Author friend Laura Kaye invited me to participate in a 30 Days of Kay(e)s Blogfest. Being a Kaye, how could I resist? You can find me over there today, doing an interview.
The 30 Days of Kay(e)s has inspired me to do a week of Blogger Love.
I like to celebrate NICENESS. This has been true for some time, and the extremely high Niceness Coefficient (Trademark Pending) of Nathan Bransford’s blog sucked me in from the beginning, which is why I recently joined the Cult of Bransford (feel free to steal the corndog!). The recent self-immolation of an author (who I shall not discuss) reminds me that the quest for niceness is never-ending, but also that it’s a group phenomenon, something that needs to be positively reinforced.
I passed along blog awards to some well-loved bloggers a few weeks ago, but I want to recognize some more bloggers high in Niceness Coefficient with a week of intentional praise.
Go ahead, blush. I apologize if you feel crushed by the overwhelming expectation of goodness. It comes with the territory.
Lenny Lee (Lenny’s World): If there was a Jr. Bransford Niceness Competition, Lenny would win it hands down. This indomitable young man writes, blogs, and comments his way into your heart with the charm that only an 11 year old can possess. And he has great writing tips! If you haven’t had a little of his sunshine in your life, you are missing out.
Margo Berendsen (Writing at High Altitude): Margo’s blog is a combination of writer tips, community gathering place, and soulful sharing. What draws me in is her openness and honesty and her pure enjoyment in sharing the journey and success of other writers. I feel cozy when I visit her blog, like we’ve curled up on a worn leather couch with mugs of tea to chat. How does she do this over the internet with dozens of commenters? The magic of Niceness.
Matthew McNish (The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment): Matthew’s blog regularly provides a place for people to post their queries for critique, as well as share successful queries, which is niceness all by itself (especially in the awesomely constructive way he goes about it). But the thing I like most about Matthew is his honesty in sharing his struggles while at the same time providing consistently self-deferential and positive feedback through commenting. A person who is humble and finds the goodness in others? Niceness with a side of awesome. (p.s. He’s also in The Cult.)
I’ll be back on Wednesday to share more nice blogger-friends. Feel free to share bloggers you think have a high Niceness Coefficient in the comments!
ohman! i love lenny and matt SO MUCH!!! they are truly special people! i've seen margo around, but i never clicked that follow button for some reason (fear of being flattened by my enormous blogroll i think!). but based on this recommendation- consider her clicked!
love the niceness coefficient concept!
nb just shows us- sometimes the nice guy CAN finish first! 🙂
Aww, thanks Susan! You're so kind. I'll go check out the interview …
Oh hey, I read your interview on Laura Kaye's blog. Was fun learning new things. What a great concept for a blogfest.
Thanks for the links.
@aspiring I'm all about the nice guys finishing first!! 🙂
@Matthew You more than deserve it. 🙂
@Nathasha Thanks! Laura Kaye is so creative and I was amazed how many Kay(e)s were out there!
I love Nathan's blog. He's very accessible and really humanizes the whole "agents are gods" feeling aspiring authors seem to have! I'm always looking for new author blogs to read, so thanks for passing these along!
Niceness with a side of awesome — yeah, that pretty much sums up Mr. MacNish or Rush or whatever his name is these days. 🙂
Hooray for niceness! I'd like to add Nicki Elson to the list at http://nickielson.blogspot.com/ as well as Julie Musil at http://juliemusil.blogspot.com/
Two very nice bloggers! (And the host of this blog is pretty sweet too). 😉
@Stephanie You are most welcome! I've been following Nathan for a long time and he has never failed to be that genuinely nice guy that he seems to be.
@LG I know! He threw me with the name, too, but I just love MacNish.
@Jennifer Thanks, sweets! And Nicki and Julie definitely have the nicetude! 🙂
Those are excellent choices, Susan – I couldn't agree more!!! 🙂
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse and Jennie Englund are high on the niceness scale!
@Shannon I agree about Angela, but Jennie was a new NICENESS FIND for me! I'll be hopping over – thanks for letting us know!
AWWW Susan this is such a neat complement because actually my FAVORITIST THing in the world is to share a cup of tea with a friend. Here's to virtual cozy tea parties! Would you like Earl Gray or English Breakfast tea? one lump of sugar or two?
I lurk on Matt's blog because he's so amazingly knowledgeable he's more like an agent/editor/famous author to me and I'm a litte shy! But I will comment more often having been reassured of the niceness quotient! I will also check out the 30 days of Kaye (really, 30 Kayes? wow) and Lenny Lee!
@Margo I'll take my Earl Gray straight, thank you very much. 🙂 I've decided my High Niceness Coefficient Bloggers must have their own Blog Roll (I know, I'm late to the Blog Roll party. But there you go.).
I love this idea. I'm going to check out these blogs right now. Thanks for sharing the niceness.
I love that you did a post focusing on GOOD in bloggers. When that whole thing exploded over that author-who-shall-not-be-named, I felt discouraged that someone behaving badly was getting more attention than all those out there who behave goodly. So thanks for doing this—and for reminding me that I ought to go visit Lenny & Matt…and meet Margo. 🙂
Gonna have to go thank Jennifer Lane, such a NICE girl, for giving me that shout out.
What a great idea! I think the open generosity and kindness of Writers & Bloggers is what has kept me going when I hit potholes on the writing path. You've picked some absolute winners in my book.
Shannon, you are THE SWEETEST. I am a total Shannon fan. You give so much support to others, and I hope you know how much we all appreciate you!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
@Kelly Absolutely my pleasure!
@Nicki I know, right? And Jennifer's definitely a sweet one…! 🙂
@Angela Count me as a Shannon fan, too! Thanks for stopping by, and for all your awesome over on The Bookshelf Muse. 🙂
What a nice way to support the bloggers. I admire them for all the reading, all the thinking, all the writing and posting they do.
I like the corn dog one for Nathan. That is really neat. Supporting others is such a wonderful thing. Everyone is so positive of each other and it makes you more inspired.
@C.Lee I definitely come back for all the cool stuff bloggers talk about, but the niceness makes it all worthwhile! 🙂
@Regina I heart the writing community.
Well, I think you deserve the award too, Susan. You rock! 🙂
hi miss susan! woweee! thanks for picking me for one of your niceness bloggers. i love making people happy. theres so much nice bloggers i couldnt ever count them all and for sure youre one of them!im sooooo lucky for so much nice friends.
…hugs from lenny
@PK Awww! Thanks. 🙂
@Lenny You are right – I'm going to have a terrible time limiting the NICE people I highlight this week. But that's not going to stop me from trying. 🙂
Great choices!! There are SO many that I find it hard to choose who to link in situations like this!
@Lisa Which is why I'm doing more on Wednesday! 🙂
What a wonderful thing to do, Sue! I love positive posts. 🙂 I adore Lenny and Matthew. I don't know Margo as well as I know them, but she seems super too.
Have a wonderful week!
@Sharon You are such an awesome support to Lenny – I think there should be an "assist to niceness" award. 🙂
Thanks so much for supporting niceness. There isn't enough of this in general these days!
Hi! New here! *waves profusely*
What a fun place to be — I'll most definitely come back!!!
@Becca I agree! Doing what I can.
@Jennie Hi! Thanks for stopping by!! 🙂