* Oh my God! “The Artist’s Way” Giveaway Winners!
I saw this picture-turned-meme over at Gus’s site, followed the link to the story behind it and laughed for the next 15 minutes. Of course I had to grab a blank one for my own use and join in on the whole “Ermahgerd” phenomenon. That FACE! Priceless! Seriously, if you need a chuckle, go read how this meme went viral. You’ll thank me later.
Werner, werner, chercken derner!
The first order of business is to announce the GERVAHW…uh, GIVEAWAY WINNERS for The Artist’s Way!
- The lucky recipient of The Artist’s Way Starter Kit is none other than your favorite dragon and mine: Al Diaz of Father Dragon Writes!
- And the winner of The Artist’s Way paperback book is: The Queen of Crochet, Lexie Cobain, from Pennies in the Jetstream!
Thanks to everyone who participated—wish you could have all been winners!
Ahwerds
Second on the agenda is to acknowledge some awards I’ve received over the past month or so. Usually I don’t follow directions with the awards, and this time is no different.
I received three awards: one is free and clear of any obligations, but the other two have a set of questions or requirements to which I will link via the badge. I’ll answer five of the questions, which should satisfy a little of your curiosities, then pass each one along to a single deserving person per award.
The first award is from my buddy, Rob Akers, over at his blog of the same name. It’s another Liebster Award and I’m thrilled! This makes my third, so some people (albeit three) must really like what I’m doing. I appreciate this, Rob, and will pass it along to Elise Fallson, whose blog I’ve really come to love.
Joseph Jerome, from Magicellus, pinned this next one on me. OUCH! Joe is a great guy who designed his own badges to acknowledge his visitors who comment regularly—his “Vigorous Chatters”—and I really like it!
It came at a particularly challenging period in my life. Joe recognized that and stole this medal from The Cowardly Lion (a reference to an article I had written) then graced me with it. It made my day.
He probably didn’t mean for it to go any further, but I doctored it up, put The Brave Blogger Award on it and am passing it along to Erica Eastwick, who has courageously embarked on her self-proclaimed Year of Rejection. With a couple of competition wins under her belt and a poem accepted, she’s not been too successful in her rejections, but she’s brave as heck to have put herself out there.
We writers have to face many challenges head-on, with some being quite difficult or scary. It’s good to have that badge of support to wear on your chest. When paying it forward, please only give this award to one person. Acceptance is all that’s required.
And most recent is The Super Sweet Blogging Award given me by Gus Sánchez. I’m thinking that it was awarded because my blog is “sweet,” as in “fresh” and “hip,” and not because of my darling personality (although I am super-sweet-with-a-cherry-on-top).
Gus’s award came with five questions, which are answered below and should also satisfy a few of the random facts that Rob’s badge required. I’d like to “treat” Rebecca Douglass to this one. Her MG/YA blog and devotion to children’s literature and welfare is so sweet, it’s almost saccharin.
Five Diabetically Sweet Questions
• Cookies or Cake? Cake, most definitely. No…cookies. No, make that cake. Seriously though, I eat much more cake than cookies. My favorite cake was the made-from-scratch seven-layer chocolate cake that my great-aunt used to make. It was seven thin layers of moist chocolate cake with gritty frosting slathered on each layer. The frosting was gritty from all the sugar that was used. No joke. You’d lose your teeth while you were eating, but it was decadence at its best.
• Chocolate or Vanilla? This is a dilemma, because I LOVE chocolate, but really like the versatility that is vanilla, therefore, I’d have to call it a draw. I notice that most of the ice cream I get is a chocolate/vanilla mix, like Fudge Swirl or Tin Roof, so that confirms it.
• Favorite Sweet Treat? Hmm…I like gummy bears, but wouldn’t say they’re my faves. Zesty fruit chews like Starburst are also a weakness, but my Kryptonite is Little Debbie Devil’s Food Cakes. With a tall glass of cold milk, I could eat a whole box in one bite.
• When do you crave sweets the most? In the late afternoon or late evening. Sometimes too much in the late evening!
• Sweet nickname? You’d think, living in the south my whole life, that I’d have something like “Honeychild” or “Sugar Dumpling,” but no. Nothing like that for me. The endearment closest to that would be “Sweetbread,” but I don’t know how I feel about being compared to innards and glands. I guess they mean I’m an acquired taste.
And that concludes our day of excitement. Thanks to everyone listed in this post, and congrats to the winners of our first Progressive Book Club Giveaway! The coming summer promises to be a fun, spiritual, and educational one!
Peace,
ML Swift
M.L. Swift, Writer 
Congrats to the winners, and your awards. Ermargard is priceless!
Isn’t she? I call her Erma. Thanks for coming by, Tonja. 🙂
What Tonja said– congrats to the winners and to you on all those lovely awards!
Thernks, Jerlier. 🙂
Hey, Mike, I’m going to assume you meant “almost saccharine” in a positive way, and say thanks! And congrats to you on some well-deserved recognition. You are a Very Brave Blogger indeed!
YES! Of course I did, and when I looked back at it, I must have forgotten to put, “it’s so sweet it’s almost saccharin. What a difference those two words make. You have a very sweet blog and I like what you’re doing!
Thank you. I’m having a good time, which is probably the most important part. That and selling a boat-load of books so I can quit my day job 😉
Hey, I like gummy bears too. I can go crazy over gummy bears. 😀 Congratulations on your well deserved awards. I think the brave one fits you the best. And thank you very much for the book. I’m still doing the dragon happy dance about it.
I’m always up for laughter. Shall check those links. 🙂
Congrats, Al. It couldn’t have gone to a more deserving person. (you have signed up for the discussion, haven’t you???)
Congratulations on the awards! And to the winners.
I’m a Hot Tamales guy myself.
Now, need to look up the history of that photo.
Hot Tamales…too spicy for my blood. But I did used to chow on those and the Red Hots when I was a kid.
Ermargard, love the pig tails! 😀
Congrats to the winners and merci for passing on the blog love!
You rock my friend. I thought of you while driving out of Florida toward I95 last week. (:
And I was only about three hours away…
Enjoy the award! I liked your blog before, but you had me at -ologies.
Thanks Michael. Three hours isn’t far at all! Maybe next time. (:
And next time I get some french fries, I’ll think of you. 🙂
😛
Erma is way too funny!! 😀 Loved the animal versions too. Laughed pretty hard.
I’m an M&Ms gal, myself.
Congrats on the awards- Very cool! And thank you for the book- I’m looking forward to it! 🙂 This will be a great addition to my summer!
The book has been ordered and you should be getting it soon; I haven’t received a “shipped” notification yet, though.
I bought a bag of M&M’s once, but was gypped. They were all “W’s.”
🙂
I made reference to this meme tonight to my teens, and was informed that it is beyond dead. Apparently by the time something filters through to us old folks, the youngsters have moved on to three new things!
LOL Rebecca…ain’t that the truth! It was only created last year, but if it’s more than five seconds ago, we 40somethings have missed the boat.
(I did share it with my 20something niece and nephew who laughed. Nephew knew about it, but not niece).
Sometimes, if we’re the right amount of “unhip,” it’s still cool. 🙂
Sugar dumpling!! I don’t know why you wouldn’t go for that one!
Congrats on your awards.
My “real” endearment nicknames are too embarrassing to reveal. Thanks, Lyn.
My brother Swifty,
Sorry I have been out of pocket lately. Life has been getting in the way and with summer approaching I don’t expect things to change much.
Nice awards, particularly the Brave Blogger Award. Very cool and I am sure it will be floating around the blogosphere from now on. Glad I was there for the creation.
Oh don’t worry about it, Rob…things are getting rather hectic for me, too (and it looks like for many of us).
Yeah, I really appreciated the medal from Joe and thought it would be great to pass along. We all need that boost of confidence sometimes.
Ermahgerd, Mike, you made my teeth hurt when you described the gritty frosting of your favorite 7-layer cake. I loathe gritty frosting so I cannot relate to you on that one, my friend. Gritty frosting gives me the heebie jeebies. I’m not a fan of crunching down on hard sugar crystals. Whenever I see hard sugar crystals on baked goods I either scrape them off or don’t eat it at all.
Congrats on your awards and to your giveaway winners.
I’m a textural epicurean! I love different textures when eating…the more they contrast, the better.