1953. Courtesy of Wikipedia

My family and friends all know: I’m not a smiley face kind of person. Way back in the 1960s, when the yellow menace started appearing everywhere, my response (when possible and legal) was to add frowning eyebrows, giving the face a cynical leer. Drawing those two lines always made me feel I’d made a difference. (Hey. I was in my teens. I could have done so much worse.)

But that ubiquitous icon still has its uses. For instance, today, when I’m featured on Patinspire’s I Love To Read blog, I don’t feel a bit cynical. I feel optimistic. And grateful — to my readers, to other bloggers, to NaNoWriMo, to my computer (the one in my head AND the one on my desk), to the unreliable muse* who keeps me inspired just enough to do all the hard work of writing without her help.

So, thanks to Patinspire for featuring me on your blog. Thanks to Imagineer-ing for pointing me in her direction. Here’s an old-fashioned non-cynical smiley face for the two you.

*If you’re an artist of any type and you haven’t seen Albert Brooks’ 1999 film, The Muse, you need to find it and watch it. And then get one of those blue Tiffany boxes (filled with something nice) to have on hand, just in case.