What's At The End Of This Tunnel? Could It Be...Light?

Ever just been overjoyed and filled with gratitude?  That was me today.  Seriously, just so overwhelmed by the generosity and support of others.

I got the draft of my grant complete! Good thing #1.  Cannot tell you what a relief that is or how much better I feel. I still have one section left - it's suppose to be optional, but really isn't optional at all. Not if you want to get funded. It's like bonus points  that you can't afford to pass up. I actually plan to knock that out next Monday and Tuesday because I'll be the only one in the office and there really shouldn't be too much traffic. But the bulk of the application is complete! Yay, I can breathe again!

Then I sat down with the advisor for our program and we ran through her edits/suggestions. I had been sending her pieces to read as I completed them and told her to be critical. And I honestly want her to be because that's the only way to get good - you can't improve the weaknesses you don't see.  We got through most of the edits and there weren't many. I kinda think I did an okay job writing this thing. Good thing #2.

I submitted a few sections of the grant to an external reader for a second review. I have to say, I could not have done any of this without her assistance. She was so helpful when I met with her last month at conference.  I felt like she genuinely cared about my grant and seemed like she would do anything to help. During the meeting she even emailed me some templates to use.  Like, who does that? In the grant world, no one.  

We've had some correspondence and she understand the situation I'm in and that I'm doing this alone, with no grant writing experience. So after I sent her the three sections she's going to read, she sent me templates for all the other sections! Good think #3. I've already written them but it will be really helpful to go back and compare to know if I'm on the right track.

So I'm feeling really good. Relieved. Hopeful. Grateful.  I've made it through the most difficult part of the process and I am happy!

*Side note to say my blog DOES NOT represent my writing skills. I promise!  Every time I read an old post, I find errors. Every time. It's embarrassing. I really do know proper grammar. Now the spelling...eh, the spelling is probably questionable. But the grammar, I've got that.  So I have no excuse- I'm just a sloppy blogger. I may, or may not, try to get better about reading/proofing but I'm not making any promises.