Nominate (Me)

Surprises are mostly good. Like when you're walking into a dim and dreary place, but find a corner lit by the face of a dear friend. When, while doing laundry, you find forgotten money in the pocket of your husband's jeans. (Yes. Yes, I spent it.) Or when someone nominates your blog for the 2010 Author Blog Awards. I got the e-mail Monday!

Me? Something She Wrote? How neat is that surprise?

Here are the deets: A blogger (me) first needs lots and lots of nominations to make the shortlist, which will be announced April 5th. (Nominations are open until April 2nd. Just two more days!) Then, from those who make it to the next round, overall winners will be chosen by vote.
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But, bonus! You yourself could win from lots and lots of prizes just by visiting the site and nominating someone (me).

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Look at this face. *weilds big brown eyes* (nominate me)

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Help a girl out?

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ETA: Many are saying it's not the easiest nomination method. I understand if it's something you don't have time for, or just plain don't want to do. Your ongoing support and encouragement are plenty enough!

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Sincerest thanks to whomever nominated me initially. It was a great pick-me-up.

Disclaimer: Subliminal messages should be taken uber seriously. Yep.

Meeting of the (Writerly) Minds

While in Florida this last week, I met with Terri Tiffany and Jessica Nelson for dinner (that's the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in the background). It was our second time having done such, and I think we're all agreed in making it an annual sort of thing.

I'm so pleased to know these two women writers. While in real life they're grounded and personable, along writerly veins, they're knowledgeable and encouraging. I very much enjoy talking with them. Above all that, I consider them friends.

If you're not familiar with either woman, visit the blogs linked above. Terri's site is full of inspiration and love, and she always has a lesson tucked away somewhere. Jessica shares her experiences with craft in creative and applicable ways, and she has such an interest in others.

And, of course, you can find a little living at each place, too.

Have you ever met blogging or online friends in person? How'd it go?

We Interrupt This Break...

So we're in Florida. Our vacation plans were timely; I needed the escape, and the disconnect.

Yesterday we went to Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It was the perfect day with the perfect crowd. Prime people-watching, you know.

Near night's end, we rode It's a Small World After All. And by rode, I mean braved. Because it's a long, repetitive horror of a ride. But you do it for the kids.

Which is why I was intrigued by the woman who sat in front of us. She was in, I'd say, her mid-fifties. And she rode with no one but herself. Naturally, I was curious about her circumstance. Had she come to the amusement park by herself? Or separated from her family or friends for just a few minutes, to cruise the ride no one else dared go on?

I concocted a whole story, of course: She was a writer, on the premises for research. To see, to feel, to listen with intensity. Because she was writing the next big scene in her novel--where say, a child goes missing from the ride's line, or a man, romantically frozen for years, proposes to his girlfriend in the least likely of places--and she needed to build her reservoir of experience.

Because I do that. Put myself somewhere for the sake of the craft. To build on my experiences, to write about or pull from later. Have you done that?

What have you done to build your writer's (or life's) reservoir?