I Got U

BLOGFEST?!?

As most of you know if you've read this blog for very long I don't do blogfests. I don't do blog hops, contests, or awards either. This is not because I hate humanity. I promise. In fact I love you guys. You brought me back from the underwear soiled edge of despair at which I almost gave up writing.

Okay, that might be a little dramatic, but seriously, you guys rock!

The real reason I don't do these follower deluge inducing exercises is because I'm just not organized enough. Case in point: I was supposed to take part in Sheri Larsen's awesome I Got U blogfest ... wait for it ... yesterday. Yeah. I'm on top of it like that. Not to make excuses but I generally write my blog posts the morning of. Unless I have a guest. That would just be rude.

The idea is to give one of your fellow bloggers some love. I'm sort of like a hot ghetto mess of love for ALL my fellow bloggers so it's tough to pick just one, but I do try to build the community up whenever I can so this is a great topic for me. I have selected Candace Ganger to highlight today because ... well for many reasons, but mostly because we're kindred spirits and she rocks.

I could go on for quite some time about what is wonderful about Candace, but I'll try to keep this simple. On the surface the thing that endears me to Candace most is her sense of humor and her honesty. Candace is a lot like myself in that she is rude, crass, and jaded - er, wait ... I meant witty, hilarious, and ultimately ghetto fabulous. Candace has a unique, sort of twisted sense of humor that makes me laugh and cry while peeing my pants just a teeny bit nearly every single day. Hubs is kind of funny too.

Candace also has a wisdom and an outlook on the world that only comes from having lived a tough life full of pain. It wouldn't be my place to talk about this at all if she weren't so open and honest about the real her quite regularly on her blog. This is another thing we have in common, though Candace is better at expressing it.

If it were just these things about Candace she would already be pretty fresh (like a rapper fresh, not like produce) but there is more. We all know of her love of all things Matt Brady and New Medicine, but Candace is also one of the most giving bloggers I know. Not only was she the first to interview the little angel that is Lenny Lee, but she also held one of the most epic and selfless/giving contests I have ever had the privilege to bear witness to.

It's over but you should still go check out her Joy to the World contest just to get an idea of what a beautiful heart this lady has. Yes I did win a prize in the contest (it was a tandem critique from authors Tawna Fenske and Cynthia Reese, and it's been the best thing that happened to my book, ever), but that's not what makes it awesome. What makes it awesome is the cause. The cause and how much work, love, blood, sweat, and letting go of fear that Candace put into making it a success. She had t-shirts, custom graphics, music downloads, and so much more, all in an effort to improve the lives of our fellow human beings in Ghana, a country where a bucket for clean drinking water is a luxury of the wealthy.

Sweet, hilarious, kind and giving? AND organized enough to pull off something as epic as Joy to the World? Candace gets my vote for blogger of the universe any day.

That's all I have for now. I know I'm late to the party (sorry Sheri) but please take a moment to visit these other bloggers who participated in the I Got U blogfest:

Beth Fred

PK Hrezo

Tessa Conte

Summer Ross

WritersBlockNZ

The Alliterative Allomorph

Literary Jam & Toast

Leigh Moore

Lenny's World

Random Thoughts

Book Dreaming

Burnt Amber

My Dear Trash

Creepy Query Girl

Those links are to their front pages, so if they posted today you'll have to check the archives from yesterday for their post for the blogfest, but you can blame me and my seat of the pants blogging habits for screwing that up for everybody.

Announcement: If you look at my sub-sub title you will see that I have no guest set up for tomorrow's post. I have no idea what I'm going to write about. What I need from you people is help finding some more guests. Anyone who has ever submitted a query to an agent that earned them at least a partial request can take part. You just have to have a copy of that query you can share with me. Do any of you have one? Know someone who does? Know someone who might have one but you don't know for sure and want me to ask them?

Let me know. Thanks a million.