Dawn Hosking, a woman who hasn’t let fibromyalgia (ouch!) stop her … or even more than slightly slow … her hurtling passage through cyber-space, has honored me with a brand new award created by the lovely Jenny at My Fibrotastic LIfe.  

How can I not admire Dawn’s site? It looks a bit like mine, after all. It is one of the few blogs I can visit that has sufficient white space. I can read it and stay awhile without getting a headache. Too many of us clutter our sites with every widget and badge until there’s no place to rest your eyes. Fine if that’s what you want, but I appreciate white space. Probably that’s a remnant of my life in the world of books. But I digress.

She deals with her physical issues without whining. That’s not easy. Sometimes, I feel extremely whiney. Snivelly and whiny and miserable and scared and all I want is to go online and beg people to send love and cash (or checks or money orders). Usually I resort to humor to keep from humiliating myself, but she does it with just enough humor to keep from being — what’s that word? Oh, I got it. — dull. That’s what she isn’t, just in case you got lost in my Byzantine sentence structure. She keeps us reading and wanting more. To really spice it up, she includes information that is accurate, useful and can be passed on the medical professionals who rule our lives.

And speaking of writing, Dawn can. Write, I mean. She can tell a story. Whether it’s about herself, or something imagined, or just talking about “stuff” going on in the world, on WordPress, or whatever. She expresses herself simply, cleanly, without excessive embellishment or convolutions. Like the white space on her page, it’s refreshing and easy on the brain cells.

About THE IMAGINE AWARD: 

“The Imagine Award” is an award created by Jenn Mulherin (who is the writer of the blog “My Fibrotastic Life!”) in October of 2013. This award was made in order to recognize the bloggers who express their passion and dedication towards their blogs through their creativity.”

How is creativity found in a blog?

There are many ways by which bloggers can express their creativity. Creativity can be displayed through:

1. Words — fiction writing, real-life experiences, memories, humor, poetry, quotes, metaphors, tackling issues, parody, reviews and so much more. What can’t you do with words? The sky’s the limit and these days, not even the sky is a limit.
2. Graphics including photography, comics, computer-drawn graphics, cartoons, paintings, illustrations and more.
3. Video. Personally, linking a YouTube video is about as far as I’ve gotten with this one, so I greatly admire those who have found far more creative ways to use this medium.
4. Layout of the post itself and the blog page. We are all constrained to some degree by whatever template we choose, but within those constraints it is remarkable how many artistic choices remain to us.
5. I’d like to add community to this list. It takes a unique type of creativity to draw others in to form a community. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Some people create networks that stretch around the globe while the rest of us remain essentially on our own … wondering how those amazing others form solid durable relationships with people they’ve never met in person.

Why is creativity so important?

Creativity is one quality in a blog that not only draws readers, but shows how much a blogger cares about his or her (or their) blog. Taking care of a blog is like taking care of a plant. To keep it healthy and growing, you feed the blog with your ideas and give it a lot of love. And time. (I dream about mine!)

Here’s what you need to do to accept the Imagine Award:

In a post dedicated to this award:

1. Copy and paste The Imagine Award into your post.
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link their blog page to your post.
3. List 3-5 things about the nominator’s blog that you like (which you think are very creative).
4. Nominate 5 other bloggers/blogs which you think display a fantastic use of creativity and imagination.
5. Notify your nominees.
6. Display The Imagine Award to your blog’s award page.

Should you prefer to decline The Imagine Award, that’s okay, but please — pass the award to a blog you find really creative. If it inspires you, even better.

Now, back to that envelope. Since Dawn has already given this to a couple of people who’d be on my list … well … you beat me to it. Great minds think alike and if this isn’t proof, I don’t know what is. I’m giving this to people who actually inspire me. I refuse to be responsible for what they do about it after I give it to them. I give the awards. You will have to deal with them 🙂 Just play nice and say thank you Marilyn (all together now: THANK YOU MARILYN!)

LASERS, MONSTERS AND BARBARIANS OH MY! is a totally bizarre blog that makes me laugh. Half the time I haven’t any idea what he is talking about. Creative language skills and effective integration of graphics media — including video — has made this one a keeper, even though I wind up scratching my head and saying “huh?”

ALIENORAJT – Creative, sensual and blunt writing from Ali’s pen… And so it is! What she doesn’t mention is she is funny, sensitive, kind, bawdy, bizarre and a master (mistress?) of words. They fall from her virtual pen like a tidal wave of wit and unique imagery. Sometimes, imagery so intense I can’t escape it for hours … or at all. Ever. Like a haunting (annoying?) little song, it just goes round and round. Whatever else, call this woman creative. Fantastically, magically creative. In every way. Her response is here..

CHRONICLES OF AN ANGLO SWISS is one of the most eclectic and amusing sites I know. She writes (very well) about anything and everything, from family life to cooking and politics. Her humor is wry and ironic. She employs subtle wit and honesty as a rapier. I never miss one of her posts and reading her stories and anecdotes gets me thinking about what I am going to write. Great work!

I’M JUST SUPER SAIYAN is pretty new, but she’s a pistol of creativity. It’s worth a visit just for the hand-drawn cartoons. And she’s funny, witty, and so far … prodigiously productive. Being a grandmother, it’s fun for me to plug into a younger world and see what they’re doing, saying. The new words used in an old way, the old words used in a new way. For graphic creativity and humor, this young woman absolutely deserves The Imagine Award.

DRALIMAN ON LIFE – Because sometimes life just makes you stop and think. Not only does he make me stop and think, he makes me stop and laugh, makes me admire his very cute cartoons. Are they cartoons or doodles? Droodles? Whatever. I didn’t know physicists had a sense of humor. Go figure, right? He’s also … gasp … a shockingly talented writer, both of fiction and oddball posts about anything and everything. I worked as a tech writer for a very long time … and to find someone who’s a scientist or engineer who’s funny and can write too? Wow. I mean, that’s like discovering a new species of something cute and furry, or a star cluster or well something anyhow. Check him out. You will like him, I absolutely guarantee it. Or your money back. Has anyone ever gotten their money back? Just asking.

Related articles

• The Imagine Award (alienorajt.wordpress.com)
• Imagine that (dawnyhosking.wordpress.com)
• Unique Leaves (doilooksick.wordpress.com)
• The Craftsy Blogger Awards (goodbyevalentino.com)
• Sunshine Award (ambitioninthecity.com)
• The Versatile Blogger Award ….. (hrexach.wordpress.com)

Categories: Blogging, Friendship

Tags: Blogging, blogging awards, creativity, Imagine Award