…and the Magic Dog is hot on its trail. He grabs it, slides his back end in a one-eighty on our hardwood floor, and runs back to me, flat out, star in his mouth. When he reaches me he slows, drops the star at my feet, and then shoots off after it as it bounces away. He grabs it again and trots back, head high, tail wagging.
“Give it to me, boy,” I say, holding my hand down for the now-slobber-covered star. He sets it into my hand, shakes his head, and curves wagging and smiling around my legs, begging me to throw it again. I do, just to watch him pound after it. We could do this all day, but after the next throw I call a halt.
“Sorry, boy, it’s time to send this on.” I take the star, confine it in a box,set it on a high shelf, and throw him a rawhide treat instead.
And now, folks, it’s time. This little star has given us a lot of pleasure. Now it’s time to share the wealth. So where will it go?
That was a rhetorical question, in case you didn’t catch it. I already have four great blogs in mind. I take the star out of the box, cut it into four even pieces, put them back in the box, and sit down to write address labels.
The first star will go to Barbara Ardinger. Barbara, who blogs over at Women’s Radio, (and if you don’t know about Women’s Radio you should) gets this star for a several reasons. First, she gets it because she’s a great writer. She’s written several books, among them Finding New Goddesses, which I’ll be sampling here in the next few weeks. Just wait until you meet these new divinities.
The second reason that I’m giving Barbara this star is because I’m buttering her up. She’s also writing a series of reinterpreted fairy tales I keep beggin her to let me publish; one’s up on her blog at Women’s Radio now.
The third reason she get’s the star is because she’s my editor and, in her words, “keeps me from embarrassing myself in print.” Anyone who has read my unedited stuff knows what a hard and thankless task this can be.
The fourth reason she gets it is because she has Maine Coon cats, who I know will have as much fun with the star as the Magic Dog has.
The second recipient of the Star award is The Mighty Viking, who blogs not regularly, but well. These are the kinds of posts that you save and read again–they’re about being a dad, being a son, dying cars–no subject is too esoteric. So, one star bounces that direction, possibly to be impaled on a horned helmet, or possibly a monkey wrench.
The third star goes to the Dragon Lady who inhabits the Dragon’s Den. She’s a brand new baby blogger–so small she still can’t see over the grass in which the den is apparently located. Her blog is new, but I’ve been enjoying following her as she quits one job and begins a new one. So–a star goes here way. Let’s hope she doesn’t incinerate it by mistake.
The fourth star goes to a blog that isn’t really a blog; it’s a Facebook group page: The Voice (A Human Journey), run by Joe Brown. Sorry there’s no link, but go to Facebook and type the page name into the search bar, and Bob’s Your Uncle. I’m including this page because Joe is doing something amazing over there. He’s set out to create an international group of friends all committed to the idea that fundamentally, we are more alike than we are different. Every day he posts a reflection in the status bar, or an excerpt from his upcoming book in the “discussion” section, and his readers weigh in. Comments come from everywhere; a visit is like a visit to the United Nations, or the World’s Fair.
So that’s it–all the paperwork’s done. When the Magic Dog takes his nap I’ll slap labels onto the stars and send them bouncing down the road. Enjoy them, people! If one of them comes to your door, you really, really might want to spray it good with the garden hose before you bring it into the house. The Magic Dog has had his shots, but still…
(If you got a star, just click on the award image in this post, drag it to your desktop, and then insert it into your blog. But remember the rules–say “thank you” nicely, send it on to four people, and share ten things you do to jump start your writing. And no, I haven’t forgotten to do that–it’s the next post. Sheesh.)
Speak! Good Dog! 