Five Star Friday's Edition #88

The reader has certain rights. He bought your story. Think of this as an implicit contract. He's entitled to be entertained, instructed, amused; maybe all three. If he quits in the middle, or puts the book down feeling his time has been wasted, you're in violation.

   — Larry Niven

This Five Star Friday roundup is brought to you by a lawyer, a writer, poetry, a birthday, a muse, alcoholism, the end of a marriage, a disordered child, literacy, love, bad habits, a roller coaster, the Underground Railroad, rocks in pockets, oversharing, thankless work, difference, HIV, and world-weariness.

Share your own best weblog entries in the comments and show us how great you are.

Happy Friday!

"Solid Ground" from words... thoughts... nonsense

"My Words" from The Word Cellar

"Mustachioed Ninja" from djkirkbride.com

"Eli" from These Are Days

"Meet My Muse" from Ubi es Caelum

"Hi, My Name Is Heather" from The Extraordinary Ordinary

"And Then There Were Four" from Issa's Crazy World

"Filed Under Things They Never Tell You When You Become a Mother" from From the Cheap Seats

"Also, My Dad Can Beat Up Their Dad" from Sarah and the Goon Squad

"Fire and Rain" from OrdinaryArt

"7 Habits of Highly Ineffective, Unhappy People" from Jurgen Nation

"The Gulf of Grief" from The Eleventh

"The War of the Roses" from Whiskey in My Sippy Cup

"Cold Blasts and Heavy Rocks" from Boy Crazy

"The Corruption of Authenticity" from Modite

"I Could, Perhaps, Have Been a Contender" from Irretrievably Broken

"Advocacy and the Elevator Ride" from Praying for Parker

"January 21, 2010: David Phillips" from the3six5's posterous

"I'm Fifty-Five Years Old and I Just Don't Know" from Bless Our Hearts

Please come back and share good writing with us over the coming week to be featured on the next Five Star Friday. If you have read a really good piece on someone else's weblog, submit it by Thursday at midnight CST to have it featured on Five Star Friday.

And because you are a fan of finding good new writing on the internet:

Subscribe — Subscribe to this website to keep up with us every week.

Show your pride — Take one of our badges for your website and spread the word.

Five Star Friday's Edition #87

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.

   — Henry David Thoreau

This Five Star Friday roundup is brought to you by breast cancer, clicking the wrong link, food, a sense of home, menstruation, gratitude, Delurker Day, the earthquake in Haiti, Haitian orphans, the need of an airplane, unsatisfying employment, living intentionally, art and imprisonment, a challenged past, bank robberies, a housecat, and the education system.

Feel free share your own best weblog entries in the comments. Reveal your awesomeness.

Happy Friday!

"In the Name of Awareness" from Toddler Planet

"What the...?" from The S.L.C. Blog

"Nil by Mouth" from Roger Ebert's Journal

"Home" from seeohel

"I Think This Makes Me a Member of the Obama Administration?" from Barefoot Foodie

"Guilt and Gratitude" from The State of Discontent

"And Super Heroes Come to Feast; to Taste the Flesh Not Yet Deceased. And All I Know Is Still the Beast Is Feeding." from Whiskey in My Sippy Cup

"Earthquake Day in Port au Prince" from Rollings in Haiti

Two from That's Church:
"It's Getting Real Bad
and
"Urgent Need of a Plane"

"Fallen Star (On the Rise)" from Me and the Bee

"Living Intentionally" from The {Geeky} Wife

"Raging Life" from I'm Not Emilio Estevez

"Scars, Shame, Disconnection and Texas" from Finding My America

"Perfection. Which Is Funny, Because I Have No Ending." from Miss Britt

"Men Don't Understand Science." from The Bloggess

"All Schools Have Asperger's" from Raising Complicated Kids

Please come back and share good writing with us over the coming week to be featured on the next Five Star Friday. If you have read a really good piece on someone else's weblog, submit it by Thursday at midnight CST to have it featured on Five Star Friday.

And because you are a fan of finding good new writing on the internet:

Subscribe — Subscribe to this website to keep up with us every week.

Show your pride — Take one of our badges for your website and spread the word.

Five Star Friday's Edition #86

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

   — excerpt from "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot

This first Five Star Friday roundup of 2010 (after my holiday break from many things internet last week) is brought to you by a good pediatrician, a sad anniversary, insecurity, a conga line, a nickname, mindfulness, fatherhood, a loved one's depression, a top ten list, Hollywood remakes, the end of a decade, aging, difficult memories, victory defined by motherhood, the Christmas season, finding beauty, untruths about Christmas, the USO, and a creative creche.

And please share your own best weblog entries from the previous year in the comments. Show off the fruits of your 2009 creative labour.

Before running into the excellent list of links that follows, I also want to let you all know about my latest internet baby. Dissatisfied with voter-driven awards contests that mostly served to highlight the loudest but not necessarily the highest quality weblogs Canada to offer, I decided to create a juried awards with public nominations, and the Canadian Weblog Awards were born. You don't have to be a Canadian to nominate one, so check out the 2010 CWAs and nominate your favourite Canucks for the honour!

Happy Friday!

"Santa's Stash" from The S.L.C. Blog

"Worst Day of My Life" from Small Town Mommy

"'Just a Mom'" from Joy Unexpected

"The Charnas Family Puerto Rican Christmas Conga Line Tradition" from Kevin Charnas

"Brother Barf" from SingleSpeed

"3 Stories of Mindfulness: What We Give Our Attention to Is Who We Become" from Gwen Bell

"I Love You More" from Child's Play x2

"Being Held Hostage" from Grumpy Young Lady

"Top Ten Things Every Woman Should Know To Tell If They've Got Their Vagina On Wrong" from Schmutzie.com

"Play It Again, Sam" from XUP

"What a Difference a Decade Makes" from 101 Things in 1001 Days

"In Which I Realize Just How Old I Am" from Party of 3

"Auld Acquaintance" from Single Mom at Work

"Beauty in Small Things" from Family of Shorts

"November 6, 2008: Hospital Fragments" from Breed 'Em and Weep

"Victory" from Momo Fali's

"Five Things People Say About Christmas That Drive Me Nuts" from Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

"USO Sends Female Soldiers Make Up, Cosmo" by Jessica at Feministing

"Strangers at the Manger" from Libby Logic

Please come back and share good writing with us over the coming week to be featured on the next Five Star Friday. If you have read a really good piece on someone else's weblog, submit it by Thursday at midnight CST to have it featured on Five Star Friday.

And because you are a fan of finding good new writing on the internet:

Subscribe — Subscribe to this website to keep up with us every week.

Show your pride — Take one of our badges for your website and spread the word.