West of Mars -- the Meet and Greet

If you turned all these blog awards into medals and pinned them on me, I'm short enough to be all covered up by them. Possibly head to toe by this point.

Guess you guys agree that the medals are better looking than I am (You think I forgot to put my picture on The Demo Tapes?) 'cause I've got a heap more to acknowledge.

Maybe a mountain is more like it.

Let's start with the always awesome Alice Audrey. Don't let Chelle get a look at this award; we all know how she is with typos.

The award is the Kreativ Blogger award and misspelled or not, this still makes me smile. I'm doing my best to be creative and make this blog into something so totally unique, you can't stop talking about it. Seems my efforts are paying off.

I've missed my old friend Marcia at MeeAugraphie. And crumb, but I can't find the post that gave me something or other. But go visit Marcia. She's amazing.

Another new friend is Daisy Bookworm. Again, I found her through EntreCard. I've been finding more than just increased hits and rankings via EntreCard. I've found a whole slew of cool folk. Daisy's a great example of the quality blogger I wouldn't have found otherwise. She's given me the I Love Your Blog Award.

(Trevor's telling me to remind you to use protection when you love my blog... I think he doesn't want any more baby blogs running around. Win a Book takes up enough of my time as it is!)

Now.

Here is an award that came out of left field. Given who it came from, I'm truly, truly honored. I mean, there are published authors I've made friends with (Hello, Amy! Wylie! Shelley! Lisa! Christine!), and there are published authors who I really respect (Hello Lauren! Megan! Anya! Ann!) but am too intimidated by to have a friendship with them (yet), but LA Day falls somewhere between them. Not quite a friend yet not scary in her success, either. But highly, highly respected.

She also loves my blog. It's mutual, believe me. I want a sidebar full of book titles like LA Day has. I wouldn't mind the naked men on the book covers, either, but they'd have to all be Mitchell or Daniel. We love Trevor, but it ain't for that bod of his...

***
It began with Ann. Ann of Fractured Fiction, who I must have broken somehow because she hasn't been blogging regularly since we met at the Romantic Times Convention last year. Ann, can I fix you, please? I miss your posts!

Anyway, Ann gave me the Lemonade Stand. She gave it to Wylie, who also gave it to me.

So now I have two lemonade stands!

Is this because of Trevor's ability to make figurative lemonade out of anything? I don't know. All I know is that I'm immensely flattered.

Wylie gave it to Thomma Lyn, who turned around and gave it to ...

Me.

I swear, one of the best things about these awards is seeing the company you guys put me in. Sometimes, I get down and depressed. Most of you are publishing books and I'm not! Yet you don't care. You hold me up with the some of the best of the best of the blogging writers.

Ultimately, these are silly little awards, given to make each other feel good. I like that idea and that attitude; it's so nice to see this sort of kindness in a world that's often snarky and mean.

Yet it's that comment I just made, that you guys hold me with the best of the best, that tells you why this means so much to me. You don't care about things like who publishes my books, or if I get an advance against royalties, or that people who self-publish, as I've done with The Demo Tapes, clearly aren't good enough to be published by the better publishers out there.

You care about this world I've created. You help inspire it and you help push me to new heights, creatively and in terms of my writing ability.

So... let me share some of the people who make MY day better and brighter:

Gautami deserves an award and lots of notice for resurrecting the Monday Poetry Train. Come jump aboard with us.

I've mentioned my friend L^2 before, but have you seen her CafePress store? Don't be surprised if you see one of her notecards tucked inside any copy of The Demo Tapes that you buy from me. L is one of the coolest people out there. If you haven't seen her blog yet, you are missing out. This is one talented photographer.

I've made a new friend, Koe, at The Half-Life of Linoleum. What a great blog name, huh?

I was digging this blog, but when she created this post, that sealed the deal. She threw up an unfinished poem and then added to it throughout the day/week until it became what I've just linked to. But Koe added ... the comments from the comment trail. She told me she'd like to do it again. I hope she does. Stick her in your reader and keep commenting!

There are neat book bloggers out there, and you writers ought to take note (there are lots more neat book bloggers over at Win a Book! Why aren't you making friends???). One of my absolute favorites is Dawn, at She is Too Fond of Books. And then there's Anna, whose Diary of an Eccentric is one of my favorite blog names to joke about. Come read Win a Book to see why. And, of course, Serena, of Savvy Verse and Wit.

I've had the distinct pleasure of chatting with these three ladies lately, and they are as wonderful as their blogs are. I'm so glad to have you guys in my circle. Even if you hate my own fiction, I'll still be a fan of you three. Just... not quite as rabidly so.

Have I mentioned J. Kaye lately? Breeni?

My world lately has changed shape, and in a good way. A lot of that is directly due to Breeni, who has decided to throw her considerable passion and efficiency into promoting The Demo Tapes. Beyond me, though, Breeni is every bit as passionate about books as I am -- as any of us are, really -- and is one of the biggest champions for not caring WHO publishes a book. For Breeni, it's about the quality between the covers.

May we all learn to be so publisher-blind.

I can't leave here without one last award. My favorite, and the one you ALL should be giving me. The rock star award!!! What a better award to hand out to a woman who writes about rock stars and the people who orbit them.

It came from April, at My Life as a Mother and Single Parent. We've only just met, me and April, but from the first time I saw one of her blogs (she has a few), I really dug her attitude. This woman has a zest for life that rivals Trevor's. I hope we're in for a long friendship.

She loved my post about the loss of Pittsburgh legend PittGirl. I worked pretty hard on that post, trying to make it as perfect as I could. Thanks to April, I succeeded, although I'm curious what PittGirl herself thinks of it... In the constant flow of my dreams is one where PittGirl reads my post and decides to come back... as a fictional character.

On I dream.

Come join me.

Labels: Awards, Susan Speaks