One Lovely Blog Award!

A week or so ago, the wonderful blogger michaelalexanderchaney nominated me for the “One Lovely Blog” award. I know that there are some folks on WordPress who frown on these “awards.” But I think it’s sort of a sweet practice, so I am embracing it!

When a blogger nominates your blog for this award, the rule is that you have to nominate 5-7 more blogs for the award and also mention 5 random facts (I have 7 below, sorry!) about yourself that you’d like to share.

The facts…

1. I am grossed out by banyan trees with aerial roots, such as the ones you find in Florida, on the Atlantic Coast. Ugh, they’re the worst (and yes, I know, I might be the only weirdo with a strong dislike for a tree).

2. When I was a kid, I pocketed a piece of baseball memorabilia that belonged to my uncle. It was a Ty Cobb autograph that his grandfather (I believe) had acquired after he ran into the baseball great in a bank. I intended on bringing it in for “show & tell” the next week at my elementary school. It was, I’m sure, an uncomfortable moment for my aunt when she found the check in my jacket pocket the morning after I stayed over their house.

3. The most beautiful place I have ever visited is the Mt. Shasta area of Northern California.

4. I admire many, many writers, but my favorite one is David Grann, the New Yorker writer. He’s not a grand stylist, but in terms of researching, reporting and crafting nonfiction, he just blows me away.  The only other writer who has ever had such a strong effect on me was probably Roald Dahl, when I was a kid.

5. I have met very few people in this world that can defeat me in ping pong.

6. I just love The League, the tv show on FX. It slays me.

7. My wife is very beautiful, just gonna put that out there. She is!

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here are my 7 blog nominees for the award!…

A Story A Day – many, many engaging flash fictions to peruse here

Reowr – her poetry for kids almost always dazzles

fictitious fishes – “this lit mag of one” has a lot of short stories to enjoy, and some of them are 3,000 words long. The total disregard to internet brevity is Refreshing, if you ask me.

lightning droplets – a fine and generous writer who spends many a post doling out advice to new poets as well as featuring selected wordpress poems on her blog

storyshucker – a strong nonfiction writer with a suitcase (or 3) full of stories worthy of your time

jenni kay writes – a poet with a keen voice I often read, self-publishing a book in her spare time (if I’m remembering correctly)

radioactive eyeball – new to this blog, but her short fictions are well worth exploring, plus there’s a lot of amusing and impressive illustrations by the blogger, some of the work accompanying the written pieces