Pulitzer Redux

Thanks to Kristen of Scrappin' My Bliss, I read a fascinating article in yesterday's Boston Globe about the the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning book Tinkers. Now I'm even more excited to read this book.

Not only is Tinkers Paul Harding's first novel (!) it was published, not by a giant in the publishing world, but by a small publishing house. - Bellevue Literary Press. And its initial run was a paltry 3,500 copies. And Harding's advance? A meager $1,000 (apparently a tiny fraction of the typical advance). So how did this novel, which was originally rejected and then sat in a drawer for three years, not only get published, but win the Pulitzer? Word of mouth! I kid you not. It was a real grassroots effort sparked by "personal interactions between publishers, booksellers, and reviewers that launched the book the old-fashioned way." Wow! I love this!

And what's even more unbelievable is that no one called Harding to tell him he had won. He, of course, didn't even dream that he would be the winner and he found out when he checked online to see who had won! OMG! If this isn't a quintessential American success story, I don't know what is. Congratulations to Paul Harding. What a way to make your debut in the publishing world.

2010 Pulitzer Prize Winner

On April 12, the 2010 Pulitzer Prizes were announced. The prize for fiction was awarded to Tinkers by Paul Harding. I was so surprised when I read this because just the day before I received an email from Amazon with a list of recommended books. None of which I had heard about, by the way. (That always makes me nervous. But, I digress). One of the books listed was Tinkers! So when I read the Pulitzer announcement I felt vindicated that not only had I heard of Tinkers, I had even added it to my "to be read" list. Only problem is, now it's going to take a long time before I can get my hands on a copy. Oh well. Something to look forward to. Here's hoping I enjoy it as much as I did last year's winner - Olive Kitteridge.


Click here to see the complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners.

Bragging Rights

OK, fair warning. I'm about to brag about my daughter, Katie. This is not going to be one of the "blogs of substance" I've been talking about lately. And there's nothing wrong with that!

As many of you know, my daughter Katie is a senior in HS. In the last couple of weeks she has accomplished some amazing things and I'm just so proud of her that I can't keep it to myself.

About 2 weeks ago we received a letter in the mail from the HS. This is not that unusual and I didn't think anything about it when I opened it. Well, I was blown away when I read that Katie's GPA qualified her for the Rhode Island Secondary School Honor Society! For some unknown reason, this honor was not on our radar at all. I have no idea why not. Needless to say, this was such a happy surprise and honor for Katie. And we couldn't be prouder.

Then on March 12th, Katie competed for the title of 2010 Rhode Island Future Business Leader (FBLA). FBLA is a national organization for HS students who are interested in pursuing a career in business. Each year the FBLA members take tests in different areas of business (ex. Economics, Communications, Ethics, etc) and the winners at the state level can then compete nationally. This year Katie decided to compete for the top award - Future Business Leader. This involved a rigorous process of testing, interviews and resumes. You know where this is going, don't you? She won!!! What an accomplishment. And we couldn't be prouder.

But that's not all. This past Tuesday, Katie hosted a fundraising dinner at the HS as part of the Interact Club (a community service organize affiliated with the Rotary Club), which she serves as President (yes, yes, shameless bragging on my part). But she didn't just host this dinner. She planned the entire thing - practically single handed (don't get me started on why the rest of the club members didn't help her). The dinner raised over $800 for water filtration systems for a small village in Cambodia. Not only did Katie arrange for a local restaurant to provide authentic Cambodian food, she visited approximately 15 local businesses and asked them to donate items for a raffle, arranged to have traditional Cambodian dancers perform before and after the dinner, invited 3 Cambodian monks (and a translator) to attend the dinner to bless the food, organized her family and friends to supply homemade desserts, created a trifold brochure to hand out to the diners, bought all the tablecloths and paper products, supplied her iPod with Cambodian music downloaded for the dancers and arranged to have the local Rotary Club attend to give a presentation on the work they are doing in Cambodia. And she emceed the entire event. Geoff and I were amazed, not only by the success of the event and all her hard work, but also by her poise speaking in front of such a large group. And we couldn't have been prouder.

Katie, you are one amazing young lady. I am in awe of all you do and have accomplished. And I couldn't be prouder of you. You rock!

Katie and Madeleine

Going Award Free

Once again I'm about to open a blogging can of worms. Remember back in June when I wrote about Guilt Free Blogging? I really worried about offending my readers and followers. And to be honest, I did lose a couple of followers after that post was published. Well, here I go again. Just call me a Rebel without a Cause.

I don't want to offend anyone, and I'm beyond flattered and honored when one of you considers me worthy of a blogging award. But the whole award thing has become a little overwhelming. Especially deciding who to pass the award on to. I feel guilty accepting awards if I don't "follow the rules" and pass them on. And I would feel guilty if I didn't post an award that someone so thoughtfully gave to me. So, I've decided to go Award Free. Apparently, I'm not alone in this sentiment as Award Free buttons are available at Penniwig's blog. As of today, I've added an Award Free button to my sidebar. Thanks to Mary at My New 30 for this link and passing on the idea of Award Free Blogging.

Once again, thank you for all the awards that you have so graciously given me. I truly am honored. But your comments are all the "awards" I need. I always look forward to reading them. And thank you for understanding.

How do you feel about awards? Do you love them? Do you accept them, but don't pass them on? Do you ignore them? Are you too busy to follow the rules that are attached to many of them? Would you/Have you considered going Award Free? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Let's Be Friends

Earlier this week I was honored to have been awarded the Let's Be Friends Award by Sue at Book by Book. Sue's blog is chock full of book reviews and fun and interesting book memes. If you're a book worm and you haven't visited Book by Book, you don't know what your missing.

About the award:

Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

I REALLY hate deciding who to pass these awards on to. Do the rest of you struggle with this? I'd love to hear from you. I always feel like my regulars will feel bad if I don't pass them on to them, but I also don't want to annoy them by ALWAYS passing them on (especially if they struggle with this like I do). Sometimes I'd like to highlight a blogger who I think doesn't get enough attention, but if I do that will everyone else wonder why they weren't chosen? I'm probably over thinking this. Anyway, there is one blogger who I've really been enjoying lately, both on our blogs and behind the scenes in email. I'm going to award this to her. And everyone else, I love and admire you all. You are all great blogging friends with charming blogs.

I'm going to pass this one on to:

FranticMommy the Queen of the Kingdom of Tired

If you don't know Frantic Mommy, you should check her out. She's got her hands full with two little ones and she doesn't mince words when it comes to the "joys" of parenting. I can so relate. Congrats, Frantic Mommy!

Comments - A Blogger's Drug of Choice

All bloggers love comments, right? Otherwise blogging is too much like talking to yourself. (I already do plenty of that as it is). An award that recognizes great commenters is a brilliant idea. And that's the idea behind the You Don't Say Award. Sandy at It's a Jungle Out There was kind enough to pass this award on to me recently. Getting awards is always an honor but an award that recognizes those bloggers who consistently comment is a high honor indeed. The You Don't Say Award "... is for beautiful people who practice blogging etiquette by visiting or visiting back, and leaving comments. Their observations are apt and helpful and it's a pleasure to have them comment on your posts..."

Usually, I have a hard time deciding who to pass awards on to. It was a bit easier this time since the "rules" are so specific. I looked back on all my posts for the month of June and tallied up all my comments. I am going to give this award to my top 4 commenters, who haven't already received the award (I travel in a tight blogging circle). My top commenters who have already received the award (and are free to take it again if they so choose) are: Anita at A Wife, A Woman, A Mom, Tammy at Keep in Touch with Mommakin', Sandy at It's a Jungle Out There, Alex at Please Try Again and Kathy B! at The World According to Me.

The newest recipients are:

Sharon at Gamma Sharon's Life

Ronnica at Ignorant Historian

C at CW5H20

Midlife Jobhunter

Congrats ladies. Thanks for always taking the time to visit and leave such thoughtful and insightful comments. I enjoy reading and commenting on your blogs as well.

Image from Google Images

Color Me Flattered

Gwendolyn at A Sea of Books has honored me with two fabulous blogging awards! Wow! I'm so flattered. Gwendolyn is a fellow bibliophile and she has a wonderful blog full of bookish goodness. And not only does she have a beautiful name full of romance she lives by the sea - a bucket list item of mine. As her blog tag line says: "If your lucky enough to be at the beach. You're lucky enough". How right you are, Gwendolyn. How right you are.

The #1 Blogger Award was created by Naida of The Bookworm. She even made this adorable button with a picture of her dog wearing one of her own hand-crocheted creations. Wow! I'm impressed. She can not only crochet, she can create a blog button. Talented lady.

The next award, Let's Be Friends, is given to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

As I said, I am honored and flattered to have received these two awards. Especially the Let's Be Friends Award. I am so happy to have made some amazing friends in blogland. I wasn't expecting that and I'm so happy about it.

There are no rules attached to either of these awards, which is actually kind of nice. It is always so difficult for me to decide who to give these awards to. So, I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to pass them on to anyone who considers me to be their bloggy friend. I mean it, too. Whenever someone says something like this on their blog, I never take them up on it, because it feels presumptuous to just take an award, without specifically being given it. If you're a regular commenter here, then your qualify. If you're a follower, then you qualify. If I comment on your blog and you comment here, you definitely qualify. And I'm going to be checking your blogs. You really can take it. I want you to. I just don't want to pick a limited number of people. Those of you who are my friends know who you are. Congratulations!

Queen For A Day

It's official. I am Queen for A Day! Yesterday I received the Queen of All Things Awe-summm!!! award, not once, not twice, but THREE times. OMG! I'm not sure how to react to that. I think maybe my blog circle must be pretty small. LOL! In any case, I'm dumb-founded and honored.

I received this royal award from Valentine and Demosthenes at Letters from Valentine AND Beth at be careful what you wish for AND Clare at this and that . Wow! I'm so flattered and honored to be the recipient of such a cool award. And I will be honest, it's kind of the perfect award for me because when I was a little girl my grandfather nicknamed me The Queen. I loved it, but I think he called me that because I a bit bossy and always had to have my own way. (Some things never change. Just ask my husband). So here's how the award works:

Queen Duties are as follows:

1. List 7 things that make you awe-summm.

2. Pass the award onto 7 bloggers that you think are awe-summm.

3. Tag those bloggers to let them know they are now Queens too (and link back to the Queen who tagged you).

Alrighty then. 7 things that make me awe-summm:

Wow this is harder than it sounds!

1. I am an awe-summm multitasker. I can literally do 3 or 4 things at once. This makes me amazingly efficient at home and has earned me the nickname of the "whirling dervish" from the Children's Librarian at work.

2. I have been married for nearly 22 years! I think this is pretty awe-summm in and of itself, but the fact that I'm married to my HS sweetheart and we were apart for most of the four years of college (except for summers and other breaks) makes this even more awe-summm! And the most awe-summm part is that we dated for 7 years before we got hitched, so we've been together for nearly 29 years! It hasn't always been easy, but it has most definitely been worth it!

3. I can touch my nose with my tongue! Having a long pointy nose (think the Child Catcher from Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang) has it benefits. Pretty awe-summm, right?

4. I LOVE to learn new things and believe in being a life long learner. It doesn't have to be academic subjects either. In recent years, I've learned to play piano, taken tap dancing lessons, learned to knit, learned to play Mah Jong and now I'm blogging. And as you all know, blogging is totally awe-summm!

5. A year and a half ago I got my dream car. A car I had been coveting for 4 years. A car I got when I gave up the minivan I had been driving for 13 years. My red/white Mini Cooper is most definitely awe-summm!

6. I am a fast reader. This is awe-summm because I love to read and I have a very long list of books I want to read. So this is an essential skill for me!

7. I think it's awe-summm that I have made so many bloggy friends since starting my blog in February. I was not expecting that. I figured my blog would be a sort of personal journal of book reviews and that maybe my friends would read it occasionally. I never expected that other people would be interested. Truthfully, I had never even read a blog before I started this one, so I wasn't aware of "Followers", and SITS, and Google Reader, etc. Totally AWE-SUMMM!!!

7 Awe-summm bloggers I want to pass this on to:

1. Alex at Please Try Again

2. Anita at a wife, a woman, a mom

3. Tammy Keep in Touch with Mommakin

4. Julie at Midlife Jobhunter

5. Gibby at Lost in Suburban Bliss

6. Cat and Ben at 4 Nuts in a Nutshell

7. Lady Grey at Miss Lady Grey

Thanks again ladies. I'm so flattered and honored to have received this award!

It Must Be Award Season

Wow! To quote the fabulous Tammy, "It must be Award Season", here in bloggy land. The Grover-loving, English transplant Clare at This and That nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award today! I'm so honored. Thank you Clare. She also nominated me for another Kreativ Blogger Award, as well. Wow! I think I might go buy a lottery ticket today - it's my lucky day!

The rules for this award are very simple. You need to post the award on your blog, link back to the person who nominated you and pass the love to up to 15 new blogs that you have discovered. Let those you gave an award to know through a comment on their blog. OK, no way I can come up with 15 blogs since I just gave awards to 10 people yesterday and I'd like to honor different people this time. So, I'm going to do my best. I have a feeling that a couple of the following bloggers may not be into this kind of thing and if that's the case, no problem. Just ignore all this frivolity! I hereby give the One Lovely Blog Award to:

Sandy at It's a Jungle Out There

Esther at Gratuitous Violins

Terra at The Emerson Family

Alex at Please Try Again

Anita at A Wife, A Woman, A Mom

Tammy at Keep in Touch With Mommakin

Congratulations ladies!

Gratitude and Kreativity

Wow! I'm really flattered to have received not one, but two awards from the terrific Anita at A Wife, a Woman, a Mom! How cool is that. Here's the first award. The Lemonade Award:

The lemonade award is for showing great attitude and/or gratitude. Each award has a pay it forward concept...

The Rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog, nominate at least 10 blogs, which show great attitude and/or gratitude.
2. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
3. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link to this post, and/or to the person from whom you received your award.

And as if that awesome award wasn't enough, Anita also gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award:

The Rules:

1. List 7 things that you love.
2. Link to the person who has tagged you
3. Choose 7 more bloggers to give the Kreativ Award to.

OK, here goes. 7 things I love:

1. Dark Chocolate
2. Sleeping in
3. The Office
4. Visiting libraries when I travel
5. Mah Jong
6. Traveling
7. Art Museums

OK, now the best part. I get to pay it forward. I'm passing these amazing awards along to the following awesome bloggers:

Crystal at Traveling at the Speed of Life
Sharon at Gramma Sharon's Life
Clare at thisandthat
Becky at FranticMommy
Kel at Girl in the Glasses
Bethany at Striving to be Bold
Lucky Wife/Bookaholic at Everyday Hills and Valleys
C at CW5h20
Stereos and Souffles
Celine at Chez Celine

Congratulations!