Blogger Award (Times Two)

When somebody loves you enough to give you an award as a thank-you, you have to sit back and go "awww." Who doesn't love making a difference in others' lives?

Some of the awards are silly, some cute, some respectful and others world-reknown in their power. For instance, Writer's Digest likes the FundsforWriters.com website enough to give it the 101 Best Websites for Writers recognition each year (eleven at last count). I puff up like a rooster in a new chicken coop each year that  happens, and I'm forever thankful that I made a difference.

Validation is a remarkable high.

This week, I was chosen by two writers for the same blog award. Dang! Woot-woot! Yeeha and golly-gee.

Jessica McCann and Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz chose me for The Stylish Blogger Award. The award serves as a tool to introduce people to fellow bloggers and writers who have something special to share with the world. Here are the rules:

==Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
==Share seven random facts about yourself.
==Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
==Contact the winners to congratulate them.


Inhale, think, okay. Here are seven random facts about Hope Clark, not that they mean much. I tried to be a little outside the box:

1. I used to be a 4.0 level tennis player and played tournaments. Won a few.
2. Fried chicken livers are my favorite meat. (Yeah, I'm Southern.)
3. Won the top science award - the Bausch and Lomb Science Award - in high school. (Thought I was going into research.)
4. My first real job was sweet potato research for USDA - mostly grafting and crossing sweet potatoes with morning glories to make sweet potato plants produce seed. (No lie. That's when I learned to hate research.)
5. Have a fear of dark water. (Boats are fine, but nope...no swimming at the beach or lake. Hate thinking what's lurking in the water.)
6. Have owned a black dog of one breed or another since the age of 7, and am an advocate of the adoption of black dogs (yes, ask your shelter - black dogs have a stigma for some dumb reason).
7. Met my husband during a bribery investigation. He was the agent. I was the person offered the bribe.

And the five blogs I recommend for this same award are these:

Make a Living Writing: Frank Advice for Writers - Carol Tice, winner of 2011 Top 10 Blogs for Writers - snappy posts for serious writers. She's an award winning freelance writer living in Seattle and believes in writers earning a decent wage. www.Twitter.com/TiceWrites

 Dallas Woodburn's Writing Life - This young writer has accomplished more in a few years than I've seen a dozen adults do. She is the author of two collections of short stories and and a forthcoming novel is represented by Foundry Literary + Media. She is a grad student pursuing an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing at Purdue University. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. She has a bunch of freelance credits. She manages a nonprofit called Write On! For Literacy and their first published book Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing just came out and rose to #2 on Amazon under the "literature anthologies" category.  www.twitter.com/DallasWoodburn

My week wouldn't be complete without Erika Dreifus's blog Practicing Writing. She provides updates on writing and publishing opportunities. Markets, news, quotes, each day is different, which makes her intriguing to follow. Her story collection, Quiet Americans, was published in January 2011 by Last Light Studio Books. Erika is a contributing editor for The Writer magazine and Fiction Writers Review and an advisory board member for J Journal: New Writing on Justice, and she wrote the section on “Choosing a Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing” for the second edition of Tom Kealey’s Creative Writing MFA Handbook (Continuum, 2008). Erika’s writing practice encompasses fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Erika is also the editor/publisher of The Practicing Writer, a free (and popular) e-newsletter featuring advice, opportunities, and resources on the craft and business of writing for fictionists, poets, and writers of creative nonfiction. (from her website). www.twitter.com/erikadreifus

Alexis Grant, the Traveling Writer, is another favorite of mine. Alexis is a journalist who lives in Washington, D.C., covering the job market for a major news organization. She's a social media coach, helping small businesses grow their networks online. She also did something so cool. After years of dreaming about traveling, she left her reporting job and backpacked through West Africa, Cameroon and Madagascar, freelancing for various publications along the way. She's now weaving her stories into her first book, represented by the famous literary agent Rachelle Gardner. www.twitter.com/alexisgrant

 Then there's Spunk on a Stick. L. Diane Wolfe is a hoot. You never know what she'll post on her site, but you do know it'll be informative and fun if not downright entertaining. She has an entire page of blog awards like this one. She conducts seminars on promoting, leadership and goal setting. The author’s main work is a young adult series entitled The Circle of Friends. It follows a group of sports-minded couples through relationships, college and into their early careers. Meant to inspire as well as entertain, these books have been described as “encouragement personified”. Wolfe’s non-fiction title, “Overcoming Obstacles With SPUNK! The Keys to Leadership & Goal-Setting”, is an inspirational self-help book.  www.twitter.com/SpunkonaStick

Through Jessica McCann's choice of me for her award, I met the other authors she recommended. Then another author, then another. All because we connected on Twitter when Jessica made her announcement. You  never know when networking hits a sweet spot and scores.