ROWR!!!

Dude! I've won an award for blogging! I am pretty stoked about this, because I've only recently started writing very much on my blog -- it used to be mostly art and very little writing. So, yay! (See? I'm so eloquent that I can get by with gratuitous "Dude!" and "YAY!" statements.)

So, thanks a bunch to Evil Twin's Wife from the blog The Glamorous Life of a Housefrau. She's got a great blog, and if you don't know her, you should check her blog out.

Now, I'm supposed to give three bits of advice to fellow bloggers and nominate 5 other bloggers that deserve the award. Here goes:

1. Don't limit your topics to one thing. I started out trying to focus this blog on art only, but my life is all over the place, and so I felt like I was missing out by not writing about things I felt strongly about. While I do try to post an original photo or piece of art every day, I write about anything and everything. It keeps me entertained -- hopefully, you enjoy reading about my crazy life, too.

2. Lern tu spel. Lern grammer, to. Really, it's like hearing your favorite song played on an out-of-tune violin to read a great blog post with major spelling and grammatical errors. I'm not a language Nazi, and I'm sure I live in a glass house, but I do believe that everyone should have at least a passing understanding of the English language. If you don't know how to spell a word, look it up.

3. Keep it simple. It's a blog. Casual language is fine. It's easier for others to read, and writing in a casual voice gives your posts personality. Conversely, writing in a more formal style makes your posts seem stuffy and it sometimes hides the simple beauty of your observations.

Okay, now for the hard part -- nominating others! There are so many great blogs on my sidebar, and even more that I've subscribed to on Bloglines that I haven't gotten around to linking to, yet. Here are the top 5 who come to mind:

Author Suzanne McMinn -- her blog "Chickens in the Road" is dear to my heart because we are practically neighbors, but also because her blog is everything a blog should be: thought-provoking, full of useful information, humorous, and heartwarming. I love her writing style, but -- duh -- she's an author!

Juanuchis' Way -- an awesome artist, all-around cool person, and fellow 'Piskie! She writes about whatever's on her mind, from art to news to animals. Her blog is always a good read -- hilarious-yet-poignant stuff.

Don't Print This -- You probably read Bill Lynch's writing in the Gazette, or in the Gazzblogs, but his personal blog is my favorite. Bill is an excellent writer, and he's written some great posts about heartwrenchingly personal issues. That's not easy to do!

Interview With The Chinchilla -- I love interviews. I really, really love to read about other people and what their lives are really like. Mr. Chinchilla's interviews are great because he asks the most interesting questions! I don't have a clue how he types (do they even make chinchilla-sized keyboards? He must be a text-messaging wiz!!!) but there is always something great to read. And he's just so darn cute, too!

Goat Rope -- This one's a new addition to my blogroll, but it's quickly become one of the blogs I check first. El Cabrero has just done a series of blog posts centering around some central ideas of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," and is now writing about faith. From Sun Tzu to Philosophy? I'm there!

I only get to pick five to give the award to, but there are so many who truly deserve it. Hey, maybe these guys will pick some of the ones I wanted to pick, myself.