Prize Darts, Part Deux

Just when I had completed basking in the glow of Helen Ginger's gift of the Premio Dardos, the lovely and talented Morgan Mandel also chose me for this auspicious award. One of the great things about getting Prize Darts is that I've found even more writers with wise and witty things to say out in the blogosphere. I found them all through my publisher's blogsite, The Life of a Publisher. I wish I could have them all over for a dinner party - what discussions we'd have!

Speaking of darts, being recognized sure came in handy this week. It was nice to have a cyber-hug to offset the ego-spanking I received.

Back in 1983, I received my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Cal State, Fullerton. For the next 20 years, I designed, coded, tested and fielded software systems from ghost radar, to military communications, to using GPS to land planes. And yet, I lived in fear that when I visited my family, they'd tell me since they got their Dells and can open an Excel spreadsheet, they do what I do for a living. Because that's the way my family is. Amazingly, no one did, mostly because they couldn't understand what the hell I even did for my paycheck.

Now that I've got a weekly newspaper column, a short story in the new anthology, MISSING, and a brand new book, FREEZER BURN, coming out, the chickens have come home to roost. Over the holidays, one of my relatives (let's keep him anonymous) told me he's writing a children's book. A man who never graduated from high school because (in his words) "school is for losers", who rarely spent more than five minutes with his children because he didn't know what to do with them, is writing a children's book. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Along with this relative's belief that anyone could do what I do, a writer-colleague absolutely stunned me when I told her of my deal with Echelon and she said, "What's the big deal? They're a vanity press, right?" (KAREN - PUT THE KNIFE DOWN, NOW!) I set her completely straight, to the point of squeezing an apology from her, but I was shocked. She had been nothing but complimentary about my work, congratulating any of my contest wins, but a book deal must have been too much for her to handle.

So, honestly, how do you handle these kinds of remarks without resorting to violence? Or heavy drinking?

Seriously? Premio Dardos?

Helen Ginger, proud author of the Straight from Hel blogspot (http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com), chose me as one of the recipients of the Premio Dardos award. According to her blog:

The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

I've also learned, from Helen, that the name is Italian for "Prize Darts". I must say, after unintentionally throwing a saw at my ex-husband, this is the closest I've been allowed to any kind of darts for quite a while.

The rules for this award are:
1. Accept the award by posting on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.
2. Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they've been selected for this award.

With this post, I've fulfilled Rule #1. Rule #2 might be harder - 15 blogs? Do I read 15 blogs? I'm a newbie - I barely know 15 people. Most of the blogs I read come via my publisher's blog, http://karensyed.blogspot.com. She was given the Premio Dardos last week, and nominated most of the blogs I read. So I've had to reach out and find others to touch.

Here goes:

http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com - Alex Sokoloff provides incredible insights into structure, plot development, and how to scare the pants off your reader

http://murderati.typepad.com - This is a group of 12 bloggers who post tidbits about writing murder and mayhem. Helen counted the bloggers in each blog, so I'm going to count these as 11, since Alex is one of the bloggers and I don't want to count her twice.

http://deannacameron.blogspot.com - Deanna writes Writely So, where she covers her book that will be published in July (The Belly Dancer) as well as interviewing other authors. I love her standard interview questions because they reveal so much about the person, and she's been great to share publishing/marketing ideas with.

http://scwc.wordpress.com - This is the blog for the Southern California Writer's Conference. I always tell myself I'll only go to one of these a year, and I end up at both. They're good, working conferences, and the blog points to some more interesting folk.

http://barryeisler.com/blog.html - In addition to being a gifted author, Barry writes The Heart of the Matter, a blog that defines/debates/discusses the world, its politics, its leaders, and its general goings-on. It's a great workout for the brain.

Okay, that makes 15 bloggers. I'd like to stay around and extoll their virtues, but I have to scamper off and tell these folks what I've done. Take a look around at their blogs - and their websites. They're all smart cookies.

Oh, and thank you so much, Helen, for reading my blog and thinking I deserve this!