Stuff Over on the Right Side

I've added a few badges to the right-side navigation. The High Calling Blogs badge (top right, above my photo and profile) has been there for some time. I've been following the posts there for some time, and then they posted one of my poems, and then their parent organization published one of my articles, and then they picked up a couple of my own posts from this blog, and now I'm an officially designated writer for them, and, well, you get the picture. It's a cool site, and a great group of writers and editors to be connected to (yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition) (except now I didn't).

If you scroll down a ways, down below "Search This Blog," you'll find I've added five badges:

• Seedlings in Stone, the blog site for L.L. Barkat, author of Stone Crossings and the soon-to-be-published collection of poems called InsideOut. I first "met" L.L. when I read Stone Crossings as I lay in a hospital bed with some broken ribs and partially collapsed lung back in July. Four months later, we're partners in crime with Eric Swalberg in publishing TweetSpeak Poetry, an online journal for Twitter poems (and other things).
• Holy Experience, the blog site for Ann Voskamp, a site I visit every day for the thoughts, the words, the photos and the music. Ann's blog is a chronicle of life on a family farm in Canada, and it's one of the most beautiful places I've found on the web/internet/blogosphere/Twitterdom.
• Billy Coffey, the web site (and link to his blog) for the writer of the same name. He writes one of the best blogs out there, because he's one of the best writers out there. And his novel Snow Day is set to be published in the fall of 2010.
• Hey look, a chicken!, the blog site for Kathy Richards, aka @katdish. Kathy's was one of the most original thinkers I've run across, and she'll take you for wild rides and end up in thoughtful, profound places. (She's also famous for her exuberant rants, and they are a marvel to behold.)
• Soccer for St. Louis. This is a group attempting to promote St. Louis for the World Cup games. No, I am not a major soccer fan; my youngest son is the soccer fan. You do strange things for your children sometimes.

I've added these badges (well, except for the soccer one) as a thank you in this season of thanksgiving to five writers and one organization who've brought some joy, and fine writing, to my life. I'll be adding a few more soon. (And if Shrinking The Camel had a badge, I'd add his, too.)

Update: Just added the badge for L.L.Barkat's InsideOut, her collection of poems to be published soon. Click through to the book's home page.