Awesome!

I get many of my blogging ideas on my morning commute from the farm into town: forty solitary, quiet minutes when I think about my writing, tasks of the day, the quandaries of life. Sometimes, like yesterday, an idea comes while listening to the radio.

Once again, I was listening to the Gayle King Show. Gayle's guest was Neil Pasricha, creator of the Webby Award-winning blog, 1000 Awesome Things and author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Book of Awesome. Pasricha spoke of beginning the website at a dark and sad time in his life, right after his wife told him she didn't love him anymore, right after his best friend committed suicide. And in his words, "If you flipped open a newspaper, it was filled with the same stuff every day. The polar ice caps were melting, there were pirates storming the seas, the economy was on the verge of collapse, and there were wars going on all over the world." So, he created the blog to bring its readers a little of the awesomeness of life: "Sunny without being saccharine." (The Vancouver Sun)

After winning the Webby Award, Pasricha signed with William Morris Agency, which represents other blog-to-books, such as StuffWhitePeopleLike.com. In 2010, The Book of Awesome was published.

Here are a few "awesomes" from the book:

* Popping bubble wrap
* Wearing warm underwear, fresh out of the dryer
* Taking your bra off after wearing it for hours

Of course, the interview prompted me to think of my own "awesomes." Here are a few:

* The smell of a shoe repair shop
* Waking to the sound of a tail wagging next to me
* The whisper of wind and water when you turn off the engine of a sailboat


Of course, after all of this, I'd have to say my drive into town is pretty awesome, too.

What about you? Come on . . . share a little of your awesomeness with us.

Here's a great video on Neil Pasricha's TED dicussion: "The 3 As of Awesome:"