My favorite non-PTA blog is ...

Yours!

No, I kid. It's not. I mean, it might be one of my favorites. Are you my wife or one of my 17 friends? Then, yes, your blog is one of my favorite blogs.

Also, did you know that every author here at PTA has their own personal blog (that they rarely update)? They do. You should read them.

Since I can't list all my favorite blogs, and it's impossible to narrow it down to one, I'm going to list three:

1. Amelia Merritt. This is my wife's blog. She's got a gift for telling it like it is, girlfriend. She holds nothing back. It can make people uncomfortable at times, even me, but it's mostly because truth can be awkward. Her posts about her heart failure and pacemaker surgery make me teary-eyed and I already know the story!

2. Modern Mormon Men. I don't just recommend it because I contribute to it often or because Chris and Josh used to. I recommend it because, if you're Mormon, it gives a variety of perspectives on the LDS experience that are hard to find in one place anywhere else. You'll love a lot of it, and you'll disagree with a lot of it. That makes a good blog.

3. Splitsider. The blog/site for comedy nerds and/or geeks. It's for those who enjoy reading funny stuff or thoughts on why stuff is funny (sometimes with scientific proof) or comedy history or comedy pop culture. Is that you? Yes? Then you'll love it! My favorite feature is called Saturday Night's Children: "Saturday Night Live has been home to over a hundred cast members throughout the past 37 years. In our column Saturday Night’s Children, we present the history, talent, and best sketches of one SNL cast member every other week for your viewing, learning, and laughing pleasure."

There you go. I hope this gives you minutes of online reading pleasure. What are your favorite blogs?

every day i check the book

There is no question in my mind that the finest blog out there is Kacy Faulconer's Everyday I Write the Book.

When I first heard about blogging, in the mid-aughts, my friend Ben Blair told me that I should have a blog, and that Kacy Faulconer had one. Immediately I knew that blogging was legit. Because why else would Kacy Faulconer do it? She doesn't do things she hates. She doesn't do stupid pointless things.

I first met Kacy at Dixon Jr. High school in Provo. The year was 1986. We had a computer science class together. This was when computers could talk to you and start nuclear wars if you programmed them wrong. Kacy and I had a teacher named K Johnson and she had a haircut that looked like someone put a bowl on her head and then curled all the hair hanging out. Flat on top, curly at the tips. It was amazing. She was super mean. We drew pictures of her and passed them back and forth, and we were never caught. We were also never caught when we hijacked a computer game called "Ask Eliza" and changed Eliza's answers. You were supposed to ask Eliza a personal question, and then Eliza is supposed to give helpful advice. Kacy and I hacked it and had Eliza swear back at you or tell you that you were fat. No matter what you asked! It was the best of times.

Kacy and I stayed close all through school and even into BYU, where we would often loiter and smoke fake cigarettes outside of our Book of Mormon class during freshman year. She has always been a good time gal. Had I known she would someday be a best friend to my wife I might have acted a little more dignified.

The good times continue on her blog, where she is irreverent, honest, and brutally funny. Which she manages to do without being mean or cruel. It's a fine line she walks, and she does it with such wit and panache that I'm always in awe of whatever she writes. And she often writes about ordinary, even menial things. The magic of her writing makes everything seem important, and wickedly funny. Here's to you, Kacy Faulconer! You're the true original.

I Say YES to Hoboken!

So, one of my favorite blogs, that is not this blog, is a little blog called 'Say Yes to Hoboken'.  It was started by a dear friend of mine Liz Stanley and I had this great idea to interview her for this blog, but we couldn't quite get our scheduled linked up and also, I never asked her.  But I don't think that should stop me from completely fabricating an interview with her, I mean after all we really are good friends and what are good friends for if you can't exploit their success by concocting a made up interview that shows you both in the best light.  So here goes:

Me: Liz!  Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.  I know you're very busy and it means a lot to me that you would.

Liz: I didn't.  Also, you didn't ask.

Me: I know!  So tell me a it about your blog and how it got started.

Liz: Well, I was living in Hoboken, New Jersey, right up the street from some amazing friends...

Me: Are you talking about me?

Liz: Yes.

Me: Great.  Go on.

Liz:  I was living up the street from some amazing friends and I had the thought that I wanted to start a blog.

Me:  You were a high school councilor at the time?

Liz: Yes, and I loved it.  I loved working with students but I was looking for a creative outlet.

Me: You have always done the coolest stuff.  I still have those GoKo (sp?) cards we made on your living room floor.  Have you always been crafty?

Liz: Crafty?  In the sense that I can come up with a clever scheme?  Yes.  And also, I like to make stuff with my hands.  I remember me and your wife making pillows together.

Me: They are still on our bed.

Liz: Really?!  That was, like, 7 years ago...you should probably swap those out.

Me: Oh, you think?  Couldn't they be timeless?

Liz: I mean, they could be...but those aren't.

Me: Got it.  I'll burn them tonight.

Liz: Don't burn them?!  They would make such cute place mats or doll dresses or curtains for a several small windows.

Me:  Is that your favorite thing to do, reshape things into different things?

Liz: I do like that, yes.  But my favorite thing is to spend time with my son and husband.  I love how my son sees things in a different way than I do.

Me: Kids do that.

Liz: They do.  How are your kids?

Me:  So good!  They are running around and...wait a minute!  This is about you, not me?!  Funny how when you are writing, even something like a fake interview, the subject always comes back to me.  Do you blog about me often?

Liz: I'm sorry, what was the question?

Me:  Do you blog...

Liz: About you?

Me: Yes.

Liz: No.

Me: Oh.

Liz:  I mostly share tutorials and style ideas for young moms just like myself, plus I write for other sites and collaborate with brands on content campaigns...I don't know if just blogging about a guy who used to live up the street from me would really fit our bill.

Me: I understand.  What if I made my pillows into curtains for several small windows?  Then would you blog about me?

Liz: That could be something.

Me: I'm not going to do that.

Liz: No, I know.

Me: Well, it's been so good to catch up with you!  I love your blog and you and your family.  You are the best!

Liz: Thanks.

Me: Do you remember that time, after me and your husband fought that drunk guy because he inappropriately propositioned you while leaning on a fence at a church and we had finally made it to dinner after having the drunk guy arrested for punching my wife and we were all sitting at the table facing the window and all of the sudden a man went running past in full death sprint screaming and we all wondered what he was running from and then a cop on a horse came galloping after him?

Liz: Yes.

Me: That was wild.

*********

Well, I hope you take the time to pop on over to Say YES to Hoboken and check out the REAL Liz Stanley and what she is really doing right now.  You'll go back again and again.

My Favorite Blog

Something you might not know about Part Time Authors is not only do we write, but we also know how to READ! True story. Why, Patrick has been reading for MONTHS now! And Chris also enjoys reading - but generally just the amazing reviews of the plays he directs. I also like to find time to read - but not when I’m on vacation. That’s MY time, and I make no apologies for it. 

But I kid. I do so very much enjoy this national pastime of reading, invented right here in the great country of ours. And just in case you were wondering what I like to read - well, I'll tell you. But only one thing. I'm coy. 

One “blog” I never miss comes from my dear friend (and yours) Eric D. Snider. I put “blog” in quotes because truthfully, Eric was writing these “posts” before there was "blogging." Or before it was known as "blogging," anyway. All I'm saying is: Eric D. Snider invented blogging and it’s time he started getting royalties for doing so. 

Eric began as a columnist for what our ancestors refer to as a “newspaper.” Then he built his own website! (Read: He paid somebody to build a website for him.) And now all his hilarious content can be found in one location: www.ericdsnider.com.

Eric is now officially a grown up movie critic, but he also keeps his column or “blog” going. It’s appropriately titled “Snide Remarks.” And if you aren’t reading it, you should. 

Indeed, Eric is snide; with all the good connotations that come with that. He is wry and witty in his observational humor, parodies, satire, and occasional ribaldry. But there is also a vulnerability that I really enjoy about Eric’s writing. He’ll use humor to bring up sensitive topics, simultaneously admitting that he is not an expert on the subject. 

Here's a link to his most recent post, “The Surly Urban Juror.” 

Eric is a close friend and I'm happy to claim him. I’ve actually known him since December of 1992. What a privilege to know such a talented, hilarious writer. I would read Eric’s writings every day if I could. But not when I’m on vacation. I believe I’ve already clarified that’s MY time.