I’m a Confident Writer. Are You?
Howdy, Bubba! Hey, if you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate you dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!
Howdy y’all!
Hey, help me out with a little somethin’ today, won’t you?
The purpose of this here post is to send a big ol’ tip o’ the Middle Zone Stetson to a red-haired Scottish lass, my good blogging friend and one of my favorite people, Joanna Young, the proprietor and confident mind behind the website Confident Writing.
Why, you may ask? Well, why not?
Hey, she’s been under a lot of strain lately, the little darlin’. I mean, what with selling off her former home, living in temporary quarters for a few months, and now moving into a new one and all. Plus, she finally came to her senses and moved her blogs from Typepad to Wordpress (a task that would probably cause even the new, improved Terminator to sweat little silvery metal droplets).
Anyway, our mutual friend Brad Shorr instigated a little something for today called, appropriately enough, Project Confident Friendship. Co-conspirators Karen Swim, Daniel Smith (who built the image you see here), along with yours truly and a whole herd of fun-lovin’ folk secretly spread word across the blogosphere to give her a big ol’ shout out today (sound of millions of friendly shouts), just to let her know her friends are thinking of her.
So if you’re a reader of Confident Writing (and if you’re not, you should be!), a friend of Joanna’s – or maybe would like to be – why not drop by her place today and give her a big ol’ Texas “Howdy!”
The following is a personal note to the Lady herself from Yours Truly:
_____________________________
Dear Joanna:
I’m plum tickled to say how much I appreciate your contribution to the writing, and yes, the lives of those of us who know you. You’ve enriched us with your insights, your writing tips, and of course your unbounded confidence, even as you yourself struck out into unknown territory. We admire your sense of adventure and love of life, and encourage you to always reach for just one more star.
I think one of my favorite posts of yours was a fairly recent one, What I Learned From Watching Ferry Boats. The images you painted reminded me of one of my own favorite childhood memories, and even prompted a post of my own, (insert gratuitous link here) Limitations and Opportunities: What I Learned From a Ferry Ride.
That’s what I enjoy about your writing, Joanna; you help me recover memories I may never have remembered on my own (the little grey cells being what they are and everything). By watching you grow, you’ve inspired a confidence in my own writing I never knew was there.
Thank you, my friend!
______________________________
We tried to pass the word to as many bloggers as we could, but if you didn’t hear about it, and would like to write a post for Joanna, it’s NOT TOO LATE! Project Confident Friendship will stay open as long as anyone wants to join in!
OK, now that the mushy part of this post is over, let’s move on to something with far more earth-shattering consequences: How to Eat Pizza.
(In case you’re wondering, this is a direct result of an astonishing, and slightly disturbing observation I made when I first met Joanna in Chicago at SOBCon08. Hey, I’m just sayin’.)
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
29 responses so far
Middle Zone Musings is a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. I don't ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Have a seat, take a load off, and relax...
Robert, where in the world did you get that pizza picture? That moment with you and Joanna at SOBCon was a memory I’ll never forget! So far I’ve seen 4 PCF posts, and 4 different Joanna favorites mentioned. That’s good indication of consistent quality in Joanna’s writing, wouldn’t you say?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..Welcome Back, My Confident Friend
Robert, what a wonderful post! I love the pizza picture too – does Joanna eat her pizza from the wrong end? We’ve got a party, now if we could only locate our guest of honor!
Robert, I can see I am going to spend the day blushing furiously. What have you guys been up to?!
Thanks so much for organising this welcome back, and what a wonderful letter you’ve written. I’ll treasure it.
Your writing and stories inspire me too, and What I Learned From has encouraged me to share a lot more personal stuff than I would otherwise have done, and got to know some wonderful friends in the process.
Joanna
PS I’ll keep practising the pizza eating for next spring
@Brad – Yup; when I saw that, it was definitely a moment, all right. I almost felt the ground move under my feet, I’m tellin’ ya! (Made the pizza image out of clipart)
I’d have to agree with you on the posts – definitely of consistently good quality – like pizza!
@Karen – Oh, yes she does! Make sure you take her to task on that! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
@Yee-haw, Joanna; we’re glad you’re back and rarin’ to go! Hey, this is just a little somethin’ for a friend… from your friends. Just glad to know you.
Karen, I never knew it was ‘wrong’ until Chicago. I thought pizza was pizza no matter where you start.
I guess you live and you learn
Here’s the photographic evidence
http://tinyurl.com/0
Joanna Youngs last blog post..20 Things You Need To Do Before You’re Free To Blog
(Shakes head) Well, live and learn, Joanna; live and learn!
I happened to be there for the pizza 101 lesson – poor joanna – I was reminded of a time in kindergarden when the same conversation occurred, your not supposed to eat pizza that way silly … I agree with joanna, seriouly folks isn’t it still pizza no matter how it’s eaten??
No. No you’re not. Seriously.
You guys have a definite advantage if you’re taught this kind of stuff in kindergarten! Mind you, I’m so old I didn’t know pizza existed till I was a teenager. Maybe that explains a lot…
Joanna Youngs last blog post..20 Things You Need To Do Before You’re Free To Blog
I had no idea your childhood was so, er, deprived, Joanna! But hey, we’re here to help you climb up to the level of modern 21st century civilization, you know…
Robert,
Great post! It’s been fun participating in Project Confident Friendship! Joanna certainly deserves the warm “welcome back”–even if she does eat pizza from the wrong end!
Jeanne
[...] you to: Brad Shorr, Robert Hruzek, Karen Swim, Liz Strauss, Dawud Miracle, Drew McLellan, Ulla Hennig, Robyn McMaster, Jeanne [...]
[...] help welcome back Joanna Young today, I didn’t hestitate to say yes. Karen, along with Robert Hruzek, Brad Shorr and Daniel Smith conspired together to create a big welcome back for [...]
@Jeanne – Yeah, I don’t mind making an exception to the Pizza Rule for Joanna. Although if she ever expects to show her face at SOBCon09, she’s probably going to have to learn sometime…
You know what’s going to happen at the next SOBCon? We’re all going to dive into pizza on the wrong end… in honor of Joanna.
Karen Putz / DeafMoms last blog post..Welcome Back to the Blogosphere, Joanna Young!
Hey, not a bad idea, Karen! We’ll call it the Wrong Way Club, or something. I love it! Let’s get it organized. I nominate you.
Bob, thanks for “cooking” the wonderful wecome party for Joanna. Karen let me know about it so I could take part.
She certainly is an inspiring lass and we’ve all learned so very much from her.
We’ve developed a lovely community and it’s not the same when Joanna’s away.
Thanks again
Robyn
Robyn McMasters last blog post..Writing and Doing Like a Fire-Breathing Dragon
Robert,
I know the perfect cure for Joanna’s…er…unconventional pizza-eating technique: a visit to a pizza restaurant in New York City. Real New York-style pizza (not the kind they call New York-style in other parts of the country) is extra large and has a super-thin crust — so thin that New Yorkers often literally fold a slice in half to eat it. In fact, they almost have to. That’s the only way they could ever hope to eat it with just one hand. (Take it from a native New Yorker. Boy do I miss that pizza!) This is not the kind of pizza one can eat from the wrong end!
Just a thought!
Jeanne
@Robyn – Thanks, Robyn (although I didn’t do that much – Brad, Karen S. and David did all the work). I know Joanna appreciated all the surprise and joy she experienced. It’s always fun to “gang up” on folks with positive messages and friendship, isn’t it?
You know Jeanne, you may have something there. I’ve always liked super thin and crispy crust pizza. I’ve eaten it like you say before, and there’s something wonderful about that kind of “sandwich”. I wonder if there’s such a place in Chicago? If so, we should make reservations next time and take the whole gang!
Ahhh, but one important distinction between real New York-style pizza and thin-crust pizza made everywhere else is that New York-style thin crust isn’t crispy in the same way.
The imitators usually make their crust crispy by using a dough that bakes into a crisp, cracker-like shell with pizza toppings on it (at least, that’s the way it is in California).
The real thing is made from a wonderful, crisp-tender, yeasty, authentic Italian pizza dough, hand-tossed and baked to perfection, with just the right balance of crispness and pliability–hence, the widespread East Coast tradition of folding a slice in half while eating it.
That doesn’t work nearly as well with a brittle, cracker-like crust. It’s not impossible, but let’s just say it leaves a little something to be desired, as your stiff, board-like pizza slice cracks right down the middle instead of folding luxuriously around all that delectably dripping cheese. (I fear that real, New York-style pizza has forever spoiled me. There’s nothing like it!)
I will say, though, that I’ve seen fairly authentic New York-style pizza in California a time or two over the years — always created by transplanted Italian pizza chefs from the Big Apple. So, there’s always hope that Chicago, too, might contain such an establishment — or maybe even Houston…or Dallas…or wherever it is you hang your cowboy hat — just in case you can’t wait until your next trip to Chicago!
Guess you might have to get Brad to do a little detective work before SOBCon09, though, so you’ll have plenty of time to phone in those reservations!
Good luck!
I must say that I am a confident writer now. I am a novice before but that didn’t stop me to pursue my dream to become a professional writer. Same with you Joana, I love exploring things and put them into writings.
@Jeanne – Oh stop it! You’re makin’ me so hungry I’m about to short out the keyboard with my drooling! Sounds like we’re going to have to find a place like this for sure next year!
@Term Paper – Do you go by “Term” for short?
Funny – I tried to visit your site but our corporate firewall says it’s blocked due to “Criminal Activity”. Ah well.
Glad you didn’t let your inexperience keep you from realizing your dream. Hey, we all gotta start somewhere, ya know?
OK.
[...] Strauss Robert Hruzek Karen Swim Ulla Hennig Rick Mahn Drew McLellan Amy Palko Dawud Miracle Lillie Ammann Barbara [...]
[...] Manhunt.com Chairman Steps Down After McCain Contribution Saved by jacthebear on Mon 08-12-2008 I’m a Confident Writer. Are You? Saved by herrL on Sat 06-12-2008 Our Contribution Saved by kidamazone on Thu 04-12-2008 Listen [...]