I know I just did a Follow the links post, and I’d normally give it some time before putting another out there, but in my effort to catch up, I’ve got more I need to share, so please – follow the links…

Congrats are in order for Tele of Hooked, and I want to spread the word about her success!  I’ve been very lucky to stumble across the writing of a few people that I’ve also been able to create a genuine connection with, even if it is just in blogland, and Tele is one of those people.  I’m so excited to see her piece on National Fisherman.  Check it out!

And, because I haven’t introduced anyone new in a while, and this piece is worth every second of your time, please read Valuing the impulsive word on bottledworder, a blog I recently started reading and suspect I will continue to follow closely.

Mary Jaksch, Chief Editor at Write to Done did a wonderful interview with Seth Godin, and he has some great things to say about writing, making art, and his new book, The Icarus Deception.  It’s a must read (more on this later).

And to close on a light note … like Stephanie at Listful Thinking, I too come from a family that has not yet evolved to incorporate the hug into social interactions.  If you are one of us and get tired of people looking at you funny, read this.  I promise you’ll feel much better.

I started this post four months ago, which makes it incredibly overdue, and if I thought I was slacking then, I’m not sure what to even call it at this point…

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I was pleasantly surprised (and very humbled) a couple of weeks months ago when Graham of Graham’s Crackers nominated me for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award (especially since my writing habits haven’t been all that inspiring of late – I’ve been slacking quite a bit in the past few months).  Nonetheless, his doing so happened to help inspire me to get back on the horse again.  Thanks, Graham!  I needed that.  As a recipient of the nomination, I will now nominate seven others, while also sharing seven random facts about myself.  I’m going to do this all at once by linking to others’ whose posts themselves illustrate the random facts I intend to share about myself.  I apologize in advance that this seems sort of circular.  It is.

1.  In Google reader, I have a handful of categories for the blogs I follow.  “Agents and Advice,” for those moments when I think maybe I’ll publish something someday (current unread count: 162).  Second is “Beginner Bloggers,” which might seem odd unless you’ve taken part in one of the “platform building campaigns” that Rachel of Rach Writes organizes a couple times a year.  When I started this blog I stumbled across her campaign and decided to join.  The blogs in this category represent what’s left of the other people in the Beginner Bloggers group I joined (current unread count: 3 – maybe that deserves its own posts one of these days).  Next is “Creativity,” which I think I meant as a shot in the arm for those times I seem to have no idea what to write about (which is really almost always, so it’s a good thing it’s simply a figurative shot in the arm).

The two last categories are “Humor” and “Writers”.  “Writers” is the category I use for almost every other blog I’ve come across that I wanted to stick with, unless the writing is always funny (or almost always, anyway), in which case, it goes in “Humor”.  2.  I have two blogs in Humor, the wuc and listful thinking (though I’m sure there are plenty of other funny writers out there).  Read on…

3.  Check out this post on listful thinking – it’s funny and an all too accurate commentary on our relationship with technology.

4.  Next, I may never have shared with the world how much I like pickles – or other pickled vegetables – but, it’s true.  I’m a pushover – especially for pickled brussels sprouts.  So, of course, I loved reading “In a pickle.”

5.  Charlie Hale’s post, Juvenile Delinquency, reminds me why I started doing genealogical research.

6.  Graham recently pointed out my fixation with writing about odd things, though he put it much more eloquently than that.  The Tall Person, of Bassa’s Blog, does brilliantly with pictures what I can only attempt to do with words.  Look at a few of his pictures, and you’ll see things that I doubt anyone could write about with any success.  Check out this one, and this one, and this one – and then keep going back for more.  On the other hand, if you were to take a picture of some of the things that I find perplexing or out of place, they probably wouldn’t seem very odd at all.

7.  I’m constantly amazed at John-Bryan Hopkins, the force behind Foodimentary.  Every day is National-some-kind-of-food day.  Every day.  He never misses a beat.  I grew up in the midwest and will always have a soft spot for these things – thing 1, thing 2, thing 3.  I am also particularly amused by the quotes by Yogi Berra and Dorothy Allison, on this page at Foodimentary.

Thank you to everyone I’ve linked to in this post – you all inspire me and I very much enjoy reading the thing you write about.

I linked to a series of posts by John Ellert quite some time ago – it was some of the funniest writing I’d seen in a long time, and I still highly recommend you read it.  I bring it up, because the subject of his first story has come back to haunt him, as he explains in a more recent post.  Go read the original four parts of the story – you won’t regret it – and then you’ll be dying to hear what will happen this summer, as I am.  John is a bit of a sporadic blogger, but perhaps with a few more comments, we can pressure him into telling us what happens next…

Since I’m thinking about humor, here is another hilarious read on Mike Is Happy. Relatively.

On a more serious note, I’ve been recently buried in a book of essays, called How to Be Alone, by Jonathan Franzen, and was happy to stumble across Nathan Bransford’s recent post about seeing Franzen speak in person.  I really like hearing one author’s take on another.  Check it out.

Congrats to Monica Lee, whose memoir is being released this summer.  She posts her Prologue here, and after reading it, I am definitely going to keep an eye out for the book launch.

And, finally, who do you know that writes like this?  “My brain be scattered, like the bones of a zombie on the highway of a free-wheeling granny.”  There’s only one person, and if you haven’t subscribed so you don’t miss a post, you should.

Callie Leuck really grabbed me with the opening paragraph of her very well written rant about discrimination.  Check it out.  You’ll enjoy it.  Thanks for speaking up, Callie!

I’m not normally a “life lessons” kind of person, but maybe it’s because I just haven’t read the right lists.  This post by Julie Farrar is really great.  Julie’s sense of humor and her writing style are a bit understated – this combines for a read that will make you smile more than once.  In fact, while you’re at it, read this awesome graduation speech she wrote for parents.

You’ll also get some laughs from the transcripts of hilarious conversations Heather Davis has with her kids.  She posts a Conversation of the Week, and this is a link to the entire category.  Her other posts are funny, too, but I particularly love the Conversation of the Week.

I only recently started reading Nathan Bransford’s blog, but I love it that he has tons to say about tons of stuff.  This post about the future of publishing is very straightforward, and I really enjoyed his take on what the future will hold for all the major parties in the ecosystem – publishers, agents, authors, bookstores, and readers.

And, speaking of publishing, Graham recently wrote a wonderful counter to another Huffington Post contributor’s opinion that blogging, or  “uncontrolled publishing”, and the Internet in general are leading us on a “path of literary extinction.”  While I imagine most of us will identify more with Graham’s position, Saadon’s writing is interesting regardless of what you think of his opinion.  It’s well-written, with the exception of a sentence or two that make their point, but do so using nonsensical language – a bit ironic for someone who purports only to respect intellectual writing.  Both pieces are thought-provoking, though.  Check them out.