"Elizabeth Grace is a slave-driving pain in the ass." :OD

Eleven months ago I was introduced to a group called GBE2 by my friend Gary Smith. (Thank you Gary) He was a member and his friend Elizabeth Grace (yep, one and the same) was the administrator of the site for bloggers. I was expecting to write my little mind numbing blogs and maybe a couple of people would read them and maybe I'd learn a thing or two about proper writing techniques or at the very least, I'd learn not to write sentences that could easily be broken into 5 or 6 sentences if they were being written by anyone other than long winded and wordy me with no thought as to how normal people breathe.  Obviously, I learned that!

Okay, so now here we are 11 months later and I have made so many friends in this group that I sometimes forget that I don't know them at all. Except maybe I do because they are writers. Writers open up their laptops, sit at their desk tops or grab a notepad or tape recorder and tell their stories. Then the bloggers share them. With each other. We really do know each other very well. We know the essence of each other very well.

That is what qualifies me to take on this subject even though I am NOT participating in the a-z challenge thingy because I don't like that kind of commitment. It feels like work to me. I'm not into work anymore.

I have known Ms. Grace for 11 months and though we are virtual friends, she has shown me her heart a hundred times or more. She has shown me her strength an equal number of times. I know who she is.
She is a slave-driving pain in the ass. Oh, sure, she's cute. She inspires me often with her writing. She moves me with her words or makes me giggle like a 5 year old whose favorite uncle is tickling her, but she is a pain in the ass.

Every week she posts topics or prompts or pictures and we are supposed to get inspiration from that prompt and go out to our own pages and write awe inspiring posts. That's all, just go out there and make her proud!

How's that working for most of you?

I'll tell you as a regular reader, it's working really well for a whole big gigantic bunch of you! These posts are so well done, so well thought through and sometimes so damned funny that I can hardly get through them.
You are without question, as entertaining a mix of humans I could imagine in one place.

She is a slave-driver. She is a pain in the ass. "Put your stuff here, not there."  "I'll post that for you cuz you keep putting it in the wrong spot." "I'll be dropping by and commenting, so be careful what you say about me." 'That was an interesting post." (That isn't good, btw.) "What an unusual take on the prompt." (Also not good,)

Then as if that wasn't bad enough, each week she posts her own blog offering. Of course, it's always (nearly) fantabulous. If it isn't, she'll tell you it is crap in the first paragraph. If it doesn't have a warning label, it's going to be good. Week after week after week. She sets a high standard and I have to admit here, don't share this with her, she doesn't read my blogs, I totally love and admire this woman I have never met. She holds my utmost respect and admiration. Not for doing it all, as she sometimes feels she has to do, but for doing what she does better than anyone expects. I admire her good heart and kind soul and I (tribute here) lovity love love her to pieces!

Have I personally learned anything from hanging out with her virtually?  Hell no, I already know it all. There is nothing I could possibly learn from a young 'un like her. I've got mascara older than she is! Good grief! I am still writing my mind numbing blogs and reading my comments, but I do have a lot more than a handful of readers. That makes me so happy. I don't think she made people come read my blog, but maybe she did!

But you less aged ones might learn something from her. You might learn how to construct a sentence or spell check your work or maybe even write a blog that makes sense!  Oh, not that anyone in this group would ever do any of those things, that would be an example of hyperbole. There is, however, a point in there, if you look hard enough.

Bethie should take a big ole bow and then pat herself on the back because truth be told, she just rocks the writing world all the way around. I am proud to be a part of this group and very proud to call the pain in the ass my friend.

*Raising my glass of raspberry-chocolate wine* Here's to you Miss Beth with my respect and gratitude for a job well done day after day after day.
♥♥♥

Jo