Downith over at writeitdown-ith was kind enough to nominate Earful of Cider for an Addictive Blog Award last week.
“Time Suck” is a serious compliment around here and being called “delightful” ” never fails to make my day, which was, at that point, some assembly required with half the screws missing and no hex key, so I really can’t thank her enough.
Part of accepting this award—and ego easily won over modesty because it’s had far more practice—is to nominate ten other blogs.
Which is when I realized that I’m a definite shoo-in for the Addicted Blogger Award, if there is such a thing, because it was tough to limit it to only ten—even when I reluctantly decided that I couldn’t renominate Downith.
Admitting there’s a problem is the first step.
The second step was to list all the blogs I never miss, assign numbers, and run it all through a random generator.
Here are the first ten, in the order given back to me, so if you’re not on here and I comment on your blog, blame Skynet:
Murderati — Crime writers writing criminally excellent posts.
Heylookawriterfellow — Mike Allegra is a wild and crazily talented guy.
Lyrical Meanderings — Lyra writes the kind of posts that are always relevant to what you’re going through at any given time. It would be spooky if she weren’t such an amazing person.
Unnecessary Noise Prohibited (previously macdougalstreetbaby) — her images a worth more than a thousand words, and her words are amazing.
Fangs and Clause — snarky support and grammatical grace as given by a very independent clause
Semi-Educational Reviews — Jalisa Blackman is responsible for a third of my music collection and most of the recommendations I’ve made to the library’s YA selector. She also makes me consider the roles of women and non-Caucasian ethnic groups in the books I read and the stories I write.
Taps and Ratamacues — John is a terrific poet and a thoughtful blogger. Good recipes, too.
Betsy Lerner’s Forest for the Trees — I can’t say enough about Betsy or her blog—she’s built a real community over there that her current hiatus has not dispelled.
QueryShark — I love both of Janet Reid’s blogs, but this is the one that the generator picked. If you’re considering sending your stuff out to an agent or editor, read through her archives first.
Averil Dean — her blog makes me think thinky thoughts—in a really good way.
Genevieve Valentine — She’s a terrific author, but I read her blog for the reviews of TV shows and movies—good and bad, new and old—which are intelligent and almost as snarky as her Red Carpet Rundowns, which consistently make my sides hurt laughing.
But that’s not all. After I’d finally completed this list, I checked my in-box and discovered that Jalisa up there had nominated me for the SuperSweet Blogger Award.
Seriously.
Sweet isn’t the usual adjective I get, but I’ll take it for the reasons stated above, and because I’m told by one of our earnest-faced, teenage, library pages that sweet has become synonymous with badass, which is, I’m sure, how Lisa meant it.
And also because there’s a list of questions to answer for this one, so at least I feel like I’m doing something to earn it:
1. Cookies or Cake? Tough call. But honestly . . . cake. Any kind, any shape, Doughnuts, on a platter, or in cupcakes . . . good Lord, I’m waxing poetic. Add a thick layer of white-hot sugar death frosting and throw in a couple of dubiously-colored roses and I’m all yours until the crash.
2. Chocolate or Vanilla? If I have to choose, vanilla. Though chocolate makes a nice garnish or add-in for almost anything.
3. Favorite sweet treat? Not to dis cake, but . . . Jelly beans, because I can eat ’em and write at the same time without gumming up my keyboard. The good ones, mind, not the cheapo spicy ones. And no licorice ones, because the flavor is way too strong and nothing you put in your mouth should make your tongue turn that color. Nothing.
4. When do you crave sweet things the most? Early morning and early evening, unless I’m sleep deprived or dieting, in which case, batten down the hatches and lock up your buns . . .
If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? I plead the Fifth, and open it to the comments.
I’m supposed to nominate an additional baker’s dozen of sweet/badass bloggers, which pretty much put me right back where I started, but if I cross off the collective blogs and the few that I know don’t care for these kinds of awards or sweets, the list is as follows—and yeah, you’re going to see some repetition:
Whew!
Earful of Cider 