The Versatile Blogger Award

        All right, I think "Award" may be a bit of an overglorification.  This is more like a cross between a chain letter and a lovely pat on the back.  I was tapped for this by the most excellent Penelope of Penelope's Romance Reviews.  Her intelligence and wit confound all my stereotypes of the Romance genre.  Thanks, Penny!
        As a recipient of this prestigious peer award, I now have to 

   1.  Link the blogger who gave this award.  [Check!]

   2.  Share 7 things about myself.

   3.  Pass this award on to 10 other bloggers recently discovered.  [This is great - it forces me to get my act together for my long-under-construction links section.  But 10 may be a bit many even so…]

   4.  Notify recipients.

        So I'll start with the seven interesting (? or maybe merely odd) facts about myself.

     1. The family story goes that I was born when my father was still filling out the hospital forms.  By the time he first saw me a little while later, I smiled at him.  My brothers commend me for this brilliant marketing move, but alas, that was the high point of my PR career.  My self-marketing skills have gone downhill from that day forward.

     2.  In my childhood I won a number of prizes in Cricket magazine's poetry contests, cementing my dream of being a writer.

     3.  I played field hockey in junior high and high school and was the nicest player on the field, though I say it myself.  I even apologized if I happened to knock anyone over as I blew past her with the ball.  (I did already admit that I'm a good little girl.)  But lest you think politeness is contrary to the winning spirit, let me assure you that in both junior and senior year I was our team's high scorer and was elected to the All-League and All-Region teams.

     4.  One summer during college I worked as a security guard at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  (This may be funny only if you've seen me.  I'm not exactly bruiser material.  But I was very good at saying, "Excuse me, sir, please don't steal the art.")  It was extremely cool to see backstage and to spend all that time with the amazing art.

     5.  While at college I worked in the cafeteria and was known for dispensing interesting vegetable facts with every serving.  (I was also known for draining the veggies decently before plopping them on the plate, something apparently none of the other servers did.)  Did you know that according to Pliny, ancient Egyptians invoked the onion when taking oaths?  And in 1696 Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV, said of green peas, "The impatience to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the joy of eating them again are the three points of private gossip… It is both a fashion and a madness."  Maybe it's time you gave vegetables a little more respect!

     6.  Senior year in college I took Sanskrit.  The professor said he could teach us Latin in a week, but Sanskrit was hard enough that it would take him a whole month… This led me to wonder about what it means to "teach," if no one learns anything.  I can, however, still recite the opening lines of the Nala and Damayanti story from the Mahabharata in the original Sanskrit, for what that's worth.

     7.  I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with only my teeth and tongue.  I keep thinking that surely someday this skill will prove useful… (Disarming the bomb in the supervillain's lair while handcuffed to the crane over the shark tank, perhaps?)…  But so far it has not.

        And now for some blogs.  I have to begin with the confession that I'm not really much of a blog reader.  I mean, I read a lot of interesting stuff posted on blogs, but I tend to come to posts by wandering the internet "researching" whatever thread my curiosity happens to be spinning at the time.  And after reading the interesting post, I wander off again.  So I'm sorry I haven't come up with the full number of bloggers I should, yet.  I hope I'll add more to my list in time.

     1.  I'll put Collage Lab by Two first, because it may soon stop having new postings.  It's a year-long series of experiments with collage work, and it's really fun to get a detailed description of the creative process at work.  Even after Nan and Kay's official year is over, this will be a great resource for a much wider range of artists than just those interested in collage.  (That's one of their pieces pictured here.)

     2.  The Printsy: Printmakers of Etsy blog is neat because it features frequent interviews with printmakers.  I really enjoy seeing the different approaches different people take.  They've also started running links to tutorials of different techniques, which is cool.

     3.  Words on Woodcuts features one image in each post, along with commentary that ranges from art critique to a reaction in the form of poetry.  Martha Knox's taste differs somewhat from mine, which means that many of the images she features (including her own, of course) are completely new to me.  And that means that there's always something interesting to see here.

     4.  Jane Sassaman is an amazing quiltmaker and her Idea Book blog has gorgeous pictures and fun ideas.  If you're ever feeling the doldrums, a dose of her bright, beautiful quilts will lift your spirits.

     5.  There are lots of blogs that review juvenile literature.  Charlotte's Library is one that focusses on fantasy and sci fi.  It reminds me just how many books out there I haven't read yet!  I've already started taking notes for the next trip to the library...

     6. Here's a blog I just found this weekend while poking about.  Sunday Scribblings apparently gives a writing prompt each week.  I haven't done any yet - I can't even say whether I'll end up being interested in any of the prompts.  And since you're expected to do your writing on the weekend, I may not be able to do them along with the site at all.  (I guess I'd really want "Tuesday Scribblings.")  But I still thought it was a cool idea, and I intend to check back at this one regularly if I can.

     7.  And finally (for now, at least) here's another site where I haven't spent much time but for which I have high hopes:  Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing for Introverts.  I hope it will be just the sort of ideas I need, since whatever skill I have as an artist and a writer is pretty useless unless I can also develop some skill in letting people know about the existence of my art and writing.  Does that sound dangerously like a New Year's Resolution?  Luckily I don't really make resolutions, so we'll just have to see how the year proceeds.
     8. (Added 2/2/11) Here's another: Books of Wonder and Wisdom, a blog about "children's literature that cultivates peace, justice, respect, and curiosity."  See what I mean about juvenile literature saving the world?

[Pictures: The Whole World, rubber block print by AEGN, 2008;
Tying up Loose Ends, collage by Nan Daly and Kay Villa, as shown on their blog, Collage Lab by Two.]