One Lovely Blog Award: a Paper-Pencil-Pen Nomination Part II

Here is my follow-up from Part I of my Lovely Blog Award nominations, with 4 more reading recommendations. (The requirements for "accepting" the award are to suggest 15 great blogs to read, but the research/writing up/linking takes longer than I have time for in one post--so look forward to Part III). Since the last list of 7 focused more on the paper aspects--crafty stationery, ephemera, photography and art with words--this post will hone in on the pencil & the pen.

Coronet Super 12 (Single Spaced blog)

 1. Single Spaced: "a chronicle of life as a clumsy crafter and work-at-home mom." This goal-driven MFA dropout (full-time work+momhood+debt+youth=smart choice) works as a technical writer and also has a blog on Hyphen, where she writes about issues affecting the Asian American community. Single Spaced includes 30 Lists, where blogger Theresa is counting down each Thursday toward her 30th birthday. She's smart & savvy.

2. I've watched Eva Holland, freelance writer/editor and expert in all things arctic, climb the travel writing ranks from blogging at  Rolf Potts' Vagablogging  and Vagabondish--where I published my first two travel essays--to being current senior editor of World Hum. Her posts are a great glimpse into what it really means to carve out a career as a travel writer. A sample: "My feature in the July/August issue of Up Here is called ‘I Found the Sweet Life’ and it’s about the week I spent living among the seasonal tourism workers of Skagway, AK. It features drinking games, creative use of tarps, and a 200 lb. St. Bernard named Bronco."

3. Around the Blog is Stephanie Elizondo Griest's take on her book, Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana. Editor of the anthology, Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 (I was published in 2009), she's also the author of Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, as well as 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. A recent MFA graduate, Griest was already offered a post as Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her blog offers "insight into the publishing industry (agents, book proposals, marketing and promotion), the travel writing world, artistic residencies, grants, scholarships, fellowships, MFA programs, etc." BONUS: I just discovered an interview with BWTW contributor Marisa Handler, my first MFA summer thesis adviser.

4.  Patrick Ross is "a writer chronicling his commitment to living an art-committed life" on his blog The Artist's Road: Creativity, Writing & an Art-committed Life. A professional writer for nearly 25 years, he is pursuing an MFA in Writing through the Vermont College of Fine Arts while also serving as a writing instructor. He drove around the USA, interviewing artists, "driven by a profound curiosity about what makes creative people tick" and his blog furthers that exploration. Although Patrick doesn't do "the name-other-blogs-and-things-about-you part," I'm nominating him anyway!

One Lovely Blog Award: A Paper-Pencil-Pen Nomination Part I

Last weekend I got the sweet news that Paper-Pencil-Pen was nominated by writer Tess Wixted at Suhurat (meaning: to flow with what we encounter) for a One Lovely Blog Award--a sort of spread-the-word online chain letter of love. Let me know if you know the origin (a brief Google search shows a Dec. 2011 reference). As a condition of acceptance, I am to thank the blogger,  nominate 15 other bloggers (with comments on each) to pass on the prestige, and then share 7 random things about myself. (I've decided to dismiss the latter--enough about me on these pages!) Thank you Tess for citing Paper-Pencil-Pen as "your necessary reading for writers looking to get their words out into the world"!

Here are my lovely blog award nominations for all things to do with paper, writing, books, imagery...

Yurika Chiba

1. I Make Things Out of Paper (... wood, stamps, fabric and repurposed materials of all kinds). Yurika Chiba, whose work I blogged about in The Sketchbook Tour, is a Japanese-Canadian visual artist, Taiko performer and friend whose "doodles" and musings amaze me. Looking at her blog is like sipping chocolate. Yum! Check out Toronto Subway Memories (at left).

2. Soul y Luna (formerly, Tchotkes): "little notes on the days that follow." Tegan Zimmerman Henry (no relation, but a friend) is an ultra-creative photographer-mommy-teacher--etsy seamstress. Her posts are always interesting and visually stunning snippets of a lovely country life.

3. Literacy Roots (by the same blogger as SoulyLuna): "a platform to reflect on ways in which children construct language and meaning to make sense of the world, and how these observations inform my teaching practices." A must-read for teachers and those interested in literacy.

borrowed from Red Letter Day Zine

4. I recently blogged about Jenny Hinchcliff's Red Letter Day Zine at my post on the recent SF Zine Fest! If you share our love of "postal-ish papery things," you'll want to check out her Perennial Postcard Project, stamp collections, ephemera and other found objects de papier! (Yes, I made that up.)

5. Jackie Flaherty's Letters & Journals offers ideas (turn book spines into bookmarks), contests, give-aways (ephemera, anyone?) and events (I'd never heard of the National Stationery Show!). This woman even has a "handmade carry-all" for her letter writing supplies (see below) made by her pen pal! I just stash my letters in an old trunk!

6. The Elevated Envelope: "an exploration of uncommon correspondence" showcases the talents of Tara Bliven, such as her Elevated Envelope Exchange--a project where creative strangers from all over the world send each other artistic snail mail. Love letterpress? Then her website Ephemera-Liberated Letterpress showcasing her stationery sets is a must-see!

 7. I've blogged before about Annie Yu, founder of the Snail Mail Social--a letter writing social in San Francisco with vintage typewriters, custom stationery and rubber stamps. It appears that her blog, Curbside Treasure, moved its URL and is no longer linked. Boo Hoo! Scrolling through her site is like screeching on the brakes curbside--you never know what treasures you might find.

I'll have to return for Part II of my nominations, since I can't help myself but write about each one!