I have not been shy about the fact that my spoken and written French are sorely lacking despite my excellent high school grades in the subject, so I was thrilled when Lynne Faubert stepped forward to offer her English-French translation services for our static pages. Thanks again, Lynne!

One thing I put off for a bit, though, was creating Canadian Weblog Awards buttons in French, because it takes a good chunk of time to recreate 38 buttons and work up 38 strings of code that you can copy and paste to your weblogs. Jean-Robert of Mesure et demesure gave me the nudge I needed to get moving the other day when he asked me if I had website buttons in French for him to use, and I got to work right away. Now Jean-Robert and everyone else, English or French, can show off their nomination into the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards!

  

So, if you've been waiting for French language buttons to make an appearance, or if you've yet to add buttons announcing your nomination, grab a 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards button. Simply copy and paste the code that follows the button you want and paste it into your template or into an individual weblog entry.

Enjoy!

Labels: CWA business

Tornwordo authors Sticky Crows, which has been nominated in the LGBTQ category of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Why blogging?

Like many bloggers, it started out as a way of keeping family and friends up to date. Since I come from California, I got tired of repeating myself and paying so much in long distance, so blogging seemed a logical money saving idea. Little did I know that I'd be bitten hard by the blogging bug. I can remember at the beginning rushing home from work to see if there were any comments. Such a thrill. I still get a kick out of comments, but I don't rush home anymore to see them. For the first few years I blogged every day, but now it's a few times per week.

Where does your blog fit into your creative portfolio? Is blogging your primary outlet, or do you publish/create elsewhere?

I'd like to think I create elsewhere. I play the piano and write music, and I invent games and activities for the classroom, but I don't publish anywhere else. Unless you count the comments I leave on other people's blogs.

This is your fifth year blogging at Sticky Crows. How has your blogging style/content/attitude changed since you first started?

I think I tried harder at the beginning. Not only did I post every day, but I went in for Half Nekkid Thursday and posted lots of videos of me and the city. I have sung and danced (shudder) on the blog and built up a library of videos on Youtube. I think it's thanks to doing those things that I continue to blog. It's like a living scrapbook of sorts and although the march of time seems slow, one click to a post from five years ago can really highlight how much changes. I'm none too happy about aging, but what are you gonna do? The blog these days is much more of a laid back journal. I don't try too hard now, but I've kept a certain approach since the beginning. Write like you are sitting down with an old friend over coffee, eager to share the news. I think that's what has helped me build a following (albeit small) as people "feel" that through the writing.

You weren't born in Canada. How did you come to being a Canadian from your American roots?

Ah yes, the perennial question. I did a series on that question called "The Road to Montreal", because everyone wants to know the same thing.

In a nutshell, gay bi-national couples (spouse is Canadian) cannot live legally together in the US. Canada actually gives special consideration to couples in this situation when evaluating immigration requests. So, yay Canada. I hate to say it, but I really do feel more Canadian than American. I don't feel like a traitor either, I feel more like the US betrayed me.



Did you suffer any culture shock when you moved to Canada? Are there any particular Canadianisms you've noticed? Do we really sound like we say "aboot"?

Living in Quebec was definitely a culture shock. It is unlike the rest of Canada in that the people here generally consider themselves Quebecois first, and Canadian second. Plus, of course, the language. Upon arriving here, I enrolled in French school and have become fluent, although it was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. There are definite cultural differences between anglophones and francophones. A simple example, when English speakers decline an invitation, we always offer an excuse, even if it is untrue, whereas French speakers do not. This was hard to adapt to at first but now it feels liberating. If I don't want to do something, I can just say, "no, I'd rather not" and leave it at that. I have made a few anglophone friends and there are a few words that sometimes jump out at me as different. Mostly it's the "ou" pronunciation in words like house and out. To me it sounds more like how-oose and ow-oot. So yeah, a bit of an accent. It's funny though, when I go back home to California to visit the family, they say I've adopted a Canadian accent. I don't see why not, Madonna has done the same thing from living in London. It's probably natural.

What are your must-reads?

Oh my. I'm not going to list the 130 blogs on my reader. But I do keep up on all of them. I hate to mention any for fear of insulting someone, but here goes anyway. I keep up on the gay news via Joemygod, and I keep up on a lot of issues in Canada via We Move to Canada. Of course, I love the Yarn Harlot, too.

As for personal blogs, I never miss Rox's posts, a true blue (red?) Canadian in Alberta, and I enjoy Lyvvie's blog, another American expat now in Australia. Those are just a few of my faves. I have many more. Sometimes I click the "next blog" button on blogspot blogs and surf. I've found some great blogs that way.

If you were to impart some knowledge to an aspiring blogger, what would you tell them?

I would tell them that to have a successful blog, have something to say. Post consistently. Don't let weeks go by between posts. But don't post twenty five times a day either with any little thought or thing that pops into your head. There's Twitter and Facebook for that. And the golden rule applies. You generally receive as many comments as you leave around the blogosphere. Have fun and ignore those (always anonymous commenters) who dump on you or your writing. Good luck!

Labels: interviews, LGBTQ

Our very own 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards juror and now nominee in both the Family & Parenting and Life categories, Tanis Miller, has won Best Canadian Blog in the 2010 Bloggies with her weblog Attack of the Redneck Mommy!

It was announced on twitter that I won a Bloggie for Best Canadian blog. A hockey gold and a Bloggie? I knew I should have bought a lotto ticket when I went to the store earlier in the day.

We are fairly gushing with pride over here.

THE REDNECK. MOMMY. WON. A BLOGGIE.

Head on over and congratulate her on her good news. She deserves it, even if she does have that weird Billy Ray Cyrus fetish. Rednecks.

Labels: miscellany

Karen Sugarpants and sam {temptingmama} author Craftastrophe, which has been nominated in both the Crafting and Group Weblog categories of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Why blogging?

Because it pays so well. Hahaha..not. Blogging is part of who we both are now — we've both been blogging for forever and a day on our personal blogs, and this idea just made sense to blog when we started it.

What is the story behind the birth of Craftastrophe, and what keeps your inspiration going?

Craftastrophe began one night when we were on IM, "pouncing" on Etsy and discovering hilarious creations — some were well made but served no purpose, and some were just full of disaster win that we had to share them with the world. We were both laughing so hard, we couldn't help but start a website. Cake Wrecks was just becoming uber-popular and we knew we had a winner on our hands. As far as keeping inspiration going, that's easy. We both love to laugh. It doesn't feel like work. If life keeps us busy and we're unable to post, we don't sweat it. It's a fun hobby that pays well, that's all.

Are there any particular craftastrophes that continually haunt your memories?

Unicorn Porn, for sure. And Little Otik — I really want to rent the movie because it just looks so messed up.

Have there been any craftastrophes that you would not publish an entry about?

Yes — there is a crafter that emails us once a week to feature her work and it's really not that funny. The theme is something about Satan and it's just boring. As for nudity and NSFW stuff — we're just careful about what to show on the front page so our advertisers don't get their panties in a wad.

Craftastrophe has been featured in The Guardian and coined a new term in Urban Dictionary, among many other acknowledgments. Bloggers who achieve a certain internet celebrity status usually have an "aha" or "OMG" moment when they realize the extent of their reach and influence. Was this true with you and, if so, can you describe what that was like?

Winning Guilty Pleasure Blog 2009 at BlogHer alongside MamaPop was definitely one of those moments, as well as people freaking out when they met us in person — that was both uncomfortable and ego-lifting for a couple of shy Canadians. Oh and our first big ad cheques. We like money. And laughter. But mostly money.

What are your must-reads?

Lamebook, Not Always Right, and FourFour.

If you were to impart knowledge to an aspiring blogger, what would you tell them?

Find a niche that you enjoy. Have fun. Don't get too wrapped up in stats. Ask questions. Participate in your community. Don't be an asshole.

Labels: Crafting, Group Weblog, interviews

Elaine authors Greens & Berries, which has been nominated in the Gardening category of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Why blogging?

Over the past three years I've been writing a blog, I've used blogging as a tool:
1) To collect, organize & share information.
2) To connect with others who have similar interests.
3) To get things done (e.g., if I don't sow the seeds, I won't have anything to write about.)
4) To document my everyday discoveries and experiences.

Greens & Berries is both a gardener's and a dietician's journal with a noted lean toward vegetarianism. What is your food philosophy?

I'll quote Michael Pollan's new-classic, seven-word manifesto as a starting point: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." To this I'd add: "Grow your own. Organically." And, "Enjoy eating & the art of food."

Is gardening an activity that you manage to maintain year-round despite our Canadian winters? If so, how does your annual gardening schedule play out?

I garden in Vancouver, which is zone 8. Yes, twelve months of the year I'm working in the balcony garden, except on the chilliest, wettest, greyest days in winter. If I can feel the cold through three layers (hoodie, fleece & Gore-Tex®) I simply enjoy the violas, heuchera & rosemary from the warmer side of the sliding glass doors. This year, though, January and February have been unusually mild. Nearly every day of the past 8 weeks I've found another reason to neglect indoor chores in favour of outdoor pottering. I've also been more extravagant than usual with primulas & daffodils, which certainly aren't edible crops. Next weekend, I'm going to begin sowing cool-weather crops outdoors (kale, lettuce, Oriental greens and radishes) and herbs indoors.

What aspect of gardening keeps you inspired?

Certainly reading about gardening and connecting with fellow gardeners on their blogs and Twitter inspires me to keep growing. But I think above all, it's the activity itself. Many times I do get discouraged because I work in a small space. And I've lost more plants than I care to count. Yet, as soon as I begin mixing soil and compost, filling the pots and touching the plants, I enter a flow state and lose track of time and place. It's something I can't explain. It just feels right and good.

Being that I am an apartment dweller, do you have any specific tips for aspiring small-space gardeners?

To start, I would recommend reading Gayla Trail's blog, You Grow Girl and her new book, Grow Great Grub. Gayla is THE best at urban gardening in small spaces and is my gardening mentor/guru/sage.

Though I've been growing plants on my balcony for 20 years, I'm a relative novice at year-round (or at least, 3-season) edible gardening. A few tips I can share, based on personal successes & failures are:
1) Have fun, experiment, and try new things, but also,
2) To avoid disappointment, know your growing conditions (e.g., growing zone, hours of sunlight/shade during different seasons), and
3) Match plant with place.
4) Use high-quality organic soil and soil amendments.

What are your must-reads?

I'm regularly adding new books to the shelf & links to my blog, but if forced to limit myself to a handful of "must-read" resources for information and inspiration, it would be these four sites & three books:

You Grow Girl
The Balcony Gardener
Life on the Balcony
Heavy Petal

Gardening at the Dragon's Gate
Tending the Earth, Mending the Spirit: The Healing Gifts of Gardening
Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces

If you were to impart some knowledge to an aspiring blogger, what would you tell them?

Be true to yourself and truthful with your readers.

Labels: Gardening, interviews

Kate Inglis authors sweet | salty, which has been nominated in the Best Written, Life, and Family & Parenting categories of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Why blogging?

This question has me wanting to yell 'diplomatic immunity!' from the deck of an illegal freighter after I've ordered three of my goons to tackle the word 'blogging' to the ground and beat it unconscious.

It's probably unfair for me to get squirmy around the word 'blogger', especially given all the metadrama and politics and reactive blogging pride out there. It's got nothing to do with the writing I do for clients, or for fiction. I don’t mean to devalue the communities and friendships that spring up from all these people writing and sharing over the internet. It's just a goofy word.

I've also never thought of blogging as an end-goal. It's writing. So why writing? Because I suck at math.

Where does your weblog fit into your creative portfolio? Is blogging your primary outlet, or do you publish elsewhere?

My blog accelerated the process of getting published by helping me bypass the slush pile. It wasn't necessarily mass exposure — plenty of people get more traffic than I do. But my writing caught the eye of the right person the same week I'd finished my first manuscript. She's now my editor. I am shocked. She is relentless.

I'm not inclined to syrupy overstatements, but this is the truth. The past year has made me feel like the home of my writing might make anything possible. It's a channel, an idea bank, a spiritual practice, friendships, a resource, a discipline. The past year has been a lesson in how profoundly storytelling — and clarity of voice — matters.

How has your blogging style, content, and attitude changed since you first began?

I remember the first and last time I got wound up about the futility of blogging. It was sometime in 2005. I was wandering one night, trying to find ‘good blogs’. I had no idea how it all worked, how you’d ever find similar voices or interests, let alone readers. From blogroll to blogroll I landed on a blog that featured a whole series of posts detailing several days of one woman’s constipation. Ooof! Hard poop. Big poop! Waiting. Pushing. Ow! Oof. Oatmeal. Prunes. Urrgh! Water. More water! Ouch. Squat! A downed tree, a chorus. None of it meant to be funny. She might have had a ticker in animated gif format. Hers was some seriously earnest shit.

30+ comments on every post led me to the conclusion that people like reading about artless shit. I didn’t just want to quit blogging. I wanted to trade in my entire generation.

Choosing not to delete my blog at that moment was a turning point. To keep going, I had to shrug at the rest of the internet. The trolls, the bickering, the melodrama, the need for validation, the exposure fetishists. The shit. I had to make the internet into something else, at least in my corner, and not internalize the rest of it. I made an effort to find kind and interesting people for whom blogging was just a platform for something else. Good writing, ideas, photography, art.

Then the twins were born, and Liam died, and everything changed, but far beyond blogging. I’m not afraid anymore. I’m not so doubtful and unsure and awkward and wracked. I don’t worry as much about what people think of me. I feel bigger than I was, more calm. More cemented in how I feel about the act of public writing.



Which of your weblog entries from the past while was the most cathartic/interesting/nerve-wracking for you, and why?

The answer most people might expect would be any post written inside the NICU. When something like that happens to you, the world doesn't stop. People keep running for the bus and flipping the bird in traffic and it's just impossibly strange. My kid is dying and you're eating a hamburger, you stupid fucker, and you've got ketchup on your chin, and I can't decide if I want to punch you or tell you how rare you are.

The world doesn't want or need to see the suffering that consumes you. In fact, most people turn away from it. So I had to keep writing. I needed to make people pause and consider the vividness of what we couldn't escape. And I needed to make it hopeful, somehow. I was forcing my imagination out-of-season. It was sado-masochism on all fronts, but it didn’t take courage. I had no choice. The writing of those posts came easily.

The difficult, knuckle-biting posts have been those that preceded the release of my book. I've never felt so exposed in my life. I had no idea it would feel so terrifying to put those pirates where they could be seen. They're brutes and thugs but they were kind enough to run away with me when I needed fresh air. For people to respond to them (or my expression of them) with indifference... for a few weeks there, I was out of my head with how raw it felt.

Ramble a little bit here about whatever you like. We think you're a stunning writer and just want to listen to you talk some more.

Poop! LOL. OMG. TMI. WTF.

What weblogs are your must-reads?

Bon of Crib Chronicles, Sweet Juniper, BHJ, Maggie Dammit, and so many others. I read my friends, so it’s really tough to answer this. Some are photographers, some I’ve hung out with at BlogHer [conferences], some totally bogarted the last box of chocolate weetabix. I trawl Pioneer Woman for free photoshop actions but beyond that, everyone I read is someone with some personal connection. They’re all must-reads.

If you were to impart some knowledge to an aspiring blogger, what would you tell them?

Only flash your boobs if somebody pays you.

Labels: Best Written, Family and Parenting, interviews, Life

Suzie Ridler authors Suzie the Foodie, which is nominated in the Food & Drink category of the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards.

Why blogging?

I left the world of blogging for three months last year and tried to write my foodie book and felt so lost and alone. I missed the blogging community, their feedback, support, and comfort and, yes, even the mean comments I get now and then. My blog had been about a sacred life and, well, my life just no longer felt sacred. I followed the energy and found that I wanted with all my heart to be in the kitchen and write my foodie adventures and hope that someone would care and, maybe, just maybe, pick up a wooden spoon and make something themselves. That is the power of the blogging world. Day after day, people come and see me, a woman with a disabling illness on the brink of insanity from pain and exhaustion, pick up my wooden spoon and try again. If I can do it, they must know they can do it, too.

How did you arrive at being a foodie? Is it a passion from childhood, or have you come across it more recently?

Heck no! When I left university I did not know how to boil an egg. I did not grow up on my mama's knee in the kitchen. She shooed us out of there, and I went and played outside.

Food was a complete and utter mystery to me, and I was always so picky, nothing was good enough. Once I moved out on my own and moved from Toronto to Ottawa and lived with my future husband, who accidentally poisoned me a few times with his questionable cooking techniques, I realized if I wanted to survive I had to learn how to make food.

What a learning curve! I had no TV, no cookbooks, no internet. It was horrible! I had no natural ability for it, it was all trial and error, and I started to get easy cookbooks from my family as presents. I never thought I would like doing it. I wanted to, but I had no mentor. I was alone and learned everything the hard way. The great thing is, after a while, you can figure out how to make stuff up and take risks and figure out what you like and what you will hate FOREVER! When I realized I could make everything I wanted the way I wanted, well, that was so liberating! I could not even experience that in restaurants. I was hooked. Baking came later, living on a mountain in BC with no money and no way to get to a store, I realized, if I wanted cookies, I had to make them. I had never had homemade cookies before; my mom never baked. Well, there is no comparison between store-bought and homemade. Then we got The Food Network, and I became like Neo in the Matrix, absorbing EVERYTHING, and I went from being hooked to having a lifelong addiction to making everything in my kitchen.

Are there any dishes that you have yet to prepare that you would love to try your hand at?

I have still yet to find an authentic Pad Thai recipe that I love. I have had many recommendations thanks to a recent disappointment and think it is time to make it my own way based on all the recipes people have sent me. I love doing that, studying recipes, finding the commonalities, omitting what I am wary of and adding my personal touches. I am still on the hunt for that super moist homemade macaroni and cheese recipe, but I will find it. I always like a challenge.

If you could spend a week cooking with any one chef, who would it be?

Alton Brown. He is someone who wants to know every element of food, including the chemistry, which I have a passion for. When he makes a dish, he strives for perfection and authenticity, which I love! He is willing to wait all day if it means having the perfect dish, and I can relate to that. I am not interested in fast and easy dishes if it means compromising flavour and, honestly, he is one of the coolest foodies ever!

Food can be difficult to make look good in photographs, but you take beautiful images of the food you prepare. Do you have any tips for good food photography?

Oh thank you! That is so nice. OK, the key is natural light, of which my home gets almost zilch! I snuggle my food right up against my living room window to squeeze every ray of sunlight onto that dish. Do not think it is easy for me, it is very challenging. I suggest a point and shoot camera for the kitchen photos and a DSLR for the final "money" shots. I like my photographs to be real. This is really my kitchen, and, yes, I may move a dishrag out of the way, but I leave the mess where it is. Kitchen shots are the reality of the food making process. The final photo I spend more time and energy on, shooting at many different angles (while my poor back says, "Enough already!), and I always check the white balance. If you do not know what that is, go look at videos on Youtube, there are fantastic tutorials for visual people like me who find manuals daunting.

What are your must-reads?

Unfortunately, due to my health, I actually can no longer spend a lot of time online, but I of course visit both the Canadian version of The Food Network and the American one.

I know the chefs very well from the shows and from their recipes have figured out whose palettes are similar to mine and who might be best to avoid. This is not a judgment call. Different people like different food flavours. I do not have a lot of energy to waste in the kitchen, nor do I have a lot of money to risk when it comes to food. I strive for perfection every time, and so I take on recipes from people I trust and then change them mercilessly!

If you were to impart knowledge to an aspiring blogger, what would you tell them?

Be yourself. The blogging world is for real people, and people are drawn to authenticity. Do not be afraid to share your mistakes. Celebrate your disasters. Conflict is fascinating. Tell your story. Even if it is pathetic and boring, you have a story. Take that tension, the problem, the issue, and try and do something with it. My life is a constant struggle against my physical challenges, and yet I pick up my wooden spoon and create something out of nothing. What can you make? What are you drawn to? Show us. Tell us. Find your story.

Labels: Food and Drink, interviews