What
a wonderful surprise! I was out of touch for a week while I was at a meeting
for work, and when I resurfaced, I found my blog had been awarded not one but
two blog awards! These peer blog awards are a thoughtful and friendly way to
recognize bloggers and let them know we appreciate what’s being written. So
often we painstakingly send our missives out into the blogosphere and have no
idea if anyone’s even looking. This is a nice way to recognize what’s out there
and “pay it forward.”
So what
is the One Lovely Blog Award?
Rules
for the One Lovely Blog award are to thank the blogger who nominated you, give
seven facts about yourself, post the blog award badge on your site, and
nominate other noteworthy blogs, notifying them you did so. Here are
my facts:
1.
I’ve been writing since I was 5 years old.
2.
My mantra is: This, too, shall pass. It’s so easy to think that whatever
situation we’re in is going to last forever, but thankfully—or not—it doesn’t.
3.
I got my first gray hair when I was 13 years old.
4.
I’m a certified hypnotherapist and think hypnosis is the best thing since
sliced bread. It’s easy, amazingly helpful and beneficial and it’s fun.
5.
I’m a Grammar Nazi.
6.
I cannot imagine life without a dog or a cat (preferably both), books, sunsets,
music, clean sheets of paper, pens, clouds, wild animals, mountains,
waterfalls, hummingbirds, fall color, chocolate, starry skies and butter, not
necessarily in that order.
7. I
believe we are put on this earth to learn, to grow, and to help each other
grow.
My award pick is:
Other blogs that I think are
especially helpful to all writers:
What is
the Liebster Blog Award?
The Liebster
Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200
followers. Liebster is German for pleasant, valued, and many other
synonyms. The rules for this one state that you answer the 11
questions asked of you by the Blogger who gave you this award. You
then nominate other blogs and leave your own list of questions for those
bloggers.
Sunni’s questions
for me to answer are below.
1. What is your greatest
achievement so far and why?
That’s a tough one. I think my
greatest achievement is living the life I want to live. I’ve heard so many people moan about the city or state they
live in, how they’d love to move but they can’t because of (choose one) job,
family, economy/money. Although my life is somewhat confined by the need to
earn a living, my husband and I have always been willing to move to places that
fit our lifestyle and do things we enjoy. I have never been shackled to a
location because of work, family, or lack of imagination. I live in places I
love (Arizona), I go places that haunt me (Australia), and I do what I can’t
imagine not doing—writing and publishing. It doesn’t get any better.
2. How do you spend your
free time?
Free
time always seems to be at a premium; there are always so many “have-tos” to
get done. My favorite enjoyment is (surprise!) reading. Beyond that, I
absolutely love being out in wilderness places, watching wild animals, enjoying
the sun, the wind, the clouds, thunderstorms and clear night skies.
3. What is your favorite
season and why?
I have always loved fall; love the
feel of the air, the colors of the leaves, the breezes, the clouds. However, in
Arizona, things are slightly topsy-turvy and we don’t have the fall color here I
had in California or Oregon. Here in AZ, spring is the best, when everything
starts waking up, greening up, budding up.
4. If you could live
anywhere besides where you do now, places today or times back in history, where
would it be and why?
My two most favorite places on the
planet are the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell, and it would be awesome to live at
either. I’m already close; after retirement will soon be closer.
5. To date, what has been your
worst disappointment in life?
It may sound weird, but I can’t
think of any. Oh, I’ve had disappointments, sure, but the worst? Seems like
every disappointment I’ve had has been a springboard to something better. I got
laid off at my job at the phone company after 21-1/2 years; I soon found my
current job at the National Observatory, the absolutely hands-down best job
ever. I’ve had rejection letters on several of my books that cut my heart out,
but I’ve now published 10 books to date, both traditionally and self-published.
How bad can a disappointment be if we overcome it? They don’t even rate.
6. How did you get
interested in writing?
I have been writing stories since
I was 5, too long ago to even remember why. I guess I’ve just always been a
natural-born story-teller.
7. What advice would you
give a new writer?
Stay true to yourself and your
story. Writing is such a solitary pursuit, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a
lack of confidence, by contrary “advice” given by “experts,” but no one knows
the story that’s in your heart and mind like you do. Accept constructive
criticism cautiously, mull it around, lay the blueprint of your story over it
and see if it fits. If it does, great; you’ve made your story stronger. If it
doesn’t, throw it out! You are the only and best authority of what you want to
write.
8. If you could start all
over in life, would you change anything?
The only thing I would change in
my life would be the timing on my own leap of confidence (see 7 above). I spent too many years
believing others knew better than I did what I needed to do or write. I spent
too many years trying to make other people happy instead of taking
responsibility for my own happiness.
9. What is the most exciting thing
you’ve ever done?
Exciting, hmmm. Para-sailing in
Hawaii? Zip-lining in Costa Rica? Adult Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama?
Digging fire agates out of a mine in California? All fun and exciting, but the
most satisfying thing I’ve ever done was going to Machu Picchu. I’ve wanted to
see this place for myself ever since I first heard of it as a kid and it was
everything I’d dreamed and hoped it would be. It is one of, if not the, most
amazing places on earth.
10. Are you scared of anything,
or do you conquer all your fears and do it anyway?
Ha! I have a horrible fear of
heights and my favorite place in the whole world is the Grand Canyon. Go
figure. I doubt I’ll ever “conquer” my fear of heights, but I contain it as
much as possible to be able to enjoy my small adventures. I have pushed through
enough to go para-sailing and zip-lining, both hugely fun even tho terrifying.
Sky-diving? Never!
11. What are the best five
words that would describe you?
Positive,
confident, thoughtful, encouraging, imaginative.
My
award for a great blog is:
http://lynnkelleyrandomactsofwriting.blogspot.com/
by Lynn Kelley. Lynn has a knack for writing as and about kids, something that
eludes me. In reading just a bit of her latest, Double Digits, I realized that she has nailed the life of a
10-year-old.
Now,
my questions to my awardee:
1. Who do you
most admire and why?
2. What’s the
most difficult challenge you’ve ever overcome?
3. What has
writing taught you about yourself?
4. What’s
your favorite book (not your own) and why?
5. What
inspires you?
6. As a
reader, what’s your biggest complaint?
7. What are
you grateful for?
8. What’s
your best advice for aspiring writers?
9. What’s
your perfect environment for writing? (Place, time of day, peripherals)
10. What’s your
first consideration for choosing books to read?
11. Tell us
something about you that most people don’t know.
Thanks again
for the awards! Now get out there and pay it forward!