Imagine

The Empress of Planet Brenda has awarded me a very nice plaque! I am less than certain that I deserve "powerful words", but I admit to being shameless much of the time, and I do write something everyday (even if it is only a grocery list) so perhaps it fits.

"How does it work? Above are copies of the award that we can each distribute to those people who have blogs we love, can't live without, where we think the writing is good and powerful. I thought interested members could kick things off by publishing the award on their own blog, naming five people they would like to give it to (members or non-members), and accompany the image with three things they believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful. The recipients then do the same, passing it on to five other people, and so on."

Several that might have been on my list have already received the award, so I will choose carefully and hope that they will pass the award on to deserving writers.

Badaunt, who is originally from New Zealand and now teaches English in Japan, is one of my favorites. Many of her posts are photographs of ducks and other animals, with the most interesting and humorous captions and stories. Others tell of students who have hopelessly misunderstood the language or failed to take it seriously. Interspersed are tips for teachers and rants about administrators, done with clarity and compassion.

Mamacita, another teacher from my blogroll, is the teacher we all want for ourselves and for our children. When she writes about teaching, students and administrators, we see the depth of her passion. Intelligence, wit, compassion and guidance shine powerfully through all her posts. We are left wishing that we had quality teachers like her; we want to meet her, have pizza with her and trade cookie recipes at Christmas! And above all, we await her next post.

Pat of Past Imperfect, has written the most interesting stories about her life and times in England, her love story and her fascinating career as a model, illustrated by photos. I enjoy reading her "asides" as much as the continuing stories; written with humor and spirit.

Poopie, of Keeping the Faith, writes with a definite Tennessee-flavored voice, but the humor (there's that word again!) and gratitude and yes, faith, are central to the subject. She can get right to the heart of any matter as easily and quickly as anyone I've had the privilege to read. We're hoping that 2008 will bring her Prince Charming, and I have no doubt she will write just as eloquently about him as she does the pecan trees on her farm or her Baby Girl.

Shephard, of Shubert Alley combines all the best things there are to like about a blog. He writes well, he takes wonderful photos and he captions them with great wit. His essays on Medicine Monday (a past series) always provided food for thought.

That concludes my list, in the interest of brevity - never my strong suit. I could point out several more who wold be prefect for the list, but I'll save them for another time.

Three things that constitute good and powerful writing? First: Humor or wit, without which little interest is built. Second: Grammar, which means following the rules for acceptable language and syntax. For me this also precludes most curse words, for as my mother taught me, those are used by people who have no vocabulary. Third: intimate knowledge of your subject matter is of prime importance. It will be readily apparent if you don't know what you are writing about. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop some people.