Catching Up

If I don't Comment...
First of all, my work life is undergoing some major changes that were kind of a big surprise to us all. So for the next little while, I may not be around a lot as my schedule suddenly got really full. Not to worry, though, I worked hard this weekend to preschedule posts for you! :)

The Love Fest Continues..
Secondly, I was really thrilled to receive this very cute award from two wonderful bloggers.




The award says: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

For some reason that makes me laugh. But many thanks to Lynda and Wendi for thinking of me and wanting to be my friend!! :)

And, because my sincere hope is that everyone who reads my blog sees me as a friend, I am passing it on to all of you who read! Thank you so much!

I was also thrilled to be awarded the Premio Dardos from Seekerville. Just in case you don't know, that is one awesome blog for writers. The company they put me in honors me very much! Thank you Seekers! I love your blog!



Promoting Literacy
Also, regarding my Sunday Salon post about reading aloud...I think what I'll do is post once a month with what efforts I have made (on my own time) towards the promotion of literacy. I'll include a Mr. Linky and if you have also decided to make a more conscious effort to promote literacy you can share in comments or write a post on your blog and link up. I'll put this post up on the last day of each month. I hope that our wondeful enthusiasm will be so infectious that the entire blogosphere will join in. I can dream, right?

Special Recognition from Writer to Reader!!!

I am so honored to say that my blog has won special recognition from the blog Writer to Reader!

This is a really awesome blog that is sort of a collective place to find out what's going on in Christian publishing. Many thanks to whoever nominated me and voted for me...those were some pretty amazing author blogs I was up against! :)

Thanks Peg!

News! Awards! All the Good Stuff!!

First off, do you read lit blogs? (hint: if you're reading this, you read at least one!) Do they impact your book buying decisions? If so, please head over to the fabulous Literary License and take this survey to tell the world! :)

Secondly, I get a slew of press releases and information people want me to pass on to you in my inbox. I don't actually have the opportunity to post about them very often, but I thought that some of you might be interested in this one as I know quite a few of you enjoy Masterpiece! PBS Engage is featuring Masterpiece's award winning executive producer, Rebecca Eaton, as part of an ongoing series called 5 Good Questions. If you have questions for Ms. Eaton, please visit this post and leave a comment with your question! This is a new to me blog, but it looks pretty fantastic.

Next, the wonderful S.Krishna tagged me for this award. You have to earn the award by answering a bunch of questions, so here goes:

7 Things I Did Before:(the wording on this really confuses me...does it mean 7 Things I've done? 7 things I used to do?)
1) Taught English in Japan
2) Got abandoned at the Mongolian airport
3) Lost money in Las Vegas
4) Volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club
5) Stood in the longest line of my life to see Darlton at Comic Con
6) Dressed up as a maiko
7) Worked as a telemarkter

7 Things I Do Now:
1) Read
2) Blog
3) Watch some TV--I didn't really start watching TV until I lived in Japan...go figure.
4) Work with adults in improving their reading skills
5) Contemplate my future
6) Sponsor children through Compassion International
7) Go to church

7 Things I Want to Do:
1) Go back to Japan for a visit or maybe even for a longer period of time
2) Visit Australia and all of my wonderful friends there
3) Speak another language fluently
4) Write a book
5) Study more history
6) Make a positive contribution towards literacy
7) Surrender more fully to God's will

7 Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex:
1) Love for God
2) Intelligence
2) Depth
4) Humor
5) Compassion
6) Down to earth
7) Integrity

7 Favorite Foods
1) Potatoes
2) Suki Yaki
3) Yaki Niku
4) Teppanyaki
5) Lasagna
6) Shabu Shabu
7) Stuffing

7 Things I Say Most Often
1) Cool
2) For sure
3) Yeah
4) Have a wonderful day
5) Yay
6) What?
7) I agree.

Okay, seven is too high a number for these things!

And finally, the delightful Sheri of A Novel Menagerie gave me this award!

This award was created by Joanne of Book Zombie for the blogs you can't wait to see updated. Look, I have at least 20 blogs in my favorites folder, so in attempt to keep some mystery here, I'm only going to share 4 of them with you!

The Book Lady's Blog -- Rebecca is such a great writer! She always has something interesting to say as well.

S.Krishna's Books -- she loves chick lit, other good books, and LOST. Seriously cool girl!

Caribou's Mom -- I just love Wendy. I think she's wonderful and she has great taste in books.

She is Too Fond of Books -- Dawn's blog has such great warmth and she shares about so many different books. I think she's tops.

That's it!

Weekly Geeks 2009-1

Weekly Geeks, the fun little meme Dewey started is back! It is now hosted on its own site, Weekly Geeks. A lot of work has gone into preserving this event that Dewey started and I was so pleased to see so many participate. You can always join in!

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.


I've received some more bloggy love and so I'm going to take this opportunity to recognize that. I hope I remember them all.

Carey at the Tome Traveller gave me the Great Buddy Award! I was so thrilled! (Carey's got a great blog btw, I hope you're reading it!) I would like to pass this on to some people who have been good buddies to me...going above and beyond the call of bloggy friendship.

Monica of Monniblog is always ready with her mad crazy button design skills and great attitude. I think she's awesome and I appreciate her so much!

Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books helped me in a way I'll keep between us, but her thoughtfulness and generosity will not be forgotten. Thanks for being a great buddy, Dawn!

Jennifer of Literate Housewife brainstormed about BBAW with me a long time ago...on the phone. And she encouraged me throughout. Jennifer...you are a gem of a person and a wonderful blogger.

Tracy of Bookroom Reviews has given me so much encouragement. She also surprised me with a package once that made my day. I think she's fantastic.

Kathy of Bermudaonion has probably already received this 14,567 times but I think she's a true friend of the entire book blogging community. Her comments are always such an encouragement!



And from the very cool Elizabeth at As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves gave me the Lemonade Award and said some very nice things.

I'd like to pass this cheery award onto a few bloggers I may not have mentioned here before:

Sarah at A Library is a Hospital for the Mind Sarah writes a great blog. I always look forward to her updates.

Heather at Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books I always really look forward to Heather's updates.

Caite at A Lovely Shore Breeze
She doesn't actually update that often, but I always look forward to her sense of humor and lighthouse pictures!

I would also like to thank Andi and Sally for the Premios Dardo award! They are also both fantastic!

I'd like to take a moment to recognize some other than book blogs I read, that I really love.
Letters from Kamp Krusty is Brant Hansen's personal blog. He is such a fantastic writer...he makes me laugh, he ticks me off, but he always makes me think.

Rebelling Against Indifference is Stephen's blog (and has one of my favorite blog names). Stephen doesn't update nearly as much as me (ha! who does?) but his posts are always worthwhile and when he puts a quote up there, be prepared to read it two or three times.

Euphrony Rambles is Euphrony's blog...a mixture of music, social justice, science, and a daddy blog.

Rabbit Room is a collaborative blog that I always read and value because the bloggers value the things I do...God and art.

Daily Mish Mash is Jen's blog.....she's both wonderful and funny and also boy crazy.

The Secret Life of Kat is Kat's blog....a mix of music, social justice, mommyness, and tech.

Five Cent Stand is Seth's blog. He's funny. And smart. And he wrote a book that I will promote the heck out of when it gets published.

And Chaotic Hammer resurrected his blog as well....he always has good things to say. (my mom also read his blog..she asked me, what happend to that hammer guy? ha.)

There are a lot of other blogs I love. A lot. I'm glad to know you all, and hope we have another wonderful year of bloggy friendship.

More Blog Love--Thank You!

I have been so honored to be the lucky recipient of more blogging awards!


First, many thanks to Wendy of Caribou's Mom who gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Wendy is an important pillar of the book blogging community (in my opinion!) and I'm honored she thought of me. She said this: "Amy at My Friend Amy for her empathy. Amy just exudes empathy for others on her blog. I could have also awarded her for generosity of spirit. I love that she remains open to other people’s thoughts and differences and really tries to understand others." Since I already did the exercise for this award, I am just going to humbly say thank you!

Next, Vivian Zabel gave me the Premio Dardos or Darts Prize. I'm copying the information straight from Vivian's blog:
The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

Wow!!! I feel so honored. I am meant to pass this one to 15 bloggers so here goes:

Caribou's Mom
The Book Lady's Blog
Bookish Ruth
S.Krishna's Books
Savvy Verse and Wit (I love how Serena keeps a love of poetry alive)
Booking Mama
Literarily
She Is Too Fond of Books
A Novel Menagerie
Devourer of Books
Scobberlotch
The 3 R's blog (Florinda)
In Spring it is the Dawn
Literary Feline
Beth Kephart

All of these blogs I chose because they add something a little special and unique to my blog reading. Their passion for literacy and love of the written word is clear, they have integrity, infectious enthusiasm, great heart, they are courteous around the blogosphere, and I am always delighted to read their blogs. It's funny, I thought, wow I get to choose 15! But it's still not enough!!!! The bloggers above really embody the spirit of that award, though, I think.

Finally, Michele of A Reader's Respite gave me the following award which puzzles me just a little. It's for "the coolest blog I ever know" huh?

Anyway, Michele gave it to me "Because of Amy's dedication to helping the publishing world." Thanks Michele!

I'd like to pass this one to:
Trish of Hey Lady! Because Trish embodies cool.
Jen of Daily Mish Mash She's on a cruise right now, but you already know she's a must read for me.
Presenting Lenore. Who still seems so mysterious to me and has introduced me to all kinds of cool YA books.
Alea of Pop Culture Junkie Seriously one of the nicest people ever.

I hope I have managed to give a lot of my favorite bloggers an award, but I know I still missed some. I'm exhausted just from writing this post and the emotional agony of making decisions. I hope you enjoy your awards, even if it's the millionth time you received it.

Kreativ Blogger Award

So as usual, when I saw this award start floating around, I thought what a cute award! I hope someone thinks of me! (seriously, these blogging awards are like high school all over again!) And lucky me, Kathy of Bermuda Onion fame thought of me! Kathy amazes me! Whenever I go to leave a comment on a blog, she's been there first. Where would we be without her?

Anyway, these awards always seem to come with strings attached. Here they are: "I have to decide on six values that are important to me, six things I don’t support, and nominate six bloggers."

Okaaaayyy...

Six Values that are Important to Me
1) Integrity
2) Humility
3) Compassion
4) Community
5) Wisdom
6) Generosity

Six Things I Don't Support:
1) Arrogance
2) Apathy
3) Greed
4) Selfishness
5) Disrespect
6) Ingratitude

Six Bloggers to Pass This on To:

This is really hard for me, because I truly love you all. Each blogger brings something unique to the community and to this blog. Some of you might have already received this...for that I apologize!

Kindred Spirit: Julie of Booking Mama

Best Listener: Deborah of Books Movies Chinese Food and I have had the longest DM conversations on Twitter ever! (Plus she loves LOST....she's seriously cool)

Most Thoughtful: Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books is such a positive presence and I love reading all her posts including her Spotlight on Bookstores series and her promotion of First Book.

Most Generous with Time: Monica of Monniblog has made me so many buttons in addition to designing the Buy Books for the Holidays blog. She also manned that blog when I was away. And she's always so upbeat. I think she got this one before, but she's getting it again, because I can never say thank you enough!

Most Gentle of Spirit: Christy aka crittyjoy. She's never negative, willing to vulnerable, and we love a lot of the same books!

Most helpful: Ann of Booklorn. Seriously, she takes the time to let you know what is and isn't working on your sites. She built herebereviews and she maintains a blog that keeps you update on interesting tech tips. And other stuff.

And I think the rest of you are fabulous, too. I could go on and on. Maybe one day I will! :)

Bookworm Award and Yes I'm a Book Nerd

Lesa at Lesa's Book Critiques and Sheri at A Novel Menagerie gave me the Bookworm Award! I'm so happy, because I enjoy being a bookworm.

Here are the rules:

Along with the award, there are a few rules. Open the closest book to you—not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment—to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence as well as the next two to five sentences. Pass this on to five blogging friends.

Well, the book closest to me is the book I'm currently reading, The House on Tradd Street by Karen White.

"He took her hand in both of his, and I thought I saw her melt a little as he smiled down at her. "Jack Trenholm. And the pleasure is all mine."

Good grief. Karen White is a fantastic writer who spins gorgeous sentences I can only envy and that is what comes up? Please be sure to check out her books anyway. They are so lovely.

Anyway, I'm tagging some people who probably already did this, but I lost track...
Julie of Booking Mama
Jen at Devourer of Books
Dawn at She is Too Fond of Books
Jennifer of Literate Housewife
Elizabeth at As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves


Now, just to give you some extra evidence that I'm a total book nerd, I was at Target the other looking at the books (as I always do) and heard a woman muttering under her breath as she looked for the book about bees. Now maybe normal people would just go along, but not me. I feel duty bound to help people find books. So I suggested she might be looking for The Secret Life of Bees (she was). This is the power of book bloggers people....I know that happens to be a bestselling book, but we are influencers for books even out there in that thing called the real world! We are so well informed from keeping up with each other's blogs that we know about books. Anyway...

Second bit of evidence is that when I went to see a life changing movie (if you've read this blog for any length of time you might know what I'm talking about, but probably not) and a preview came on, I knew within one second what it was for...Angels and Demons, which I read a few years ago.

What's your recent book nerd evidence?