While I foolishly spent the better part of the week tweaking this website – and then abandoning the design when it didn’t work out – I forgot to tell you my news: I have been privileged, honored and shocked to receive a blogging award from a fellow writer, Laura Eno!
Apparently this plaque comes with a neat tradition: the recipient – that would be moi – must pass it on to seven other blogger.
Now any of you who know me will understand that’s asking the impossible. Choosing only seven would be akin to looking at my children’s shining faces, whilst having to pick who would go hungry, and who would be fed.
Yes, I’m exaggerating, but the point is, must I be so…limited?
See, I’m Context Girl. I’m the kind of person who can’t pick a favorite color without knowing precisely where it’ll be applied, and against exactly what backdrop. (Certain shades of blue, when set against black are just exquisite, but, ooh! That sunny yellow, when set against the turquoise, shows a lot of potential…)
And when I sit down to read a blog, what I define as excellence will depend on my mood (whether I need inspiration, information, or community), the time of day, and possibly even what I ate for breakfast.
However, when it comes down to giving out my awards, this kind of wish-washy prevarication will simply not do! And I am determined to fulfill my obligations.
So without further meandering, the recipients of the Kreativ Blogger Award, as bestowed by hope101 of Tartitude in August of 2009, and culled from just some of the many, thoroughly enjoyable blogs that I read on a regular basis, are…..
1. Joshilyn Jackson at Faster Than Kudzu: because she has a playfulness with language I can only hope to emulate. Without her example to follow, Tartitude would be as exciting, and hold as much potential, as bread crumbs. (Freezer-burned bread crumbs.)
2. The crew at Writer Unboxed: because of all the industry blogs out there, this one is well-rounded, inspirational, and reliable. I particularly love Barbara Samuel-O’Neal’s right-brained writing advice.
3. Ray Rhamey’s Flogging the Quill: when I’m in the mood to do a bite-sized critique, this is where I head. Ray has formed a respectful community where the comments are both insightful and balanced.
4. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: they are wickedly funny, even though I don’t always agree with them, and a good source for the “buzz” in the romance writing world.
5. Hilary Wagner’s blog: her stories rock, and her world-view is unstintingly optimistic. Witness this picture, which she had the unthinking gall to post, mid-pity-fest, mind you, on a dooming-and-glooming writing thread I frequent:
‘Nuff said, I think, on Hilary’s infectious perkiness.
6. Jennifer Crusie’s Argh Ink: When I first started to write two years ago, I hit some pretty significant stumbling blocks. It was her website – the Cherry Forums – that first introduced me to a writing community and the idea of story structure. I credit it with the fact I’m still writing. And if you want insight into the mind of a multi-pubbed author, who remains a nice human being and great teacher despite her success, you can’t go wrong here.
7. Last, but not least, Laura Eno’s blog: yes, this is major suck-up time, but Laura deserves it. She’s been an unstinting supporter of mine, but even better, she isn’t afraid to tell me when something I try fizzles and falls flat. She’s also the person who first introduced me to flash fiction, which she writes very competently and posts to her blog every Friday. Ooh, lookie! (Hint, hint.) That happens to be today.
Also, I want her to be obliged to dust not just one, but two, Kreativ Blogger awards every week. 🙂
As for me…while I am no housekeeper, I treasure my plaque. If any of you envious souls have designs on it, you’d best be prepared for a tooth-and-nail battle.
‘Cause that’s the way we swing, here at the Tartitude. 😉
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Hope/Tart,
You are so sweet! I needed to have a big smile today and your post gave me one! My infectious perkiness even eludes me sometimes! I love your blog and your award is so rightly deserved!! Like I said, you should turn this blog into a book!
On top of that you have an amazing gift for writing and that’s not my venti iced americano talking! You are a true writing talent. You will be landing an agent and/or deal soon. I just know it!
xoxo — Hilary
…oh…and RATS RULE!!!!
Hilary, you deserve it, and that’s not just my Chocolate Silk-laced Teeccino talking. 🙂 And proof of your sunny personality? That you didn’t spot/comment on the fact I mispelled your name. Argh!!!! Running to fix that now with a cherry-tomato-red face. 🙁
Huh…huh…(eloquent, no?)
Thank you, Hope! I’m honored – all I deman…er, said was that you should go back to your old template because it MADE ME HAPPY! Really, that was all.
This award is great. I’ve been able to explore new sites because of it. I will be visiting your other honorees as soon as I’ve finished dusting.
You have a great site and a wonderful wit. I enjoy my time spent here.
Laura, without your feedback, I wouldn’t have known I was a Blog Fail candidate. (I refuse to be a beige person ever again. *shudder*) I place high value on honesty. It makes the compliments you provide all the sweeter because I can trust them. Thanks for the kind words on this, your day of exhaltation and glory. 😉
Ha, ha! It’s spelled wrong all the time! I knew who you were talking about!!
THAT IS SO EXCITING!! And your site is gorgeous, you totally deserve it. I need to pick your brain — when I tried to use different templates for my Blogger blogs I made a real mess of them. Ended up going back to the boring default-type layouts.
Where did you find the picture of the mouse with the tiny bear? I LOVE IT!
Congratulations!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Congrats! And congrats to Hilary, too.
Thank you, Becke, Sputnitsa and Rose! (Rose is a romance writer too, peeps, with two books coming out that I can’t wait to get my hands on. They have killer titles, and you know my fondness for titles.)
Becke, I’ll help you as much as I can, but I’m not familiar with Blogger at all. If you saw my experiments on warping the WordPress themes here, you’d understand.
And the rat – she’s a sweety, isn’t she? I stole the picture from Hilary and have no idea of the original source.
Holy hell we’re in some esteemed company there. Thank you!
And whaddya MEAN you don’t always agree with us?! What’s that about? Is there an award for “Most Always Right Blogger on the Entire Internet” because we would SO win.
Heh. Not.
Thank you! You and your art and your attitude are awesome avec sauce.
Thank you so much, SB Sarah, even though I don’t do sauce! How about crudités instead, in keeping with my blog’s theme of subliminal health messages? (See? I can haz discipline.)
Seriously, despite the fact this will blow my jaded, world-weary image to pieces, squeee!!! You didn’t have to stop by, much less bother to comment publicly. No wonder you guys are tearing up the InterWebz, with that kind of personalized response. 😉
Congratulations on your award. I just found your blog today, via your comment on editorunleashed where everyone shared their twitter names. Then I found you on twitter and that brought me here. (Sounds a little stalky, but I only have good intentions. I swear!)
Reading your blog has been a real joy, and now, with your nominations, I get to go check out some other good stuff. Brilliant! Thank you! And congrats! Again!
Oh, thank you, Olivia! You can get all stalky on me if you come with those kind of compliments, lol. Believe it or not, I’ve been lucky enough to receive three Kreativ Blogger awards. Not that I’m counting or anything. 😉