Dilemmas and a Quagmire: Have a Happy Blog!

Please be warned, I may or may not mention sculpted, hard-bodied males in this post. I know, I know, your tender sensibilities. Brace yourselves.

Before I get to the awards (which, invariably leads to sculpted, hard-bodied males... I think), a quick THANK YOU to Mary at Writer's Butt Does Not Apply to Me. I won her book giveaway just before Christmas, and the other day I found How to Take the Ex out of Ex-Boyfriend in my mailbox... so far it's adorable! Such a fun book, thank you Mary!!

Now for award time!

Awards make me happy :) Amalia and Steph must KNOW this about me because they both gave me the Happy Blog Award! Thank you Steph and Amalia, your blogs are so great, everyone should hop over and say hi to you two lovely blog writers.

The Happy Blog Award

from

Stephanie Damore

(at the Stephanie Damore Blog)

and

Amalia T.

(at Good to Begin Well,

Better to End Well.)

The rules are easy, at last! No horrifying high school reveals (you guys like to see me work for my awards). All I have to do is list ten things that make me happy, then pass it on to ten blogs that make me happy. Wait... that is going to be hard. If I follow a blog, it's because it makes me happy. Dilemma, dilemma...

While I ponder this, here are the ten things that make me happy (and since I randomly blogged about that very topic HERE, I promise not to cheat and copy all the same answers. Maybe. Never mind, I crossed my fingers so the promise didn't count!).

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. The beach. Sandy toes means a day well-spent.

2. Massages. Especially the kinds where scented candles and heated oils are used. I'd mention sculpted, hard-bodied males (preferably shirtless) but this is a PG blog.

3. People who read my writing and comment. My one friend (you know who you are), agents (the commenty type are rare, but make me so happy), crit buddies (my Dana!!), beta-readers (my Wendy!!), blog commenters (you! Yes, you reading this blog right now! *kisses!*), and fabulous agented authors who offer wicked-awesome comments on my writing (Bethany and Suzette-- I almost called them "my" Bethany and Suzette, but they're mega stars and I don't want them to think I'm stalking them or anything, even though I am, shhh!).

4. Writing. But not term papers or anything. I should say, writing fiction. But I already wrote it this way and look-how-lazy-I-am.

5. Excessively sweetened beverages. Roy Rogers, White Mochas, uber-sugary green tea, caramel fraps with extra caramel... mmm... caramel.

6. Family, friends, people who are nice to my kids. I love these people. Even though the majority of these people don't read or even know I have a blog, they make me happy in other ways.

7. Vacations. Especially involving airplanes and beaches. And possibly massages and sweetened beverages? Or is that asking too much?

8. Cheese. I'm so ridiculous. Wendy and Void, I'm not wrong here, right? Top ten things that make me happy... cheese and family on the same list? What about that appetizer at Red Robin's-- deep fried cheese-- and instead of ranch, ask for cheese dip... oh yeah!

9. Desserts. Since we're on the topic of food, I don't only love cheese. I LOVE dessert. Pie, oh and anything with caramel especially. Yum, dessert should be a meal. I could easily go into a restaurant and order only dessert. Well, maybe after having cheese-dipped cheese. Hmm... cheese AND dessert... can we say cheesecake? The genius of this food... bliss! Now drizzle caramel on it *Diana faints in ecstasy*

10. Book People. As in, people who read fiction. For fun. I don't have many in my life. When I find someone who'll read a book and gab about it with me, it's like choirs of angels singing. Then there are book people who write or publish fiction... who are a part of making books happen. I haven't been to a writer's conference in ages, but take the choir of angels thing and multiply it by a thousand, then add some sculpted, hard-bodied males and feed me caramel-drizzled cheesecake. Really! When you hear agents talk on a panel and best-selling authors who you admire speak at keynote addresses, and the people at your tables during dinners and luncheons are actual authors, editors, agents... well, the creative side of your mind may turn to mush too. Mine did :)

Now what?

I've come to the part where I'm supposed to nominate ten blogs that make me happy. This is reeeeeally not fair. Or easy. I rescind the easy comment I made earlier!!

Dilemmas:

• If I list ten blogs that make me happy, does that mean the other nine-hundred and ninety-nine blogs I follow will think they DON'T make me happy?
• Do I give this to everyone, then?
• But what if someone doesn't want it?
• Or what if someone doesn't have ten things in their life that makes them happy (how sad. Okay, that person definitely needs this award).
• But if I just say, "Take the award if you want it," to everybody (which I've done before), almost NOBODY takes the award (I think because everyone's so modestly sweet and humble), and if no one takes it, I don't get to read all their happy things.

I'm in a quagmire.

• (Diana wonders if anyone will find her blog by Googling quagmire.)
• (Diana also wonders if anyone will find it by Googling "cheese-dipped cheese").
• (Diana cringes as she wonders if anyone will find it by Googling "sculpted, hard-bodied males"). 
• (Diana Googles "sculpted, hard-bodied males." Google suggests a misspelling. The NERVE! Google's suggestion??)

Did you mean: sculpted, hard-bodied females

• NO!!!! I did NOT mean females! I meant males! Grrrr!!! That was just intolerable. I thought I was going to get something juicy. (Go ahead, reader. Google it and be just as disappointed. Unless you're a guy, then you may be fine with it.)

*drumming fingers on keyboard* The quagmire remains without a solution.

WAIT! I've got it!! Genius strikes! I'll use my Roulette Wheel of Blogs to choose ten blogs I follow that make me happy! My roulette-whatsit thing will choose them COMPLETELY AT RANDOM. There's no other fair way, because you all make me happy :)

Diana's COMPLETELY RANDOMLY SELECTED Blogs

That Make Her Happy

(Chosen by Her

Roulette Wheel of Blogs.)

1. Charity, at Thoughts...By Charity Joy Bell. Here's a blog that's all about poetry. Loving, motivating, thoughtful musings by a sincere heart. She was one of my first followers and she makes me happy :)

2. Tina, at Sweet Niblets. Oh man, if she plays this game, it will be her second happy things blog post too. (Play Tina!! Pretty please?). Her blog makes me happy, but life has hit her a little hard lately (a little?? Try a lot.) but I know she'll dig deep and find ten things that make her happy... or ten things that WILL make her happy once 2010 stops being so mean to her. *Hugs*

3. Bethany and Suzette, at Shooting Stars. (What? Is this roulette thing rigged?). Well, I already did a one-woman band post for them HERE, that's how happy they make me. Suzette and I have the same typo-hunt-and-destroy mania, and Bethany and I both have an old-flame manuscript we love and hold out secret-hopes for... and neither of them fault me for my "awesome" overuse issue.

4. Carolina, at Carol's Prints. Oh yay, a Twitter buddy! Actually, I think I first met her through the Kissing Blogfests. In any case, her blog makes me happy because she has asterisks throughout her posts that you read at the bottom; she says effing and WTF with reckless abandon; AND her blog is the shiznit, as her Followers know :)

5. Lynette, at Chatterbox Chit Chat. If you're a writer, this blog will make you happy. Her posts are very writerly (unlike mine, eek!) and her puzzle of the beach made me super happy!

6. Sara, at The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler. Another poet... err, well she did give it a try for Shannon's Poetry Day (I wasn't so brave! And everyone should be THANKING me for not attempting this one!)

7. Sherrinda, at A Writer Wannabe. Aw, who wouldn't be happy at her positive, kind spirited blog? Plus, she came up with the Kissing Blogfest, and that made EVERYONE happy!

8. Rhonda, at Snarktastic Ramblings. Cool, a new blog (to me), this roulette wheel rocks! I love this blog because I love snark; okay, my blog is fairly snarkless, but that's because we have to keep up appearances. I get to watch snarky hilarity at blogs like Snarktastic Ramblings, because where else can I ponder "why" I write to the tune of Nancy Kerrigan... AND classic Sesame Street? 

9. Shannon, at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe. Okay, Shannon's blog's sole purpose in the universe must be to spread happiness. I can practically hear her smile in every post (hearing a smile is an acquired skill, but Shannon makes it easy!)

10. Oops, my Roulette Wheel of Blogs landed on an agent blog, and even though this blog makes me happy, I think agents are busy enough without adding blog award fulfillment to their list of to-do's.  Spin again!

10. Karen, at I'm Always Write. Don't you love her blog title? So great. And she is funny and comes up with great posts, like magic eight ball wisdom, and American Idol for writers (but my mom says I can write!! EVERYONE says my stories rock!! *Diana storms off in a diva huff* *Diana sobs into the camera and vows to show them all*)

Hooray! Oh my gosh, this was a lot of work. But soooo worth it. Everyone who didn't get chosen by the Roulette Wheel of Blogs, you make me happy too :) And to make YOU happy, here's a picture of a sculpted, hard-bodied male. 

Giggity-giggity.