I’m feeling a wee bit guilty about calling out Date Girl in my last post (actually I goofed, it’s DateGirl, one word). I was haughty yesterday and I’ll blame it on the heat. DG, as a fellow writer and as a woman, I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I’m sure your columns at the Seattle Weekly are enriching the lives of your readers. While I may not have enjoyed your musings in “What to Wear During Butt Sex” that doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there who clamor for your candid sex talk and raunchy humor. Confidential to DG: I’m very sorry. We writers shouldn’t be cannibalizing each other. PS—So gracious of you to enrage those Eugene Weekly readers with your talk of child molestation thereby getting yourself summarily ousted. If you’ve still got the editor’s number, do put in a good word for me, will you? Amen sister.

Oops, there I go again, still haughty. But seriously, I do think it’s important to support the writers, and especially the women writers, that I know and love. There are too many to list but here goes my first few shout-outs:

The Women of Salon (Salon.com): I love Salon. I love the women writers, Rebecca Traister, Page Rockwell, Heather Havrilesky and more. They bring you Broadsheet (news of the world, feminist-style) and seriously good TV criticism. For example, this week Heather dishes on the delicious third season of Project Runway. Yum!

Marilynne Robinson, winner of a Pulitzer: I’m reading Gilead, a quietly perfect little novel about an old pastor writing to his young son in the final days of his long and winding life. Robinson’s tale is full of magical everyday moments. I am in awe. So much so that as I read some of her passages, I find myself wishing I were a religious woman.

Isabel Allende: My bookclub is reading The House of the Spirits, which incidentally, I once saw in Spanish (no English subtitles) in a very crowded movie house in Salamanca, Spain. I’m on page 29 and the book truly is amazing. It’s magical realism and intricate family saga demands comparison to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude. This is Isabel’s finest work.

Jennifer Weiner: The famous author of Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes. Jennifer’s brilliance and wit turned me around from chick-lit naysayer to reformed chick lit aficionado. She elevates the genre. Great summer reading, the plots are never rote and the writing is always sharp and surprising. Plus, the movie In Her Shoes, based on a Jennifer Weiner best-seller, is not the fluff piece the commercials might have us believe. It’s solid and sassy, just like Jennifer.

And last but not least, emilyruthwonders.blogspot.com: She’s a good friend and she writes at 4AM after breastfeeding her lovely little Merra. A recent posting tackled the future—what cell phones might look like, what K-Fed might be up to, and the fleeting nature of clothing tags. It was random and weird and utterly inspired. I’d write about Emily regardless, but I have to share an aside. Recently Emily posted a long list of her favorite blogs and mine wasn’t on it. I, of course, seized the opportunity to playfully chide her omission right out in the open in the comments section of her sweet little blog. I knew full well that she’d have to make good by in turn writing nice stuff about my blog in her next posting. And lo, she didn’t disappoint. Thanks Em! I love the shameless self-promotion!

I used to work in politics—I know a lot about marketing, message out, and sucking up to get ahead, I can craft and spin with the best of them. So please do tell people about my blog. Seriously, write/phone/carrier pigeon a few friends about me (if you like me) and then (if they like me) maybe they’ll tell a few friends. Ooh, this little pyramid scheme’s got endless potential. Coming soon: A letter writing campaign to the Editor of the Eugene Weekly ;-)

Cheers and many thanks,
Emily Rose