A Big Chunk 'o' Happiness

The following wonderful boost of my self esteem comes to courtesy of the Weblog Review.

I'd like to personally thank the reviewer, Magz. She made me blush, and that's hard to do.

I got a five out of five...I must be doing something right. I think so, anyway.

The review reads:

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Am I a lucky reviewer or what? Corgan Dane ROCKS! I'd advise that you get his autograph, now, so we don't make him late for his date with destiny. This young man is going places! He's not just toe-dabbling in the prose pond, he's making a big cannonball leap, and I predict he'll make a helluva splash.

This is his personal blog: it includes links to 2 previous self-designed websites that are well worth visiting. Watching him evolve as a writer, cartoonist, and designer feels a lot like seeing a behind-the-scenes documentary called Birth of an Author. At the age of 24 he's already showing a great deal of wit and wisdom, and seems to have something interesting to say about a variety of topics. Even the more mundane semi-rants about school, traffic, and cyberspace seem fresh and entertaining through Corgan's eyes and words. There is a powerful will to write expressed in everything he does, and he shows a real grasp on the nuances of the English language. He has a knack for side-stepping the pitfalls so many of us bloggers are prone to, such as the serializing of dull events, the aimless aggrandizing and self-conscience soul searches we do to fill up pages. He shows a refreshingly uncynical ability to poke fun at himself and others without whining, or smirking.

His design is a fairly simple blogspot template: easy to read, logical, and grammatically correct. His more experimental efforts are seen on his previous pages, which are easily linked along with other things that amuse or entertain him. He's also a cartoonist and poet, with examples of all his work very accessible from this blog. He's kept the main page quite free of anything that might distract from his focus, his writing. There is enough personal information everywhere to get the impression that he's a pretty cool guy with a very busy life and a real passion for writing.

A few of the standouts in my memory are his recent entries titled American Dream, Winter Species, Internet Crack, and I Just Like Stuff. Each of those writings demonstrate a different facet of his style from introspective to humorous, and very few of his entries bogged down the reader at all. I found myself totally absorbed in his pages, following every single link and even reading all the poetry he's written for a college class. He plans to write his second novel in November during the National Novel Writers Month and I plan to read it as he blogs it... this is a guy with ambition!

I believe that with just a bit more seasoning we'll be seeing Corgan Dane on the New York Times Bestsellers list and I'm looking forward to reading and hearing a lot more from him. "Bob-On" Mr. Dane, may I have your autograph on this napkin please?

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I have to make one small addendum, though. The novel in November will be my first novel. I've done short stories and bad poetry, (you've seen the poetry), but not a novel, as of yet.

I wish I already had one done, though.