Awards Season

Lisa, leader of Eudaemonia Land, gave me the Shameless Lions Writing Circle's "A Roar for Powerful Words" award.

The award was initiated in November by Seamus Kearney, a writer living in Lyon, France. Here are Seamus’s instructions: Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc etc. Let's send a roar through the blogosphere!

The three things I believe are necessary for good, powerful (fiction) writing are:

1. Passion. Call it heart, call it feeling. To me, the quality of caring about what you write about is crucial to being a good writer. Caring about the story, caring about your characters, caring what readers are going to think and feel as they read. Why write about something you care nothing or little about? And why should I care if the writer doesn't even care? Tell me a story that is important to you and chances are much greater the story will be important to me too.

2. Strong dialogue. I can forgive any flaw but boring, repetitive, empty, flat, unbelievable dialogue. To me, dialogue is the strongest means of developing a character. What they say (and don't say) and how they say it (or not) makes a breaks a character. It's probably what I spend the most time on when I write.

3. Storytelling. This is plot, but more than plot. It's also the appreciation of set-ups and pay-offs, tension, suspense, pacing, rhythym. One thing logically, organically leading to another without being so predictable that even the writer is ready to go to sleep. I include it because it's what comes hardest for me.

I'd like to give the Roar for Powerful Words Award to:
Angela Threatt
Jamie Ford
Judy Merrill Larsen
Rebecca Burgess
Tayari Jones

I'm curious to see what they have to say about what makes for strong writing.

In other awards news, Sherry over at Sage and Thyme kindly awarded me with the "Citizen of the World Award." I would like to consider myself a citizen of the world, but I'm afraid I have a lot to learn before that can actually be true. First, I've got to get down being a citizen of my own community; trying to tend to my own little plot here in Denver.

I admire people like my friend Val who can do both--be volunteers and activists at home and passionately contribute to better people's plights in other parts of the world. So, I'd like to give Val the "Citizen of the World Award."

Thanks Lisa and Sherry! I am very humbled and honored by both these awards.