I’m a godawful blogger in at least one sense: I don’t do much to promote RAMH, other than to visit sites I like — visit them regularly, for the most part — and just let this site be discovered, if the reader should choose, by (a) following the link to it from the “JES” in comments elsewhere, or (b) wandering in, all unawares, probably as the result of a misguided left turn in the halls of Google.
(When I do provide an explicit link to a post here, it’s always with a cringe and a hurried look away, in the other direction — almost hoping no one catches me in the act.)
Like, what’s wrong with me? Don’t I know how important it is that I suck in not only the intentional but also the accidental audience? Don’t I want to [insert gigundo-scaled objective here] sooner rather than later?
Apparently not.
Thus, positive attention from any quarter at all feels wondrous to me. It’s like waking up on a sunny morning to find a rainbow arching through the sliding-glass patio door and terminating mid-forehead.
So anyhow, generous Kate over at What Kate Did Next has seen fit to pass to me and four others this… this… “baton,” is it, Kate? This emblem, in any case, of something called the Superior Scribbler Award, first begun by The Scholastic Scribe in a post back in October. Here’s the driving motivation for the award, per the Scribe:
Diverting the internal traffic between the Writer as Angel of Light and the Writer as Hustler is the scribbling child in a grown-up body, wondering if anyone is listening.
(by Herbert Gold, elder statesman of The Beat Generation)
“Scribbling child in a grown-up body”: I can’t think of a nicer compliment, irrespective of anyone’s listening or not.
When Miss America dons her tiara, she dons with it the weight of responsibility for visiting the elderly and homeless and generally downtrodden, throwing out the first ball of the Little League season, promoting whirled peas, and offering that weird rotating-the-wrist beauty-queen wave to everyone she passes. Those who’ve earned the Superior Scribbler Award bear a similar burden, to wit:
- Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
- Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
- Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
- Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit [the above Scholastic Scribe] post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
- Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.
So I’ve looked over the Mr. Linky List to be sure I’m not double-counting anybody. And here are my nominees:
- Marta, of writing on the water: If you’re a writer, you probably know the pangs of uncertainty, and you probably have a lot more questions than answers, and you probably can’t quite get a handle on what your real life has to do with your writing, or vice-versa. writing on the water is one place where that all comes together. I could pick almost any post there as an example, but here’s one at random.
- Son, of The Return of Son of Incogneato: What’s that, you ask? What’s an artist (haughty sniff) doing in this list of scribblers? Turns out that the guy can kick up a story three or four notches in just a few paragraphs, and reach into his apparently bottomless portfolio and pull out an appropriate illustration to boot. Before I visited his home base (linked above) and staggered away sometime later under the weight of a dozen surreal but beautiful landscapes, I found out about his storytelling abilities as a participant in the Burning Lines multi-author storytelling experiment (linked in the Touchstones category at the right). I don’t want to link to BL — since I participate in that myself — but to get a quick sense of the way his creative mind works, check out the artwork in this post at Son’s own site. It’s a doodle. Yeah. I can’t believe it, either.
- Froog, of Froogville (etc.): From the far corners of the mysterious East comes, inexplicably, the measured voice of the Queen’s English. The (one assumes) pseudonymous Froog describes his background thusly: “He has flirted with careers as an academic, a schoolteacher, a lawyer, a TV producer and a beachcomber, but was spurned by all of them. He is a recovering teetotaller who moved to China in 2002. He now lives in Beijing, working mainly as a technical editor for a variety of academic journals, educational publishers, and business information services.” His main Froogville site provides the entertainment and weight you’d expect from such a c.v.; for a good overiew, look at any of the entries he’s tagged “China Observations.”
- Julie, of Julie Weathers: Like Marta, above — like me, for that matter — Julie is an inveterate worrier. She worries about her writing. She worries about her sons (one of whom is deployed in Iraq). She worries about what will become of her. She worries about her writing, and her grandkids, and the horses she doesn’t have, and, oh yes, did I mention her writing? But somehow in all that worrying, both heart and laughter find plenty of room to play.
- Last but far from least, Jules and Eisha of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: I’ve got little business, really, participating as an occasional commenter at a site dedicated principally to kids’ and YA books, especially illustrators of same. In the first place, what I don’t know about art (of any kind) fits in a stadium; in the second, as neither parent nor teacher nor anyone else with a vested interest in seeing great kids’ books, well, there’s only so much time, right? and so many other books? Furthermore, I feel a little guilty offering them an “award” which expects that they’ll post an entry on some topic other than their usual ones. But damn, this is such a rich site — and the people who frequent it are so nice — that I just can’t look in the other direction. Don’t know it yourself? Start with anything in their Interviews category. (And be sure to set aside plenty of browsing time first.)
Thanks to the five of you (and to the others who, as it happened, all tied for sixth place). And thanks to Kate, who — if she already hadn’t gotten the award once — would’ve gotten it from me. Er, tying with one of the above.
Bravo John – you put a couple in there I would have done if ‘five’ wasn’t the magic number. When you get a little ‘love’ you want to pass it on to everyone let alone five of your global writer buddies. Scribble (and worry) on we will …
Kate: Yeah. Completely true.
(And I also intentionally passed over a few ’cause I’m almost 100% sure someone who’s “known” them longer will take care of them in the next round. Oh, the calculus, the calculus…)
Well, ahem. I. am. speechless. Truly, what a nice honor, especially coming from you. My favorite part about all the waaaay nice things you wrote about 7-Imp is how nice our little community over there is, cause AIN’T THAT TRUE? They have become friends, as you have, and I love that.
And, um, I take issue with this: “…what I don’t know about art (of any kind) fit in a stadium.” My friend, you leave some of THE most insightful comments at the site. I’ve avoided saying this, ’cause I don’t want you to feel, I dunno, pressure about visiting, but I always look forward to your visits and to your comments, which always make me think further on what I’ve already posted. In a good way. You may think you don’t know a lot about art, but the art enthusiast in you is strong, and you articulate that enthusiasm well.
Thanks again! Signing off, saying AW SHUCKS and shuffling my feet, on behalf of 7-Imp Land.
Aw shucks and thank you, JES. I’ve more to say but will have to come back.
Jules: When I looked back over the sites I chose to see if they had anything in common, it struck me that they all encourage thinkology (as The Wizard said to somebody else). None of ‘em are, y’know, “non sequitur” sites which just post a link or a YouTube video or a LOLcats image (though some of them do, sometimes — blogging does take a toll on the imagination!). I think 7-Imp is kind of an [runs off to check dictionary] avatar of that practice.
marta: [Note comment to Jules, above. Substitute blog name where appropriate. :)]
Ever have one of those days where you find yourself wondering how long it would take you to push it if you had a personal delete button located where your navel now resides? And then something happens, serendipity comes knocking at your existential door and you immediately banish all thoughts of self-annihilation, at least for the rest of the day. That’s pretty much how your Superior Scribbler award affected me.
Many thanks, John; your kind words literally rescued me from what had all the earmarks of a totally crap day. Not wanting to disparage any of the generous comments I get on my blog, but it means a lot to me to be shown such an appreciation from somebody whom I respect as a fine writer with a genuinely open mind. By your peers you shall be judged.
While it’s true that I dabble in visual arts, I’d still like to think of myself as an aspiring writer of sorts. I’ve got a couple of manuscripts littering my desktop and a million ideas for more. As a matter of fact I’m in the process of opening a new blog – The Revenge of Son of Incogeato – where the written word will be the focus.
Just now my present blog is acting very squirrely – the images won’t post – so it might take some time to post the rules and links and stuff for Superior Scribbler.
Thanks again, and thanks for the great blurb you wrote about me!
Best wishes,
Brian
[...] (Shadra will stop by for a breakfast interview soon-ish to chat); thanks to reader John E. Simpson for giving us a blog award and for the nice things he said (my favorite part being, “the people who frequent {7-Imp} are [...]
Brian: I so seldom demonstrate good timing that it’s always a pleasant surprise to learn that I did something when it was useful. :) Thanks for the pleasure your writing and art have brought me in the (relatively short) time I’ve been tuned into it.
One of these days you’ll have to explain the “Incogneato” bit, and maybe even the “Son of.” In any case, I’m looking forward to reading more of your stuff at the Return of, Revenge of, and Burning Lines sites!
Thank you very much, JES. A recommendation from such an accomplished writer as yourself is very flattering, and one I fear I will struggle to live up to.
I have finally got around to responding, and choosing some nominees of my own. My apologies for the delay.
Thank you again.
Froog: I (fore)see no sign of struggle in that regard. You swing so effortlessly between the sublime and the… the… not quite ridiculous, really; maybe the quotidian, how’s that? And you do it with style, not slapdash.
Your response, and your nominees, met all expectations and even exceeded a few!
After a quite a bit of back and forth I’ve finally published the Superior Scribbler award. In fact it is the opening post on my new blog, Son of Incogneato’s Awesome Revenge. It’s taken some time to find worthy candidates – in fact I have only found three (willing) thus far.
Anyhow, thanks again, John, I hope I can live up to it . . .
- Brian
Brian: Why, you shy devil — not even including a link to the new Revenge of the Awesome Return of Son of Incogneato blog, or whatever you’re calling it. :) I caught wind of it shortly after you posted your own Scribbler nominations there — excellent choices all three, especially Rowena (I didn’t know of the others before). (But you will note that I didn’t think to ask permission before nominating you. Heh.)
I’m not worried about your “living up to it.” The gift is there, although time may prevent you from expressing it much. To say nothing of the art — I have no idea how I’d juggle TWO gifts like yours.