Chained

My dear friend, Tammy at Message in a Bloggle tagged me in this blog chain, and then I found out that Val at Unbagging the Cats did too! It started with Margo Dill and this thing has been going around like wild fire. So much so, I think everyone has been tagged. Oh wait, there might be a few peeps I know...

But first let me tell you that Tammy, who is part of the critique group that I'm in (who was tagged by Sioux who is another member of our critique group). Tammy has jaw-dropping prose that on some occasions makes me want to quit writing. At least quit writing the way I do and make it better. And Val is so funny with her writing, that I will have to give up on humor writing. Period. Each style is different, but oh, so good.

I’m to answer the following four questions:

1) What am I working on?  I will keep this simple. Nothing at the moment. I’ve been on a little hiatus from writing... other than the 'occasional' letter.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? I have no idea how to answer that other than, my work is epistolary and most epistolary types are a back and forth type. Mine is just one-sided, like a diary, but it’s not a diary.

3) Why do I write what I do? Because I love epistolary. What’s more fun than writing letters? And then using that form to create stories. I can thank my niece for that idea. (Maybe it was just a way to stop me from writing her so many letters.)

4) How does my writing process work? It’s different each time. Depends on my mood. Sometimes I’m structured and have a routine. Other times, I jump in when I’m feeling the flow. And when I'm not feeling the flow... I write a letter.

Now to drag this chain to the next authors… Claudia at Claudia's Page was the brains behind Storm Country, and how I became to know Claudia. Not only does she write wonderful prose, but she's a poet too. She's always reading some interesting books (that I have to add to my long list of reads). Claudia has a big heart.   

Estrella at Life's a Stage is a creative gal and a writer. She just recently posted Five Great Reasons to be a Writer, and what's not to love about being a writer? I find out about all kinds of cool things from Estrella in the way of creativity. When I was participating in the Month of Letters, she asked if I'd be willing to write to someone and told me about More Love Letters. Estrella has a big heart too!

And very soon I will share a way cool art/journal workshop I had the pleasure of being in... stay tuned!

Weirdo Reader Appreciation

Dear Mom,

Claudia of Claudia’s Page was sweet enough to nominate me for this Reader Appreciation Award—this award is given to writers who have supported other writers’ blogs. And the guidelines for accepting the award:

1) Acknowledge the giver of the award and provide a link to his or her blog.

2) Copy and paste the award to your blog.

3) Pass the award on to up to ten bloggers.

4) Notify the selected bloggers of their nominations.

Not one to break the rules, I find myself breaking them for these awards. Ooops. First I’m going to tell you a little bit about Claudia’s blog—she has a variety of things she writes about, from reviews on books she has read, to trips she has taken, things she does with friends, to writing contests—a little bit of everything. Claudia was instrumental in the development of the anthology, Storm Country. It was her idea. Storm Country brought writers together to help the lives of those affected by the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri. All proceeds from the book help the Joplin School District libraries. You can still purchase a copy of Storm Country. My story about my friend, Geoffrey (who survived the tornado) is in the book. I met Claudia at the first launching of Storm Country. Claudia’s poem is published in the book.

Next, I’m going to nominate one person. I’ve done several of these before and decided this way, whoever is reading this can focus on the one blog.

Drumroll….

Life’s a Stage by Estrella.

I met Estrella when I was doing A Month of Letters challenge, where you’d hand write a letter a day for a month. I offered to write anyone a letter if they sent me their info. Estrella contacted me and asked if I’d write a letter, not for her, but for someone else. She told me about this program she’s involved in--MoreLoveLetters. I was excited she found me and asked me to participate. Afterwards she asked if anyone was willing to participate in this with her on a quarterly basis, and I agreed. If you’d like to get involved, check out her post for the next love letter. The last letter I wrote for the bundle ended up being posted on the website of MoreLoveLetters. I was a little freaked out, but I feel rather honored now. Estrella also has a photography challenge. You’ll see she is highly creative in all sorts of things.

WEIRDO

After receiving the Reader Appreciation Award, I realized I hadn’t acknowledged receiving the Creative Chaos Award from Linda of Write from the Heart. Linda is a prolific writer, with her many publishing credits. I refer to her as Queen Chick because she’s published in a bazillion Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Our critique group, the WWWPs, are lucky to have her. Linda not only writes from the heart, she has a big heart—evident by all that she does for others.

I don’t exactly know the “guidelines” of this award except to tell three weird things about yourself. I’m breaking the rules again and will only tell one. I could write a book (hey, good idea) about the many weirdo things I’ve done.  So here it is…

I think I’m not wired all the way in one part of my brain. Even as a writer, words trip me up. Some years back, I had my first pedicure. Later, I was with my two sisters and said, “Hey, I got my first pedigree the other day.”

They gave me a weird look. “You got a dog?”

“What?” And I gave them a weird look back. “Uh, no. I got my toe nails painted.”

They rolled over laughing. “It’s a pedicure, Lynn. Not a pedigree.”

I shrugged. “Well, likely mistake since those dogs of mine were barking.”

This is just one of many words I’ve gotten mixed up. It’s not like I don’t know the different meaning of each word that I mix up. My brain just misfires and I blurt out the wrong word with no clue. I’m sure I’ve impressed a boat load of people with some fun, lively conversation and they walk away thinking, WEIRDO!

Rather than nominate, I’ll just put it out there that if you have a weirdo story to tell, share it on your blog… link it with mine. We’ll be weirdos together. Or maybe your story will fit Linda’s call out for a submission to Not Your Mother’s Story – check it out.

Many thanks to all of you…