Purple prose

Mausi kindly awarded me a purple lion for powerful words. The idea is for recipients to list three things they think are necessary for powerful writing and then to pass the award along to five fellow bloggers. So what do I think is fundamental to powerful writing? Unrelenting honesty. Fearlessness in the face of the uncomfortable truth. And allowing, as Sy Safransky writes, "some room on the page for everyone who isn't us; for how much unspeakable suffering there is on this ublelievably beautiful planet; for the shining mystery at the heart of things."

I think most of my NaBloPoMo posts fell far far short of that (most of my posts do, but it's the landmark on the distant horizon I aim for, my true north), but it's nice to get points for sheer perseverence. I'm a great believer in the virtue of sheer perseverence, you know, so I'm honored to take my purple lion and to pass it on to the following five bloggers who are all much further down the road to the shining mystery than I.

In Search of Desert for refusing to click on "post" until she's satisfied.

My Topography for unrelenting honesty and beautiful prose.

Stepping Stones for transcending prose.

Southern Infertility for having the courage to make an intangible loss tangible.

Phantom Scribbler (though she's on a bit of a sabbatical at the moment) for being able to write like this while fielding questions like this from Adorable Offspring.