Life is like a box of chocolates.

I write for a lot of reasons. Usually I have about twenty and they come in a box that looks like this.
Some people have stories burning inside of them to get out. Some people need a creative outlet for their flood of ideas.

I just really like chocolate and I can't have my daily piece until I write a thousand words. So I write.

This is my grand prize give away today: a one pound box of See's Chocolates. It kind of goes with my Friday Favorites I like to do sometimes, because you'll be getting the mix of my favorite pieces that I stock up on when I meet my writing goal approximately every three weeks. When that happens and I've eaten my last piece of writing chocolate, I march myself to the nearest See's (or sometimes the farther one because there's a Nordstrom in that mall and the siren call of their shoe department lures me to wreck my budget) and I fill a new box with the good stuff.

So I GUESS since this is the last day of give aways, if you want to be entered, leave a comment and somewhere in there add what your favorite kind of chocolate bon bon is. I MIGHT see that one makes its way into your box if you win. I might. And if you don't say anything about the chocolate (we are pronouncing it chock-oh-la-tay today), then you're not entered and I'll know you're just leaving a comment out of pure love.

One of my criqtique partners, Aubrey Mace, knows my love of See's well. She rewards herself with it whenever she puts in treadmill time. I mean, I guess some people would say virtue is its own reward, but virtue alone would never get ME on a treadmill. Anyway, we got to hang out at a writing conference in April and I was all excited to give her a box of See's. And she was all excited to pull out her present for me, which was. . . the exact same thing. So we were both very happy.

Since it's kind of Friday Favorites around here, let's turn to some blog spotlights. Or don't. It's not like I'll know you clicked away. But you'll be sad because it's all about bringing the funny today.

These are the blogs that I never, ever miss. Ever. Never.

A couple of these I'll slap with the following rating: Don't Go If You're Easily Offended, or DGIYEO.

That looks like "Diego," which always causes me great sadness. I want to have a boy named Diego but my husband says "Diego Jacobson" sounds stupid and I'm mad at him for not being Hispanic so that it wouldn't matter if he was named Diego. But we try to work through these things.

Navel Gazing At Its Finest. Really, do I need to say anything? Did you know she posted yesterday? Turns out her sofa didn't swallow her, she didn't move to a cabin in Montana to write anti-technology treatises, and she's not finding herself in an Indian Ashram. She's been hanging out at the pool.

The Lawsons Did Dallas: DGIYEO. I lurk. She never comments back on my blog. I don't care. She's funny enough that I will totally set aside my own narcissism and need for reciprocation so I can read her. She lives in Maine. Weird, right? I thought we sold that lot to Canada FOREVER ago.

Pulsipher Predilections: DGIYEO. It's the weirdest thing. Kristina posts, and then in twenty seconds she has over ten thousand comments. People LOVE her. With good reason. Stinking hilarious and she will go there. You know, there. You still don't know? There is anywhere that will make you say, "Oh no, she didn't." Like you're an "In Living Color" cast member. But oh, yes. She did. She really, really did.

Crast Test Dummy Diaries: Something's wrong with her. Wandering through her blog is a strange and winding trip full of invisible red thread and people named Wolfgang. That's why I go back and back and then I go back. And after that? I go back.

Suburb Sanity: I seriously love this woman. Snark with equal measures of wisdom. Great writer. Do NOT mess with her grocery store.

Finslippy: DGIYEO. Hysterical.

No Botox Allowed: I fell in love with this blog for the title alone. Then it turned out that Wendy is stinking hilarious. She makes fun of herself in a way that invites you to laugh with her.

My Real Life Was Backordered: This is the only blog I read aloud to my husband. I can't get enough. I want every heroine in every book I write to be just like DeNae. I want to help her help people off of bridges and just kind of follow her everywhere, waiting for sarcastic, lovely pearls to drop from her mouth. Then I want to string them into a necklace and wear them as a good luck charm to see if they make me funnier. And since there's something distinctly Hannibal Lecter-ish about that, I'll settle for openly and fervently stalking her blog.

All righty, then. (Don't say that Jim Carrey style. He's not that funny.) Don't forget to name your favorite bon bon for the shot at the See's chocolate box.

And now for yesterday's winners.

The Philosophy Raspberry Sorbet shower gel goes to. . . Annette Lyon! Woot!

And the character naming privileges go to. . .

Oh, dear heaven and all its angels.

DeNae.