washwords

So I’m a week late, but here I am, apolitical Washwords, blogging, as promised, about cupcakes.

(See, I can be sweet!)

I have a regularly scheduled appointment every Wednesday (it lasts 50 minutes) at a place near the fabbbulous newly opened Hello Cupcake. They sell… you guessed it: cupcakes! Yes, they’re pricey; yes, they are the kind of thing I might blog about as being the worst kind of emperor’s-new-clothes pretentious (ohh I HAVE to have that $3.00 cupcake! in the brown box tied up with string!)

But

I DO have to have it. Hello Cupcake’s cakes are pretty. They have pretty names (Peanut Butter Blossom, Peppermint Penny, De Lime and De Coconut); they have pretty colors (Easter egg pinks and greens and buttercreamy white and tan); and yes, they come in pretty brown boxes with pink stickers.

And

they’re delicious.

So… I’ve started a new tradition. Every Wednesday when I go to my Regularly Scheduled Appointment, I bring back cupcakes (sometimes 4, sometimes 6) to deserving fellow workerbee pals. Because let’s face it, someone could ALWAYS use a cupcake.

Response has been amazing. In the last few weeks I’ve given cupcakes to:

* Pals finishing hellatious, hellatious jobs that have Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the best way to become a better writer? Read, read, read, and then read some more. So it follows that to become a better Web writer, blogger, etc., you should read writing for the Web. And there is so much good out there, from folks who consider themselves writers and sometimes most wonderfully from those who don’t!

So I’m starting something new (enabled and encouraged by Zemanta’s new “reblog” service): I’ll be posting quotes and snippets from some of my favorite reads d’jour.

Starting… now. Some beautiful (if painful) writing I’m finding today comes from Wordwebbing.com:

with her journal on JS, and her “Wierd World” columns (she always knew how the deliberate misspelling of “weird” drove me crazy, heh) i know anytime i want to visit, i can. to me, that’s the true gift of blogging — and no one will ever know how grateful i am i have that of her, and that other people do, too.WordWebbing.com, Aug 2008

Read more of her.

Micro-essays Five through Ten of my 35/365 project.

What’s 35/365 or x365? See here.

5/365 Ben: Two years old. At bedtime, under your covers, after stories, after water and teethbrushing for you and your brother, you tell me, “but I still have words to say.” I remember this 20 years later.

6/365:”Yellow-Line Friend, 2005″ He won’t be coming to the airport, so I take the train through the winter morning, 2005. I can’t stop crying. You hand me a tissue and say it will get better. I believe you.

7/365: Mr. Marusa: In fifth grade, I wonder if I can become an author when I grow up. You say I have talent, and (NOT “but”) that the future is up to me. Thank you for the “and.”

8/365: Joserra: “Do you know of a band, the J. Giles Band? I think that this is most excellent American band, don’t you??” My Basque country hiking guide, you coached me well, guiding me in laughing again.

9/365 Roald Dahl: In Europe, when I was six, we devoured your books. “Danny, the Champion…” Dad read in our Dutch apartment, “James and the Giant Peach,” waiting for the ferry. They were funny and smart and home.

10/365: Matt: You say “You just don’t know how much I need you.”  But I do.
Your need is mine for your strong arms, laughing storytelling, and warm, pure heart enveloping mine. Thank you for finding me.

See here for the complete set as it evolves: http://washwords.com/words/35×365