THE PEANUT GALLERY: Small Moments

Peanut came home from school yesterday with a stack of her writing work. Over the past few months, she and her classmates have been working on writing about "Small Moments." Here's how her teacher described the assignment:

"We taught the children to value tiny moments from their lives. We taught them that as writers we hold these moments in our minds and hearts, then we make a story about them."

Basically, for the past two months, Peanut has been doing in class what her dad has been doing on this blog since two months before she was born. I thought that was pretty cool.

Here are some of my favorite highlights:

"I was going to the American Girl doll store."
I love how she spells American: "uy mirikin." And how she
went there in a motor home with duck lips.

Read more ...

I'm a Rock Star Thanks to @BloggerIdol

It's true. I am a rock star. It has nothing to do with my love of karaoke, my penchant to sing in the shower, or my talent to make a parody out of any song by putting my dog Luna's name in it. It doesn't even have to do with taking My Director to the Awesome 80's Prom for her 30th birthday:

This was 5 years ago.
Yes, that's a Smurf tattoo

No. I am a rock star because Blogger Idol told me so. The motto of this wonderful experience disguised as a writing contest is "writers are the new rock stars." As many of you who have been following DKL from the beginning may remember, this time last year I was knee-deep in Blogger Idol. I had made it to the finale in the first-ever season, only to lose by a handful of votes at the last possible minute. (Not bitter at all. Totally over it. Now please pass me that bottle of Jack Daniels.)

I've made a lot of friends in the blogosphere, forged a lot of relationships, learned a lot of things from a lot of really cool, special, interesting people. Blogger Idol was by far the most unique experience I've ever had in the year and a half since I took DKL public. The weekly challenges were at times frustrating, but mostly invigorating and inspiring. They pushed me as a writer to go places I've never gone before and explore topics I never would have explored. (Uh, there was a vampire week. Random but fun. And my post got top marks from the judges.) I have gained lasting friendships with some great people. My fellow contestants, actually. Roni from The Mommy in Law, Chris at ...from the Bungalow, and Derrick from Dad v. Autism, to name a few.

I'm not going to lie. Winning would have been very cool. But in hindsight, doing it - putting myself out there - was so much more rewarding. I was proud of the work I did, how I presented myself, and how I kept true to myself and the integrity of my blog and my writing.

Now Blogger Idol is back, it's bigger and better. The prizes are amazing. And perhaps most exciting for DKLers, I'm going to be a judge. How cool is that? For now, judge for yourself and check out some of my favorite entries from last year's assigments:

Here is my audition post that convinced the judges to put me into the top 12. The assignment was simple: Why are you the next Blogger Idol? So I drew inspiration from my Grandma Sylvia and told them What I'm Made Of.

In Week 1 of this 12-week journey, we were asked to introduce ourselves to the voters. So I wrote About Being a Dad

When I first saw the assignment for week two, my first reaction was, "Oh. My. God." We had to write about a day in the life as the opposite sex. So I made it an homage to the woman I know the best. Enjoy Freaky Friday.

The post I thought would win me the whole damn thing was a very emotional one I wrote for the finale about The Best Dad I Know.





Auditions begin TODAY. So I urge you to get involved. If you are a blogger looking to get established, to have your writing critiqued by bloggers who are established, and to showcase your writing to a new audience, this is a great opportunity. Follow Blogger Idol on Facebook and Twitter for updates. Even if you don't audition, I urge you to follow because you WILL connect with these contestants. I promise. They all will inspire you when they pour their hearts into their posts. Let the competition begin.

Read more ...

The Write Stuff

This was my week 4 assignment for Blogger Idol 2011: "Why do you write/what does it mean to you?"

Why do I write? That's like asking why I breathe. I can't help but to write. I need it to survive.

Writing is my catharsis. I want to let out my aggravations to put them behind me.

When I witness something out of the ordinary, or I find something extraordinary in the ordinary, I need to write about it. Whether I am happy or sad, angry or frustrated, writing is my outlet. I want to share my joys and document them forever. 

Nothing can stop me from writing

I need to see it written. Sometimes my hands can't type fast enough. That's how passionate I am about writing.

And yes, I want to become a blogger with a huge following and ink a book deal and all of that. So, there is part of me that does it for some kind of validation. To stay relevant at least to a modest group of followers in this gigantic world. Maybe I think what I have to say matters. That it might make someone's day or change someone's perspective.

I am also grossly self-absorbed, needy, and narcissistic. This is also why I write. 

Sometimes your writing won't be received the way you wanted it to be, the way you expected it to be. These times are borderline devastating.

On the other hand, when a piece that you're not crazy about gets rave reviews, it's exhilarating.

Good or bad, there is no time I feel more vulnerable as a writer than when I know one of my pieces is out there being read for the first time.

I experience this every day, not only in my writing, but also in my job as a television news producer. I am fortunate that I get to do a lot of writing at work. I challenge myself to be funny, or interesting, or both. I want to captivate my audience. I want to compel them to sit through that three and a half minute commercial because you absolutely have to find out the one thing you need to leave at home if you're traveling with a child this summer. (Don't worry, the answer is at the bottom.)

There are times when I think I've nailed something I wrote for my show, and in the commercial break my anchor will look into the camera and simply say, "that didn't make any sense." And I want to jump through the screen from my seat in the control room and smack him. But maybe he's right. Sometimes he is.

The beauty of writing, and of working in television news, is that there is always another piece to write or another show to produce tomorrow. So it's non-stop. You're always getting another chance.

It's also so subjective. The same amount of people can love and hate this piece. I want to high five the people who love it and ask them what they loved about it. I want to shake the people who hate it by the lapels and ask them what they hated about it. I want to try again, harder, for both groups tomorrow.

Writing is a part of me. As a boy I would go on adventures with my imaginary friends. As a teenager I would write song parodies to "Piano Man" based on our drunken escapades on the weekends. I've written wedding vows and eulogies. When I finally decided to propose to my wife, I wrote her a poem that contained a scavenger hunt that led to me with the engagement ring. I now write my wife blog posts instead of birthday cards. And I take the two or three lines that I write in a wedding card, a graduation card, a sympathy card very seriously. I want it to be memorable.

As for the one thing you need to leave at home when you're traveling with a child this summer: it's the word "no." I wrote about that here.

Writing. It's what I do.

Read more ...

What I'm Made of (My Blogger Idol Audition)

"You have to grow up straight." -Words of wisdom from my Grandma Sylvia, who would always emphasize that last word and use her crooked, arthritis-riddled finger to illustrate her point. Just to be clear, she wanted me to grow up strong, confident, and with a good head on my shoulders. She was not referring to anyone's lifestyle.

I slowly walked to the door. It was open, but I still knocked lightly on the frame. My grandmother laid there on her hospital bed. She turned her head. She was so weak at this point she couldn't move much. I asked her, "you want me to come in?" She smiled gently and nodded her head yes as little as she needed to.

I bent over and kissed her and told her I loved her, knowing this would probably be the last time I ever saw her. She was a little hard-boiled, but I always managed to make her smile. And just by showing up, I made her smile this one last time.

Grandma Sylvia. "Sealie" is what I affectionately called her. She had a saying when you were feeling sorry for yourself. "What are you made of sh!t?" She would bark it through her raspy, nicotine stained smoker's voice. You had no choice but to answer "no."

And that's why I am entering Blogger Idol. For Sealie. Because not only am I NOT made of sh!t, I am in it to win the whole damn thing. Why not me? I am constantly attached to my laptop, iPad, or blackberry... blogging, tweeting, or Facebooking. I am the daddy blogger who blogs while shirking his duties as a husband and father. No, not really. But I do blog from the bathroom, tweet at weddings, and I'm on Facebook while walking the dog.

Perhaps, since "writers are the new rock stars (as the Blogger Idol motto goes)," you're looking for a diva. Well, just call me Whitney Houston. But not the coked up Whitney. I'm talking about the belting-out-her-amazing-cover-of  "I Will Always Love You," I-demand-a-Tiffany-glass-full-of-fresh-spring-water-at-room-temperature-in-my dressing-room Whitney.

Seriously, if you read my blog, you know that I am honest, raw, and real. I take my experiences as a husband and a father, and spin them into gold. Anyone who is a dad, has a dad, loves a dad, or knows a dad could enjoy it. My goal is to make you laugh, cry, and think... not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily all at once. I tried to do it in the brief amount of time I had in this entry.

And in all honesty, Sealie's dying wish was that one day I would win an internet writing competition. Even though she died in 1989, and the internet hadn't taken off yet, I told her I'd do it. Because I'm not made of sh!t. (See what I did there?)

Don't miss out on any of the Blogger Idol action. Click here to follow, audition, or get involved.

Read more ...