FRIDAY SIXPACK

LITERARY ARTISTS

I love to read.  I read every chance I get, and everything I get my hands on.  I read cereal boxes at the breakfast table.  I read shampoo labels in the shower.  I read emails and IM's.  I read greeting cards and junk mail.  And I read journals!

I tend to be drawn to journals that are light hearted and humorous. It enforces the delusion that I just might be normal after all.  But there is a hunger within me that craves something deeper, something richer.  For intellectual fulfillment I always go back to the same places:

Inside the Gilded Cage:  I have been a loyal Globetrotter reader for almost 2 years now, back when she had an AOL journal.  She doesn't beat around the bush with prose, you know exactly what she is writing about and how she feels about the issue.  Sometimes she gets very heated and passionate, sometimes, as in today's entry, she's down right silly.  What ever her mood, I always leave her page satisfied. 

In The Shadow Of The Iris:  Rebecca is poetry without rhyme.  I love reading her entries.  They are always so involving, her words draw you in to her life and emotions.  She is the girl next door, and everyone loves her warmth and wholesome wisdom, myself included.

Involuntary Motion:  I have mentioned this journal before, and shall probably do so again.  This is the modern day John Boy Walton.  His writing and accompanying photographs transport the reader to warm summer days in the woods, to cold winter nights in a cabin, to life without modern conveniences that leaves time to concentrate on the nature beauty that surrounds us.  If I were to use one word to describe his words I would have to settle for 'timeless'.  Its hard to explain but I think most will understand after the first visit.

The Stupidsheet Guy:  I love reading this journal.  I wouldn't say it was a literary masterpiece.  What I will say is that it is real. I can imagine Jimmy talking exactly as he writes.  He also has a serious side and amazingly enough, the two extremes do not clash but rather they complement each other.

The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind:  This journal was also just recently mentioned as a favorite new find.  When I first discovered it, I was thinking of it as being more of a political type of journal, and I liked it as such.  Now I realize that its more of a 'life according to me' type of blog and I like it even more.  There's no mistaking the talent here, the guy can write.  He recently wrote about being uninspired and unable to find the words for his thoughts, and that piece itself was brilliant!

Poetic Justice:  This is my newest discovery, but one need only to read one entry to know that Ann Marie is no amateur.  In her profile she describes herself as a creative writer.  I think creative artist is more accurate.  She's fresh and vibrant, and always a pleasure to read.

Many people don't realize that the ability to group words together and create a specific thought is more than just grammar.  We all have the basic skills for communication, but these writers are truly artists.  The blog is their canvas and their words the pigments that create an image in our mind which is so vivid at times that one might actually feel the emotion, and for a brief moment be transported to another place and time by something as simple as words.

Enjoy~