My Award-Winning Blog

My granddaughter came for an overnight this weekend, always a delightful time. She brought with her a popular video called “How to Train Your Dragon.” It’s a very clever film, follows the hero cycle perfectly, and has fabulous animation and a great deal of charm. I related to the young character, Hiccup, because he had to overcome what seemed an insurmountable challenge. That’s the way I felt when I started my blog. Okay, okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but I’m still fumbling around trying to train my blog.

I thought when I asked friends to click on the “follow” button, they would receive an email each time I posted, but that doesn’t happen. I’m not sure just what it means to follow a blog, but it doesn’t mean that! I persevered and asked questions and poked around the site. Now you can receive an email notification if you like. Look to the right and under the “About Me” section is a line that says “Subscribe to The Write Stuff by Email.” Click on that and sign up please!

I worked hard at writing things I thought might be interesting and fun. Even though I have posted only twice before this, a very kind and encouraging fellow writer awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award! 

The way this works is I am supposed to tell you seven interesting things about myself, then choose blogs I think are worthy of the Stylish Blogger Award and pass it along. The truth of the matter is I don’t follow many blogs, but I do follow a few and think highly of them. So I will tell you seven things about myself I hope you will find interesting, then share the stylish blogs with those of you reading this, and hope you will check them out.

First, seven things about me I hope you will find interesting.

1. I tend to change careers about every fifteen years. If that stays the same, I only have about eleven years left to write the great American (kid’s) novel.

2. When I received my “How did I do?” questionnaires at the end of each school year, my students most often described me as “organized.” None of those students had ever seen my office at home.

3. If I had it to do over again, I would not have spent ten years in advertising. I would have skipped right to teaching, which would have gotten me to writing ten years sooner and with less mental impairment.

4. My favorite place in the world is wherever my grandchildren are. My second favorite place is Pacific Grove, California. It charges my batteries and inspires me to write. I think it is the proximity to Steinbeck’s spirit.

5. My guilty pleasure is TV crime shows. My new favorite is “Castle” – a cop show with a writer as the main character. It’s funny and smart and goes well with a glass of good bourbon. I think the best crime show is “Southland” for pure grittiness and great acting and writing. I waste far too much time on crime shows (or Murder and Mayhem, as my husband calls them).

6. I think the best American book ever written is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. If you’ve never read it, there is a great treat in store for you. I think the second best is Moby Dick. Nothing I write even vaguely resembles those in any way, and not because I don’t want it to.

7. If I won the lottery, I would still write, whether people want me to or not.

Now, for your reading pleasure, and in no particular order, the blogs to which I award the Stylish Blogger Award:

Elizabeth Varadan’s The Fourth Wish

http://elizabethvaradansfourthwish.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth (or Mitty as we fondly call her) writes about the writing process, reads voraciously, and shares her insights about what she has read. She generously awarded me the Stylish Blog Award and has given me much encouragement.

Morgan Mussell’s The First Gates

http://thefirstgates.com/

Morgan writes about so many things – interesting things he’s read, interesting places he’s been, what has inspired him, the writing process – and is so thoughtful and eloquent. It’s always a treat when I get a notice he has posted.

Maggie Hollinbeck’s Wandernest

http://wandernest.wordpress.com/

Yes, she is my daughter, but she is also a talented writer and a woman of the world with much to say and all of it fascinating.

Margaret Duarte’s Enter the Between

http://enterthebetween.blogspot.com/

Now Margaret is organized! She writes daily and once each week she writes about social media and blogging. When I begged her for help finding a way to put an email subscription gadget on my blog, she sent me to her Nov. 17, 2010 blog and there it was. It didn’t even take me five minutes. She also has some of her short stories and excerpts from her novel available for your reading pleasure.

Bud Harrington’s Daily Journal

http://bharrington.xanga.com/

Bud is one of the funniest people on the planet and is never shy about telling it like it is. What a treat to read. Stop by and visit the world according to Bud.