Sometimes the best surprises come out of nowhere. And it’s those little things that can make a world of difference in a person’s attitude, outlook, or just make them smile and feel good inside.
Yesterday I spent a good chunk of my day working on writing related materials. Had an interview done of me and then started doing an interview with someone else. Wrote a blog about trying something different, a teaser for the readers, if you will, called The Inside View. In the process of creating The Inside View (the I.V. as I fondly call it) I started two other blogs related to it and hope to finish those soon. I asked a favor of a friend, then asked another favor of another friend. I sought advice about an idea from a close writer friend—one I trust more than most—and she gave me her straight up honest opinion.
I did a bit of writing on Her Cure. Managed a decent two thousand words.
I did some reading on Andy Taylor’s book, The Drunk and the Dead. Yes, there is a theme there and no, this is not Andy Taylor from Mayberry.
All this with my lovely wife in bed sick most of the day, which meant I had Kid Watch Duty. Thankfully, the kids played well together.
Oh and I had a great time bashing Twilight on Facebook with some friends. If my wife reads those posts, she may disown me.
As I was about to settle in to watch The Walking Dead I pulled up my blog to post a draft for the next installment of the I.V. series to go up sometime this week or next. Lo and behold there was a comment on the blog I wrote yesterday.
Before I go to that comment, let me say this: I have had my blog, Type AJ Negative, for a little over eighteen months. There are a total of 116 Posts, 44 Pages (most of which are interviews) and a grand total of 325 comments. In that same span, I have had 2091 Spam comments. Basically, the math equals out to one legit comment to every almost seven spams. I guess that comes with the territory.
Now that you have a little history about the blog, let me tell you about the comment in the post from yesterday. It was from Candice W Coghill and she commented to let me know she had nominated my blog for The Versatile Blogger Award.
That may not mean much to some, but for me, it made me feel good inside, like an acceptance letter does. For one thing, I haven’t known Candice all that long, but her words in her comments were nice and it told me that I haven’t just been writing into the Internet Black Hole. Someone reads my blog on a regular basis. That alone made me feel really good.
Now what?
Well, I’m going to make sure the image goes up on my blog’s front page, that’s for sure. For me, if someone thought enough about something I’m doing to say, ‘hey, I read your blog every chance I get’ then I want to make sure everyone knows. Besides, it’s nice to be acknowledged by someone who is not a judge of some contest or part of a committee to decide if my work is worthy enough to win any other awards. It was something nominated by another person because they liked something I did.
So, Candice W. Coghill, thank you. Thank you for making my day and for giving me the knowledge that someone reads Type AJ Negative and that my ramblings aren’t just from a mad man, but they reach ears… err… eyes.
There are rules to this award and they are:
* Thank the award-giver and link back to their blog in your post.
* Include a link to the original blog, The Versatile Blogger Award.
* Share seven things about yourself.
* Pass this award along to fifteen blogs you enjoy reading.
* Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.
* There is no deadline for responding, although I would imagine that being “fairly prompt” would be the polite thing to do.
Let me see, I already did the first two, but let me do it again. Candice W. Coghill, THANK YOU from down south. This southern boy appreciates it.
Now, all you folks out there reading this, you need to go check out Candice’s blog, read the posts, comment. You don’t have to tell her A.J. sent you, but just make sure and visit HERE.
While you’re at it, go to the blog where all of this originated at: The Versatile Blogger Award.
Seven Things About Me
Are there really seven things I can tell about me, legally? I guess these should be things that most folks don’t know about me.
1. My wife asked me out on our first date. True story. She asked me out as a last resort to a birthday/tailgating party then told me if there was another guy there, to act like I was her boyfriend. We haven’t been apart since. I’m one heck of an actor, eh? (And one VERY LUCKY man)
2. I once picked imaginary spiders out of my hospital bed as a kid. Long story short, I had an accident as a child and ended up in the hospital for a period of time. I had hallucinations when I woke up that spiders were in my bed. My mom, who is deathly terrified of spiders placed her hand in the bed with me and said, ‘Would I do this if there were spiders in the bed?’ The natural response was ‘no.’ Later, my mom saw me plucking out the hallucinated spiders and asked, ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m picking out the nice spiders.’
3. I secretly like my wife’s cat, Mia. Though I call her Hellspawn, she is a sweet cat and fun to play with, especially when using a laser light. She also looks at me funny when I say, ‘What up, dog?’ to her.
4. When I was a child I wanted to be the Fonz, from Happy Days. I even had a false leather jacket and the whole thumbs up and ‘Aaaaay’ routine down pat. Then I thought I had the Fonz’s touch when trying to be cool, I hit a drink machine one day and a coke came out. That’s right—I am cool.
5. My eyes tear up every time I hear My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen. It reminds me of my dad and me when I was a kid and all the things he taught me. I love my dad.
6. My favorite book of all time is Where the Wild Things Are. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to elaborate on that one.
7. I once wrote my own version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and titled it Rudolph the Dead Head Reindeer. In it, Rudy was a drunk who liked Fuzzy Navels and was arrested for FUI—Flying Under the Influence. I also drew a picture of the drunk reindeer missing an ear and sporting a tattoo on his forehead that read OUT TO LUNCH.
Fifteen Blogs that I Find Worthy of this award:
Fifteen? I’m not sure I could qualify fifteen, but quite possibly ten.
BREATHE: This is Michelle Garren Flye’s blog. I think she deserves it simply because, a) she’s super cool and b) The HONEOWP. That would be Helpful Outstanding Novelists, Editors and Others in the Writing Profession. Each month she donates a portion of her royalties to a charity and it’s a different one each month.
Belinda Frisch, Author: As you can probably guess by the title, this is Belinda’s blog. Belinda constantly updates it with useful information about both the traditional and indie publishing worlds. She also calls it the way she sees it and I like that in both my friends and what I read.
Speaking of Belinda:
The E-Book Bin: This is another of Belinda’s blogs (which shows just how versatile she is and why she is nominated).
I’m going to count those two blogs as one nomination.
Word Blurb: Chantel Boudreau’s blog. I don’t know Chantel all that well, but I do know that at her blog there are a lot of book reviews and good articles to ponder on. Her reviews are honest and straightforward. Her blogs are the same way.
Juniper Grove: The blog of writer Jaidis Shaw. Like most blogs, Jaidis focuses on her self to a point, but then, like most good blogs, she focuses on others as well. From featured authors to book reviews to a little thing called Nurture Your Books, there is a lot to see from writers to books to Jaidis as well.
The Writer’s Block Party: Is it obvious I like the sites that offer to help promote other writers? I’ve always said word of mouth is the best marketing tool and that’s exactly what The Writer’s Block Party is, a blog dedicated to other writers with interviews and guest blogs going up on a regular basis. Lisa Taylor has dove in with both feet to help promote others while drawing very little attention to herself.
This Is My World, the blog spot of Nerine Dorman. Again, another writer taking time out to pimp other writers. Nerine does interviews and guest blogs and it helps everyone involved.
Raccoons with Tubas… yeah…: Okay this blog is just fun to look at. It’s Steve Lowe’s bizarre (dare I say bizarro?) site and yes there is some language, but it’s all Loweprechaun…
The Galloping Ghostwriter: I’ve only been following this blog for a short time. The articles about writing action fiction are informative and insightful. It’s the blog home of David Ritchie.
Fran Friel’s Yada Feast: Okay, this one has a lot of sentimental value for me. Fran is one of those people who helped me out when I first started writing and trying to get published. She was the one responsible for getting me into blogging and the Yada Feast is always full of great information, neat insights and Fran being Fran. There’s a reason I call her my Big Sis.
My Name Is Not Bob: This is Robert Lee Brewer’s blog. I do not know Mr. Brewer, but I absolutely love his blog and all the information on it.
Ramblings of an Anxiety Ridden Mind: Suzanne Robb does a LOT of interviews of horror writers and we all know how much we like to be interviewed.
So, eleven it is.
I close this as I have come to close all of my blogs and posts: Until we meet again, my friends…
[[Herbie’s Note: Again, thank you Candice, for the nomination. I am honored.]]
Type AJ Negative 