This morning I woke up to about the nicest thing ever. Especially compared with Nate snoring next to me, and the dog farting in the living room. It was a note in my inbox from a reader (hi Elaine! Link fixed now!) simply thanking me for my blog. For no reason at all except she felt compelled to write it.

I kind of want to cry.

Lately, it’s been hard to keep up with posting, let alone responding to comments, reading other blogs more, and connecting with the people who come here and make this more of a community than a blog. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and guilty up the whazoo. Not just because I feel I owe it to my readers, but because I owe it to myself.

It’s a luxury to find time to simply write about what I want in this little space; something that isn’t dictated by a client, isn’t compelled by advertising, and isn’t going to be edited by someone who red-lines my overuse of em dashes and parentheses.

(See what I mean–em dashes and parentheses. My favorite!)

In a lot of ways, this blog keeps me whole. As my mom has always said since I was little, Liz can’t not write. And so a private email sent simply to let me know I’m connecting with someone through my writing, well, wow. That’s a really powerful thing.

Then I realized, I should be doing it more. I should take a minute and go out of my way tell a blogger thank you.

There are so many I could choose, but right now I want to pick Rebecca Woolf of Girls’ Gone Child. When I think about bloggers who are Writers, I think about her.  I think she blogs for all the right reasons. You can tell how much time and effort she puts into what she does, from the photos right down to every exquisite word. She is talented, she is consistent, she is beautiful inside and out, and she is bursting with love as a parent which explodes all over her pages in inspiring ways.

Above all, she makes me want to be a better writer.

Is there a blogger you want to thank today?

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edited: Hey, look: we got a hashtag! #thankablogger if you’re doing it on twitter.