The Premios Dardo Award

Many thanks to http://www.thewritertoday.com/ who sent me the Premios Dardo (Top Dart) Award on Friday: "this award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his or her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values everyday."

I feel truly honored for several reasons. First, The Writer Today is a fantastic blog, one of my favorites and full of great information. I recommend it to any writer at any stage of his or her career, so please go visit and have a great time.

My second reason is that I still feel so new to blogging. For a long time I resisted even having a blog. I was worried I wouldn't know what to write or be able to maintain it very well. Now, I can't imagine not having my blog. I appreciate so much my readers, their comments both on and off site, and the opportunity to share my thoughts and writing.

Lastly, the award is just plain fun. And as I've always said in my writing classes (and to continue the theme of my last blog post), if you're not having fun with you're writing--something is wrong!

Starting today and over the next few weeks, I will be passing the award along to 15 other blogs that have inspired me.

Rules for the Premios Dardo Award
1. Accept and post the award on your blog.
2. Link to the person from whom you received it.
3. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.
4. Let them know they've been chosen for this award.

Today's recipients of the Premios Dardo Award:

http://www.mariannepowers.blogspot.com/
http://www.sarahgarrigues.blogspot.com/
http://www.murdertrail.blogspot.com/
http://www.moodmovie.blogspot.com/
http://www.smileatmile20.blogspot.com/

Keep checking in for future recipients!

Tip of the Day: Recognize your writing with a special award from yourself. List all the good things you know your writing achieves and has to offer.

Revising Revisions

The last few weeks have been consumed with revision work as I get ready to publish my next book, Better Than Perfect, due out this summer. The title alone should give you a clue as to where my head has been! And like my main character, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Haddon, I’ve had to realize perfection is, at least in the real world, an impossible goal. Especially when you spend 24/7 in pursuit of it, which is why when I pulled the card “Just for Fun” from my Inner Outings, Adventures in Journal Writing deck, I knew something had to give.

Because I’ve always tended to believe in accepting what the universe hands us, I put the manuscript away and decided my holiday weekend would begin on Tuesday; a good decision. These are some of the things I’ve done with my “just for fun” time:

1. Played with http://www.polyvore.com/ all the live long day! It was wonderful. I’ve added a link on my sidebar so you can check out some of the sets I’ve put together there.
2. Went to my book club for the first time in three months. Another good decision!
3. Checked out the next book for the club right away: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I read it as a teenager. The best kind of "school's-out" reading.
4. Started writing a screenplay for no good reason.
5. Visited an art exhibit featuring two of my friends’ artwork. I nearly missed it from being “so busy.”
6. Bought some gourmet treats to take home from the foreign specialty food store downstairs from the art gallery.
7. Signed up for a collage class next month.
8. Planted a flower garden beside my patio.
9. Invited friends to go to France this autumn! (Yes, really! Check out http://www.nitahughes.com/ for more info.)
10. Went to another friend's celebration of her daughter’s high school graduation.
11. Played with http://www.polyvore/ lots more.

I feel great: rested, relaxed, and creative. This afternoon I’m going to draw with the pencils I bought in Germany. And there’s been a very real advantage to this mini-vacation. Suddenly, after months and months of agonizing over “just the right words,” the entire back copy “blurb” for my book popped into my mind, complete and ready-to-go. What a relief!

Tip of the day: Take a break—and that’s an order!