MICHAEL McCARTY’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL DAVID R COLLINS LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
(Awarded at Davenport, Iowa’s “Outing Club”, Friday, March 14, 2008.)
I am so honored to be winning the David R. Collins Literary Achievement Award tonight. I didn’t prepare a speech. I will just have to wing it, like back when I was in college.
For me, writing has always been like dreaming, except you do it when you’re awake. Instead of being asleep — you put these dreams down on paper so other people can dream too. Soon those dreams are felt all over the world. The Midwest Writing Center must be a dream castle — and tonight, here and now, is a dream kingdom. It is magical, oh so magical.
I have been writing for thirty-five years now. I wrote for ten years before I even received a payment and that was so special - to get paid for dreaming. I wrote my first professional newspaper article in 1983, my first magazine article in 1993 and my first book in 2003. And this year I will publish seven new books. It is the year of my dreams.
I’d like to thank some people in my life: Cindy Hulting, the love of my life. She has been my girlfriend for close to twenty years; we’ve written stories together and someday we’ll write a book. Cindy has to share me with a mistress named Writing.
I’d also like to thank my friend and collaborator Connie Wilson. We have just written two books and we are working on a third. I want to thank her husband, Craig too, for his kindness.
I’d like to thank my family, the editors and my two agents.
Lastly I’d like to thank my best friend and collaborator Mark McLaughlin for his friendship, for writing three books with me and for being the webmaster of our websites.
This award means so much to me: thank you, thank you and thank you!!!