Before I even get into the meat of this post, I want ya'll to pay attention to this.
There's been a whole hell of a lot of drama roiling about in the blogosphere lately post-BlogHer. I want to assure you that this little dealio I'm about to suggest, is in NO WAY bait for more drama! Puleeeeze.
There have been posts about jealousy and being jealous of the ones that are jealous or not understanding the ones who are jealous. And then there's been suggestions of cliques and exclusionary groups of snogs© (my own little word for blog snobs - although I've never come across these much gossiped about creatures in my vast bloggy travels) who allow no one in...well if that's the case, how'd they end up with anyone in the group in the first place?
My point folks, is this...this is community. It is what you make of it. You can participate and get involved and learn something and let us learn from you, or not. And having said that, I hope that is what we all get from my little idea. At least I hope it doesn't totally suck and you all play along.
I debated doing this for a long time and I finally had a talk with a wise friend who said it was a "fucking awesome idea and just do it already!" I didn't want anyone to come away from this feeling like; "How come she didn't invite me? She must not like me!"
The impetus behind this was just to be able to get to know other writers/bloggers I haven't read or read very much of, and I hope that you all can do the same thing. And maybe afterward we'll all sit around and sing folk songs and braid one another's hair. Or not.
Now, having said all that, Here's the thing...
You are going to have a dinner party! Oh yes you are. Well OK, not a REAL dinner party, but hey, if you're so inclined, more power to ya. Anyhow, you're having this swell dinner party and you are going to invite ten bloggers. And if you're worried about not having enough time to plan this, never fear my luvlies, this will be running the entire month of August!
Create a post telling us who you are inviting and what about that person's writing makes you think they'd be an intriguing/funny/interesting person to share a meal with. What have you learned about these people through reading their blogs and what would you hope to learn about them through breaking bread with them?
Once you've created your post, be sure and come back here and link (Mr. Linky makes it EASY PEASY!) to that specific post on your blog, and make sure you link back here telling others about the Barking Mad Dinner Party. You can even steal the lame-o graphic above (someone needs to come to my rescue and help me out with these damn things! I'm so NOT graphically gifted!) and place it in your post.
Again, this isn't an exercise in exclusion. It's quite the opposite actually. This will give a lot of us who are just tentatively stepping foot in the community and bravely reaching out to the others, a chance to get to know some of you better and vice versa. Most of all, have fun with this. I hope it gives you a chance to get to know some people you might not have otherwise and gives them a chance to get to know YOU!
I'll come back with my own invitees when I'm not about to fall over from the smell coming from the kitchen. Meg is cooking her very first lobster (gag) and I don't think it's supposed to smell like that.
