Reasons to Celebrate!

Award-time! The Not a Flake, I'm a Writer Award is from Mary at Writer's Butt Does Not Apply to Me and goes to those who flake in the real world because of their writing. 

Nominees show characteristics like getting wrapped in their stories, daydreaming about their characters, or writer-brain in general. There is also a Not a Flake, I'm a Reader Award for those who get lost in a story and walk around with book-brain, desperate to read the rest, or frantic for the next book in a series or from a particular author.

Do either of these apply to you? Then blog a flaky story, or post your flakiness in the comments, and the award is yours! I will, of course, add you to the Writer or Reader Hall of Flakes.

The Writer Hall of Flakes

Angie from Notes from the Writing Chair

My Flaky Story:

This is a Lifetime Achievement Award for me; no single accomplishment can encapsulate the years of flaking that both writing and reading have induced. 

First, I'd like to thank my teachers, who caught me reading books like the dunce-cap kid in Chutes in Ladders and forced me to become more creative and write my own stories while pretending to take notes. 

I'd also like to add a thanks to the school system in general, for teaching me that success can be achieved by sitting still with my hands folded neatly on my desk, eyes tracking teachers or professors anywhere they went as they talked, while the whole of my brain was busy in some other place involving castles or Viking ships or whatever else I was into at the moment. Who says we don't use what we learn at school in real life? That skill comes in handy even as an adult (faculty meetings, anyone?).

I can't forget to thank Mom, who didn't know what to make of m reading marathons. Dragging me off my bed, pale and squinting into the light of the real world, right in the middle of the best part of a story, really taught me how to function at half-capacity. All those poorly carried out chores and forgotten tasks weren't because I didn't care, Mom! It was because my brain was elsewhere!! 

And speaking of brain, I can't have a Flaky Lifetime Achievement speech without thanking the gray matter knocking around up there. Just yesterday I loaded the kids in the car and almost drove off without the stroller. And if I hear a song that reminds me of a character, I'll almost always make a wrong turn or miss an exit. And who will ever forget throwing the checkbook into the library book drop? Sadly, no one. Brain, all my flakiness I owe to you. Thank you. 

Lastly, I dedicate this award to my kids, who have increased my capacity for drifting off into my own world on less sleep than I thought possible, and to my husband, who has to put up with me and my rotten housekeeping, my unnerving habit of staring into space (or staring strangely unfocused at random things like the coffee maker), and all my hermit-like ways. You guys rock!