Weather, Words, and What?!?

First off - look at that weather forecast. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We've just started to get rid of the January snow. Sigh. Maybe it won't be as much - at least there's a break at the end there.

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Secondly, look at the lovely award Deb bestowed on me. It took me a few days to acknowledge this, sorry 'bout that - definitely NOT a reflection of my degree of thanks but a reflection of my disorganization.

Here's the award process:

“In receiving the award you are asked to share three things that you believe make writing good and powerful, then pass the award on to five blogs that exemplify good and powerful writing.”

And here's what Deb said:

"I think writing is good and powerful when it’s honest, from the heart, and leaves you with the feeling that you’ve been honored with a true glimpse into someone’s mind and life on both good days and bad."

I'm honored to think that my writing is considered to be any of the three things Deb mentioned. Thank you. Sometimes I feel serious or philosophical when I post, sometimes I try to entertain, sometimes I'm just feeling silly or whiny or self absorbed. If I can't be consistent, at least you can count of me to be inconsistent. Heh.

Deb did that twin thing on me and pretty much nailed what I would have said about what makes words roar for me, but I'll try to come up with something to add. I always say there are two approaches to writing that work equally well for me. One is the author whose plot and characters are so real and compelling that the words don't matter, they fade away behind the story I'm swept up in. I'm usually discussing novel writers when I'm explaining this, but it applies equally well to the vignettes of a blog post. The second type of writer is one whose use of words is so poetically captivating that I don't really care if they're telling a sweeping tale of love and loss or describing how they are scrubbed their toilet, I just love the "sound" of the words in my mind.

Third..... hmmmmm..... everything I want to say sounds like what Deb said. I guess I'll add that selfishly, I like words that are a little raw, a little unpolished - in other words real. The type of sharing that can make me laugh and cry at the same time because life is just like that and if you can't laugh through your tears, it's hard to survive. Sometimes that sort of sharing is BIG and sometimes it's just a tiny glimpse, a tiny window, a swear word that slips in, a fear expressed. It's nice when I know the reader isn't hiding behind a June Cleaver apron and a freshly lipsticked smile.

Now, the hard part, passing the award on to other bloggers. No matter who I pick, I'm going to forget someone and later think - Duh! I should have included..! But, here we go:

Joshilyn Jackson of Faster than Kudzu - I can count on her for a good gulp of witty, a heaping helping of funny, and sometimes a confection of pure, sweet truth.
Madness Rivera of mad organica - I love all her stories but the best are the tender, sweet stories about her daughters.
Alala of Alala - I love that I never know what she'll be discussing - the angst of motherhood, philosophy, politics, food - she's no lightweight, fluffy blogger!
Laurence of Be Crafty Be Happy - she's not an obvious choice as she doesn't fit any of the reasons I mentioned, and she's more of a visual artsy blog than a wordy one - but she keeps popping back into my head. I think it's because reading her blog always feels like I've been invited in to sit at her kitchen table with a cuppa while we gab away like two old friends. That can't be just her photos - she must be using words in some sort of secret, magical way.
Singleton of The Hippie Parade - I don't remember how or when I stumbled upon this blogger but it doesn't matter, I keep going back because she gathers up the words of a story and then tosses just the most important ones back at the reader like a handful of runestones. Just the bare bones, but she joins them up and makes that skeleton dance.

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Thirdly, I went to the market today (Safeway). Walked in the door and did one of those "what the heck....!" stops. It's only been about a week and a half since I've last been there but it's completely changed. Or rather, changing. It's been ripped down to concrete slab, aisle by aisle the shelving is in the process of being taken out, replaced, and restocked. There were piles of no longer stocked merchandise huddled together on sale tables, boxes of new products stacked everywhere, and most surprising of all, a giant kiosk was being built just inside the southern entry. It looked immediately familiar but I double checked by asking an employee - yep, it's gonna be a Starbucks. Uhm. We are a very small town. We have a Starbucks. You just step back out that same market door and walk down the sidewalk for about..... oh.... three car lengths. And there it is.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love our Starbucks. But seriously folks, do we really need another Starbucks in a postage stamp sized town? Okay, maybe a two-postage stamp sized town.

I came home and told William they were building a Starbucks inside the Safeway.

"So....They're building a Starbucks right next door to the Starbucks?" he asked.

"Yep."

He shook his head and went off down the hallway muttering "What's this world coming to?"