Saturday, November 10, 2012

Day 8

Patient, patient people.

I forget now how I came to discover Sleepy Joe and her Life and Writings. She lives on the other side of the pond from me and works in one of the coolest fields, ever - library science. I have such respect and gratitude for librarians in general and it's somewhat akin to knowing a rock star to be associated with Sleepy Joe.

As if that weren't enough, she is a steady and constant presence on this blog with her constant encouragement and her unfailing loyalty to reading and commenting. She's an aspiring writer, herself, and leads a busy life with two little people and working full time and just generally being fabulous, yet she always finds the time to root for other writers and bloggers. That really means a lot. It takes some effort to reach out to other people and she does it anyway and is a cheerful presence here and on a lot of the blogs I read.

Over the last several weeks, she has gifted me with two different bits of blogging love. I have been woefully behind in catching up with all things blogging and they have slipped through the cracks. These little blog award thingies have been a delightful little surprise bonus to blogging. I'm not much one for memes, generally, but to have someone take the time to single out my ranting over here is touching to me and I really do appreciate it.

So, for you, Sleepy Joe, I am grateful. For my Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, because I am not a wonderful team member, actually. Writing is a generally solitary and lonely pursuit. I spend hours buried in things invisible to the naked eye. It is exhausting and exhilarating and it appears to waste a lot of time. In what other endeavor would you strive to eliminate at least 20% of the work you've done after you've done it? As a result, I get all down deep in my head and shut out the rest of the world. Writing is not a team sport. Blogging is, though. And I deeply appreciate my teammates. And for my Reader Appreciation Award.  It may seem from time to time that I do not appreciate my readers as much as I should. If appreciation is measured in mutual comments or responding promptly to Tweets and comments and Facebook notes, then I fail at this. If appreciation is measured in the thrill of seeing a familiar name on my stats and taking the time to really savor and consider the words that you've left behind, then there it is.

I encourage you to go check out Sleepy Joe's blog if you haven't already. She's really a shining light, the encouragement fairy, if you will. I am so grateful for her and all of the people like her who populate this world and make things just more pleasant. I am going to change the rules of all this up a bit. Instead of answering questions about myself, instead I'm going to ask you to leave your favorite thing about Sleepy Joe here in the comments. Let's fill her bucket at least half as much as she does for others.

12 comments:

  1. I love that she's, as you've dubbed her, the encouragement fairy. Always participating coming over to our party on Thursdays and even when she can't she passes by to leave kind words. I love that she's a librarian which gives her like.. .a gazillion cool points. She lives in le UK! Need I say more? She uses words like Mum, and lives in Lancashire. (I promise I'm not a creeper.) ... I could go on .... and on..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A gazillion cool points....please pass that idea onto the teenagers that come into the library. Apparently I'm just not cool because I dislike the Beiber sooooo much!!

      Delete
  2. :'-) I am so humbled by your words as I am on so many other occasions on so many other topics.

    I'm a fairy, yay a dream come true! I really don't know what else to say other than THANK YOU!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love to go to libraries. Can you eXplain your "coolest fields, ever - library science".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Library science is one of the coolest career fields, in my oh-so-humble opinion. Maybe not as cool as being a scientist, though. ;)

      Delete
  4. I love her enthusiasm for words and her enthusiasm for her fellow bloggers and writers. As you said, despite a busy life of her own, she makes time to leave the fairy dust of support and encouragement all around our little corner of the internet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think maybe I am just very addicted MM ;-)

      Delete
    2. Thanks. ;) Also I forgot to add that it is all thanks to you that I know the html for accent marks. I know I already thanked you for that, but thought I'd stick it in here as well.

      Delete
  5. I am inspired by the fact that she's a really good writer, but she either doesn't realize how good (yet?) or she remains humble and graceful despite the fact. Either way, she rocks. I love that somehow my blog posts don't seem "complete" anymore unless she's put her stamp of approval/thoughtful insights at the bottom in the comments. She fulfills a huge and important role for many in this little blogging community. She wears Doc Martins. Really, did I need to say more than that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :'-) I feel the same way about my posts and your comments on them. If I have posted something original and you guys haven't commented it just isn't 'complete'

      Oh and the writing thing, not sure I believe you, maybe one day I will. Thank you for your words and love of my Doc's (thinking of treating myself to another pair!)

      Delete
    2. Definitely the Doc Martins. Definitely.

      Delete

Thanks for reading and taking the time to say hello!