Lotta Loving Going 'Round

The past week or so there's been a flurry of paying good karma forward, and now it's my turn. First, the ever-prolific and lovely Paige passed along The Blog of Substance. Paige's blog PARADISE VALLEY 2 was honored, and indeed it is a blog full of important stuff -- gorgeous poems and photographs, tips on writing and living, updates on her projects du jour, and everything having to do with boobs. thank you my dear friend, and the rest of you.

Customary rules require me to: 1) describe my blogging philosophy in 5 words; and 2) pass along to another deserving blogger. So here goes...

WRITE.
READ.
THINK.
GIVE A DAMN.

Okay, so that's 6 words. I like to break rules. And now, for the most important part (drum roll, please)... of course, everyone who follows this blog is deserving, but I would like to honor one blogger in particular, a woman whose every post rocks me with realization. She blogs on creativity, on writing, on balancing it all in one crazy world, and even offers coffee, chai, and cyber-made goodies on Tuesdays at her Kaffee Klatch:

ANNE TYLER LORD, who struts her stuff at DON'T FENCE ME IN

Not only is she smart, she gives a damn, she writes really, really wonderful stuff, and she creates energy wherever she goes.

Life keeps getting better! The amazing MARK KERSTETTER, who uses words rather than bricks to build stories, essays, and poetry over at THE BRICOLEUR, honored me with the Lovely Blog Award. Lovely, huh, all pink and sweet, reminding me to adhere to my true nature. he says he is not a philosopher; methinks he protests too much. I'll let you be the judge.

I'm passing this award along to three folks:

PAIGE VON LIEBER, who poems and essays and creates cool tangible stuff PARADISE VALLEY 2. Why? For all the reasons noted above, and because her blog truly is lovely.

JAI JOSHI, whose blog the TULSI TREE provides true escape as she churns fabulistic stories and poems of hope and positivity.

MELISSA, also known as WINDSPIRIT GIRL, produces the most gorgeous yet provocative VISPO (visual poetry). Each one a perfect petit four of art.

Good things come in threes (so do bad things, but today we're focusing on happy stuff). PEGJET (aka Peggy Macfarland) lauded me with the Fabulous Flash award which, coming from her, is a true honor. Peggy weaves some seriously scary stuff, but her stories have elegance, nuanced layers of emotional depth and character that smack, some might say, of 'literary'. Ah-hem. In other words, the girl can write. Although we officially met through Harbinger*33, I lurked around her writing for years through the Six Sentences community. Thank you Peggy - I am humbled by the honor.

But first, before I hand out my four roses, I'd like to thank JON STROTHER of Mad Utopia, founder of #fridayflash, perhaps one of the most dynamic communities of short fiction writers on the web. Over a year strong, the number of weekly participants fast approaches 100. To you, I hand a pen (a van Cleef Montblanc no less) to honor your leadership, word-smithing, and passion. Thank you.



And now, the next four honorees...

@MichelledEvans. I've followed Michelle for some weeks now, and she gets better and better and better. Her flash 83 -- a stunner. She writes tight and taut, a lesson for us all.

@DeannaSchrayer. Supposedly she doesn't write fiction ;^) Could've fooled me. She spins fictive and non-fictive words into lovely pieces, and she's a damn nice community-builder, too.

@Christianbell37. Brilliant. 'nuf said.

@ExisleMoll. The boy can write, and he uses big words -- better than the NYT crossword puzzle.

And that's it, folks. Keep the good stuff flowing. Peace, Linda