Ruthie has had a successful career as novelist. After a night of drinking with one of her former college friends, Ruthie reflects on her time as a first-year graduate student living in 1998—a time filled with extreme anxiety amongst some successes—which set her writing career into motion. Particularly, Ruthie focuses on the day when fellowship announcements were being delivered to graduate students. As Ruthie and her peers fear the results of their fellowships, themes such as grief, mental health awareness, gender stereotypes, and alcoholism arise, which come with the academic environment. Ruthie learns that most of her friends from graduate school never went on to publish any works. Ruthie herself, although successful in "womens-fiction," has been excluded from most awards and acknowledgements in the literary community. Ruthie wonders if being a writer comes from achievement, or from simply being a person who has a passion for serving the world around them.