the American Library Association Conference in San Diego to accept the Excellence in Nonfiction Award, give a speech, and watch various of my friends and heroes accept awards of their own.

From left: Showing off my award. The chair where I wrote. Me and Mychal Threets.

July

• I sold a new picture book, The Big One, which will be illustrated by Myo Kim and released in 2026.

• My essay, On Reading Poetry to Write Nonfiction, appeared in Omnium Gatherum Quarterly.

• My short story, A Detour on the Way to the World, appeared in Cream City Review.

August

• I went on vacation, and didn’t work!

• My short story, I Know Where to Find You, appeared in Pembroke Magazine.

  

  From Left: The Big One, Pembroke, Cream City Review

September

• Accountable won the Northern California Book Award.

• I visited (in person or virtually) schools and libraries in Oregon, Texas, Massachusetts and California

October

• I got to hang out with Escargot illustrator Sydney Hanson because we both happened to be in Phoenix, AZ.

• I visited schools in Oregon, California and Massachusetts.

• I sold a new nonfiction book, which is still unannounced but which I am eager to tell you about once it is.

November

• I participated in four panels at the National Council of Teachers of English annual conference in Boston, MA and had amazing discussions about education, misinformation, and having dialogues despite differences.

From left: NCTE panels with Nic Stone and Jared Amato, Northern California Book Award with picture book winner Angela Dalton, me and Escargot illustrator Sydney Hanson

December

• I finished the sixth Escargot book and turned it in to my editor.

Next year is likely to be a quieter year. I don’t have a new book coming out so I expect to be on the road far less. What I will be doing is writing. My 2025 wins will probably be counted in words written and drafts completed. Nevertheless, I’ll be documenting them with the same diligence as I documented this year’s prizes and parties. If I don’t celebrate them, who will?

I bow to you,

Dashka