megfowler.com

I’m up for Best Personal Blog and Best New Blog… and voting ends SOON.

Remember:

• You can vote daily from ANY computer
• You can vote from ANYWHERE
• You don’t have to give any personal information to vote
• You will earn my undying love

It’s easy-peasy, really.

UPDATE BECAUSE I AM A TRASHY BIMBO: Thank you to JENB, CANADIAN BLOGGING LEGEND, for nominating me for them there awards.

AND…. vote for the amazing and talented Kristin for Best Blog and Best Family Blog. Her blog supports her and her gorgeous family in a lot of ways (as the connector to her other jobs) and THAT is worth supporting, not to mention the fact that she is a gifted and compelling writer. When I grow up, I wanna be like her (except I think I’m older, so that’s not going to happen.)

Thanks for all your votes so far, guys — for me AND Kristin. You’re the collective bomb.

AND… one more note.

I know that a lot of people feel that awards like these somehow diminish the blogging community in some way, and I’ll admit… I get my twinges of HMMM when I remember the days of working with kids and wanting everyone to feel like a winner, and to feel motivated to keep going. And there are gazillions of blogs out there who don’t get the attention they deserve.

Just a couple things, then:

My blog is not NEARLY the most read one around these parts, and I know that it never will be. I don’t have a particular niche I can address my blogging efforts towards, so I will always be dangling out there in some sort of topicless ether with my words. I love many, many portions of the blogging community, and have connected with some amazing people as a result.

So far, that’s been the best damn thing about having a blog, period. But blogging will most likely never be my job.

And that’s okay.

Because writing is. And always will be. And writing is my art and my science and my passion. This is the thing I love. This is the thing that drives me towards excellence, that makes commendations matter, because the more people that read my writing? The more writing I will get to do.

While I blog as a form of self-expression, I also blog as a working writer always on the lookout for freelancing connections and opportunities. This is my bread and butter. That’s what makes traffic matter, what makes awards matter, what makes links matter, the whole nine yards. The more of that stuff that happens, the more I get to do what I love and make a life out of it.

I DO care about being read — I would write all of this in a bound paper book otherwise. I care about connecting, I care about dialogue, and I care about growing as a writer and as a person through all of this. I have always thrived off of the response I get to my words, and I think that’s something writers NEED to do… you need to balance self-expression with the demands of audience engagement if you want to make a career of your words.

So thanks for voting. It’s just one little pebble on the beach of a whole life of writing — seriously, 28 years now — but that pebble will bring other pebbles to the shore. And then I get a whole beach. And then this metaphor dies, except now I want to go back to California. And that took me far too long to say. Awesome.
Dammit.

Oh, guys.

It seems like forever since we chatted about things other than Ernie vs. Bert and the snow in Vancouver.

Not that those aren’t important topics, because LORD KNOWS a) Ernie! and b) the rain is about to take it all away from me.

But.

How are you? What’s going on? How are you feeling? How is the gout? Aunt May? The business at the shop? Your relationship with that no-good, lazy-ass…

Seriously, though. Everyone. Let’s chat. And meet everyone else, because HEY some of you are new here and HEY some of you aren’t and HEY I’d like to know about all y’all. And there’s no time like the present. And nothing like presents. Which reminds me…

Here is my gift to all of you:

Here’s where nine of you just went, “Ewww! I don’t drink coffee! Now I won’t vote for you, bitch!”

Okay, tea drinkers:

Now around five of you just went, “Does that have caffeine in it? I can’t handle caffeine. Are you trying to kill me?”

FINE.

It’s herbal! CHILL.

And now ten of you just went, “Ew! I hate coffee and tea!” Well then, if it’s not coffee or tea, how about ME?

I’m just kidding. Here’s some cocoa:

And at least one of you freaks wants this:

Now that we’ve all got beverages, let’s get on with it:

1. How are you today… really? Happy? Sad? Chagrined? Tired? Blissful?
2. What has been the best moment of your week?
3. The worst moment (that you can share, that is…)?
4. What would you change about the previous four days, if you could change anything?
5. What has made you laugh this week?
6. What has made you think this week?
7. If you could be anywhere but where you are right now, where would you be?
8. If you could tell people one thing they can do for you, what would it be?
9. Do you feel understood?
10. Is there anything you should be doing for yourself that you’re not doing?
11. Can I get you a warm, moist towel?

Love to all today. And HOLY CRAP IT’S CHRISTMAS SOON.

This whole snow-turning-to-rain thing?

Laaaame. And they keep updating and changing the forecast every six minutes. CHOOSE SOME WEATHER. STICK WITH IT.

And me? I foresee precipitation from my nose.

That’s right.

That itchy, nasty, drippy, hacky cold I had before?

Back with a vengeance. And a kleenex. And perhaps? A choice cough that makes people weep on the bus.

It pretty much appeared overnight, really. I thought it might be asthma from all the temperature and humidity changes rocking us lately, but noooo… now we’ve officially crossed the line into Advil Cold and Sinus land.

In fact, it got so bad that I ACTUALLY SHUT MY WINDOWS LAST NIGHT.

Whoa. I haven’t done that since I MOVED IN.

I was SHIVERING under a duvet and the blanket my mom knitted me. Shivering really irritates me.

Actually, much is irritating me right now. A quick list:

• people who bash awards
• my finances
• my hair
• Wordpress formatting
• men who are more like teenage boys and don’t seem to care
• the giant cut on my thumb which keeps reopening unexpectedly
• not knowing how to handle a friend thing appropriately
• self-editing
• guilt
• skin that is dry yet oily
• feeling nauseous
• Dreamweaver is crashy
• trying to figure out the audience for something I’m writing
• people who don’t follow through with promises
• the week is passing too quickly
• the weekend isn’t coming soon enough
• my hockey team is being wildly inconsistent right now
• my jaw is clicking
• when people say, “it’s just how I am” without acknowledging they can change
• the fact that this is a fairly vapid list of things that don’t matter and yet I’m posting it anyhow
• my own laziness

Wow. So. Something more pleasant to follow soon.