My friend, yes really, my friend was awarded a Newbery Honor yesterday for her book Rules. She was also awarded Schneider Family Book Award.

In case you were wondering, “The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

Now I must admit, I was not surprised at all. Thrilled, YES! Surprised, no. You may remember me telling you all about it back before it was even published. And again a month later when I had read the ARC’s (advanced reader copies) she had sent me.

If you’d like to check out her blog, you can go here. She tells all about hearing the news. And, you’ll be able to tell how fabulous she really is when you read her daily musings. She is not only a phenomenal writer but a cheerleader for other writers, a fabulous critiquer – insightful and kind. She is just a wonderful, kindhearted woman in every respect that you would all love to have as a friend.

So, go, buy the book and enjoy!

I’m resurecting the Favorite Photo of the Week. Ya know, since I’ve posted photos and all.

Feel free to vote but – no pressure. (TOTAL pressure)

1. Go here.
2. Pick your favorite photo.
3. Leave your pick in the comments of this post.

I’ll let you know the winner next week. (if you all vote)

Oprah makes me hate her now and then.

I know, how can I hate Oprah? And maybe hate is too strong a word. Maybe she annoys me or causes me to want to punch her but not exactly hate.

Why? Why, you ask.

Because she says things like, “I don’t believe in luck.”

She doesn’t think she’s lucky. She thinks she worked her butt off and that is what made her the richest woman on the planet. But every day millions of people work their butt off and the majority of them don’t earn 1/nth of what she does.

People make us believe that if we find what we love (which, hello?, not that easy for some of us) and we work really hard at it and don’t give up? We will succeed.

I say, there are many, many people who work hard at what they love and never succeed. And I don’t mean succeed to be making billions of dollars. I mean succeed in the sense of making a living that you can actually live on. I don’t mean being on television or in the media. I mean making ends meet. Sure you can do what you love and have a regular job. And if you can manage that and make ends meet, great.

But I’m sure she was not the only hard-working woman applying for the jobs she applied for throughout her life. She was beating someone out. And each time she got the job, someone else didn’t. And really? There is room for only one Oprah out there. Isn’t there? Honestly?

Oprah mentioned recently that Bill Gates thinks he’s lucky. He thinks he worked hard and managed (luck) to get the breaks he needed to make it big. I agree. (Oprah does not. She said so.)

I also tend to think that some writers get lucky. There are fabulous books out there that deserved to get published. Fabulous books out there that are published but deserve more recognition. And yet, they’re not. I’ve read amazing manuscripts that for one reason or another didn’t get published. Reasons like there was a cat in the story and the editor’s cat had just died so she didn’t have the heart to work on a book with a cat in it. (True story) You may ask why then if it’s so great didn’t another publisher publish it. Well, there are also countless stories of fabulous, award winning books that were submitted to 8 billion (ok, I’ll admit, a bit of an exaggeration here) editors before someone would buy the manuscript. Shall I mention Harry Potter and all the editors that turned that down? Maybe they liked it but didn’t think it would sell. Maybe they were in a bad mood so everything they read that day sounded like crap. Maybe it wasn’t their cup of tea. Maybe their cat had died. There are 8 billion (no exaggeration here) reasons why they didn’t want to buy it.

When I say someone is lucky I don’t mean they don’t deserve what they get, because they usually do. Oprah totally deserves what she has. So does Bill Gates. So do most writers out there. (Come on, you’re telling me you never read a book that had no business being published?) Luck does not mean you didn’t work hard and deserve what you reaped. It means the opportunity presented itself for all your hard work to be recognized.

And as an artist, whether you are a writer or painter or photographer, etc, sharing your work with the world is an opportunity not all of us are granted. Creating is the passion but sharing is just as important. Maybe not for everyone. Maybe some people are happy just producing their work. Maybe it’s just me.

Would you be happy writing something that no one would read? Would you be happy putting your photos in a shoebox for your eyes only? Are family and friends enough of an audience? Or do you need someone else to appreciate your work? Maybe we don’t NEED someone to appreciate it, but does it make it seem sweeter when someone does?

What is this need for approval? And am I the only one who has it?

In a classic blogger move I had a great post in my head that evaporated when confronted with the white page of doom. (Also known as a blank posting page.)

I keep getting up and trying to retrieve it. Work a bit and get it going again but alas it seems to have vanished.

In my typical fashion I shall bore you with a bit of stream of conscious and see what happens.

• Mother Nature is mocking me.Really. The ice has lasted THREE days so far on the trees. THREE DAYS. It never lasts that long. Especially while sunny. I’ve gone back to carrying my camera everywhere and yet, it’s sunny while driving and the second I pull the car over the clouds roll over the sun. I’m afraid to try to get the shots I want now and have decided I don’t deserve the new camera because if I did I would do something bold like skip work to photograph the amazing sights around me.Seriously, when the sun hits the trees just right it looks like they’re made of glass. An entire world of glass. If I saw it in a movie or a painting I would never believe it. Looks like Mother Nature has taken to the world of cgi. It may be one of the most beautiful things ever and yet when I try to capture it – I can’t.
• I need to update my blog template but just the time it took to fix my archives caused outrage in the MoMMY household. So, unless I plan on forgoing sleep for a few days, it’s not going to happen. And since we all know I’m not one to forgo sleep… well, not happening.
• I also need to decide what I’m doing about my photography “business”. I use business loosely. Very loosely. I’m thinking of shutting down the cafePress shop and even though I’ve talked about shutting down my website, I’m just not ready to do that yet. I’m not sure why, I guess because I hang on like a dog with a frickin‘ bone. Good lord, let it go already MoMMY.
• Speaking of letting go, still can’t quite let go of the whole writing thing. The stuff I was writing and submitting a while back is languishing in a file box and on my computer and I can’t seem to do anything with it. I’m obviously not a writer. I can’t even manage to write on my blog anymore and yet I can’t quite put that dream away. I will repeat, Good lord, let it go already MoMMY.
• Maybe this should be the year for letting go.

Ah ha!

I fixed them. I rock!

(And I’m a total moron. But you know, fixed.)