Honest Scrap Blogger Award(s)

(Note: I copy-pasted the intro text from Eyglo's site substituting her name and blog for the one she'd listed as her award giver and wow this is a long and awkward sentence. :-)

The wonderful @eyglo has awarded me on her blog IDeary this "Honest Scrap" award. Check her out, her blog is definitely worth an award or two. So now I’m supposed to share 10 secrets with you and award ten others. Feel free to ignore me on this but I decided to play along. Here are the rules:

a. ‘The Honest Scrap Blogger Award’ must be shared.
b. The recipient has to tell 10 (true) things about themselves that no one else knows.
c. The recipient has to pass on the award to 10 more bloggers.
d. Those 10 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.

As Eyglo said, "I can begin by warning you that these are not secrets but I’ll try to find something that I haven’t actually told everyone who wanted to listen."

1. My middle name is Annette and so is my mother's.

2. When I was about 8 I fell off my bicycle so badly I remember it as flipping all the way over. Landed on the asphalt, got bloodied knees and face. Told my younger brother to run home to tell my parents. Got up, picked up my bike, wheeled it towards my house. On the way back, a small group of grownups was walking along the sidewalk. Fancy clothes. Probably just had dinner at "The College Club" (Wellesley). I had a tear streaked dusty face, blood dripping, obviously I'd been hurt. None of the adults stopped to ask if I was okay. It was that moment I decided I hated rich people.

3. I like my left breast better than my right.

4. I didn't do well enough in honors algebra in the 8th grade to continue on the honors track so I ended up in regular math a grade ahead. Related: I should've failed AP Calculus senior year but the teacher somehow passed me despite my actual grades.

5. Speaking of AP Calc, I loved it and understood it but couldn't *do* it so I didn't do well on tests. Took it my freshman year in college by choice and got a B. Finally.

6. Apparently I've started writing as if I'm tweeting. This helps with brevity, but I lose the flow and correct grammar provided by pronouns.

7. I don't see what my daughters have in common with me as much as I see what they have in common with their Father.

8. I believe people who think having a rich online life is either false or impossible are missing out. It's one of those situations where all I can do is know my experience (that some of my online relationships are some of the best I've ever had) is authentic and the judgers'll probably never understand.

9. I'm writing a novel using NaNoWriMo as the means to keep me going. It's one of the biggest deals of my life, no joke. I've always enjoyed writing memoir-ish stuff but have never really tried fiction. In the last week my fictionalized life stories have evolved into full blown characters doing stuff I've never done, thinking thoughts I've never had, with personalities and lives entirely different than mine. It's blowing my fucking mind.

10. Writing a novel and believing it good enough for publication sure takes a certain kind of arrogance. I know because I'm thinking, wow, this thing is going to be really, really good. (And, please, for god's sake, know that the mess of 1,500 words I did about my health in my last blog post has been deleted from the book. It was never going to fit into the story as it is evolving and it was lousy writing.) This thing is going to be so good I'm already looking into finding an agent.

Now, for my Honest Scrap Blogger awards (and this is why I really wanted to do this blog post!):

Lawyerworldland hasn't been updated in a while, but it is consistently some of the best (and funniest) writing on the www. Archer, where are you?

Practical Misanthropy by my husband, Josh, hasn't been updated since last spring and it only has a few posts. I'm actually hoping that giving him this Honest Scrap award might spur him into writing some more. For now, he blogs on Sundays at NonAlignment Pact. Of course, as most of you know, I fell in love with Josh because of his writing. He's gifted and I hope he'll do more of it.

Towse: Views from the Hill is one of the more varied blogs I follow. Maintained by the creator of one of the finest writer's resources on the web, Sal Towse. Sal helped me believe I was a writer back in the late 90s (in the newsgroup misc.writing). She shares not just her words but her photos which are almost always striking.

LizardDreams, by gekko, isn't updated all that often anymore. Sigh. But when she posts, they're good ones. She's also got a truly nutty array of tags and links that are just plain fun to explore.

Asbestos Dust by, yes, Asbestos Dust is often bigoted, sexist, and hard to read because he's so over-the-top (especially on his blog). Still, he's an incredible writer and very funny. This thing hasn't been updated since 2008, but I've seen AD around on Facebook/Twitter and he's still pushing all the hot buttons trying to make anyone with a liberal/progressive view as uncomfortable as possible. Personally, I find him very entertaining and intellectually challenging. A real friend.

What Is Hip has become one of my favorites. I empathize with and relate to his honesty. I also like how the posts range from "okay" to absolutely stunning near-poetry.

Deck: Cyber Curmudgeon by, yes, Deck, is written by one of the best writers I know. Being "Deckish" means making a big point with few words. He, like Sal, supported me in my earliest "am I a writer?" days. He bought me a cup of coffee and, if memory serves, I took him to a playground...? Is that right? He's a tiny bit farther to the left than I am politically, but not by much. His posts are almost always full of political pith.

Omphaloskepsis (goodness, did I spell that right?) by @EmmaJaneR is consistently beautiful. Her words and especially her art inspire me. Literally. I started drawing again because of her. Thanks, Emma-Jane.

Blackgirlinmaine's Weblog is written by an offline friend. One of my best friends, actually, though we hardly ever see each other (young parenthood'll do that to a person). Her writing is earnest, honest, and varied. She talks about her day to day life as well as current events. I always look forward to her posts.

World of Julie is also by someone I know offline. Or, rather, I knew her when we were in a birthing class together 6.5 years ago. Her blog is so beautiful and so useful and so entertaining I frequently ask myself, is this all a sham? Is her life really falling apart and it only looks this good? But, no, I think she's just *that good.* :-)

think denk by my brother-in-law Jeremy Denk, is often too smart for me. Or, rather, it's mostly for people who are really into music... what does he call it? It's not "classical music" of course, but art music? Something. Anyway, the guy is a brilliant writer and when he writes about day-to-day stuff I just want more of it. Those who are really into the music (say, my Mother) also love it for that.

Crap. That's 11. I never was so good with the numbers (see #4 of my post above). Not a one I'd feel comfortable removing, though, so, there you have it. My eleven Honest Scrap Blogger awards!



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