11 Questions and a Blog Award

*Dusts off blog so she can post shiny award*

Thank you, Heather Riffle, for the award. And the excuse to dust off my blog. Hopefully I still have some followers left after its neglect.

Now on to the fun stuff.

Rules:
-Answer the presenter’s 11 questions
-Choose 11 lucky recipients (who have fewer than 200 followers)
-Formulate 11 questions for them to answer
-Plaster the award on your blog

I’ll likely bend the second rule, but the rest I can do! Here are Heather’s questions for me:

1. Does music ever inspire your writing? Absolutely. I find Celtic music especially gets me in the mood to write fantasy. I’ve also become hooked on Radio Rivendell. Epic music for epic writing.

2. What is your favorite season? Autumn. Warm colors. Crunch of leaves. The weather is just starting to cool. The kid is back in school. The writer community comes together for The Muse Online Writers Conference, and NaNoWriMo. Fall may not be the usual time for new beginnings, but it represents MY beginning. I was born in November. So this time of year is also perfect for my blog’s revival.

3. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. I was born on Thanksgiving, and it’s a time for food and family and fun.

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  And why? Ooh, this is a toughie. No, actually it’s not. There’s this island I researched for one of my novels. Sylt island, the northernmost part of Germany. It never gets completely dark at night in the summer. Miles and miles of beach. The smell of the ocean. Charming villages. So very magical.

5. Cats or dogs? Why? Cats. An obvious reason, I am more allergic to dogs. They are more self-sufficient. On a more emotional level, cats are comforting, playful, always bring a smile. They tend to be cuddlers, just like me.

6. Favorite color?  What do you think it says about your personality? Purple. Purple is creativity, passion, fantasy, play, and possibility.

7. Favorite movie? Why? The Avengers. Joss Whedon + Chris Evans + great dialogue + an epic cast + action + superheroes = AWESOME

8. If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Why? What a wonderful follow up to #7. LOL I would choose flight. To fly through the air, up where it’s pure, traveling wherever I please.

9. If you could time-travel, would you? Where/When would you go? And for what reason? I would travel back to when Stonehenge was in its full glory. I want to see it whole, and learn how and why it was built.

10. Favorite food? German Chocolate Cake. If dessert doesn’t count, then homemade banana muffins.

11. Who/what is your favorite character (movie, book, TV) of all time? Hard to label just one. I must have a thing for bad boys, cause the names that pop into my head are Captain Mal Reynolds (from Firefly), Leesil (assassin from The Noble Dead Saga), Matrim (from Wheel of Time), and Raistlin (from Dragonlance). No wonder the male hero of my first book is a thief!

Not sure who to pass this on to. That may have to be a future post. I hope you enjoyed my answers.

Irresistibly Sweet

Yesterday I received the sweetest blog award from Saronai:

She said: “Looks alone make this site irresistible to me.  Even if the posts were uninteresting, I could just admire the eye-grabbing layout cradling the finer, more fanciful header.  I also enjoy her muse theory.”

Aww, thanks so much! I’m glad someone enjoys my layout as much as I do.

I am to share seven random facts about myself, and then pass the award along to five blogging friends.

Randomness About Me

1. I love keys. Ever since reading The Golden Key, I have been fascinated by them. Especially key necklaces. I used to have a simple key on a chain with a Yin-Yan pendant. One of my favorite necklaces  now is a Steampunk key (gift from my awesome husband) from Keyper’s Cove, seen here.
2. I am a plotter. I usually have to have at least a vague idea of a scene before I start writing it. I have one chapter written of a book that isn’t plotted AT ALL. And it scares me and fascinates me at the same time.
3. I currently have 300 Friends on Facebook. Most of them are fellow Dragon, a secret society in The Secret World, an upcoming MMO which I am super excited for. We are preparing for The Secret War which should be coming to Facebook soon. (Choose your faction now!)
4. Thanks to Netflix streaming on Xbox Live, I have watched 50 episodes of Charmed in seven weeks.
5. I started writing poetry in fifth grade. I have written well over 200 poems.
6. I have seven different email accounts.
7. I have a phone phobia. My mind goes blank whenever I’m on the phone. I can never remember the things I was supposed to ask, or info to pass along. Yay for an era of email, blogs, Facebook, and texts!

And This Award Goes To…

The top five sites I find irresistible (in no particular order):

1. Liana Brooks – I’m always learning something fascinating about science and how things work. LOVED her series on The Truth behind Lust (and Love!).
2. Nikki – Always amazed at how much she manages to get done with 7 kids and a husband in the military! She shares her challenges and provides helpful household tips.
3. The Steampunk Home – I love Steampunk, the aesthetics, the genre, the clothes. This blog feeds my appetite with pictures and links of household items that fit that Steampunk vibe.
4. Epbot – Jen is always sharing wonderfully geeky things. Her skills at do-it-yourself projects are envious!
5. Alina – Love, love her whimsical header. And her posts are totally relatable as a fellow introvert writer and mom.

Tuesday Tally and The Best Blog Award

A little belated, but thank you to Courtney for the beautiful new award:

Here are the rules for the BBA:

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other bloggers that you recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I don’t always play along with these, but here are some more recently discovered blogs I have been enjoying.

• Tamlyn Leigh’s blog write between the lines.  I met her at the Muse Online Writers Conference, and have been following her blog since.
• Improv Everywhere is a fun group that stages scenes in public places. Much enjoyment to read and watch. I’d heard of them before, but recently discovered their missions page, which is quite a list of their past performances.
• Who is Kai?, a science fiction story by elucian. I haven’t read much yet, but it is so far poetic, deep, symbolic. And I’m not one usually into SciFi.
• Shooting Stars, a blog by some talented and entertaining sisters, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, who are both newly agented writers.
• Laurelyn Estes over on Romantic Musings, where she blogs about writing speculative fiction romance.

 

I’ve been making some progress on TC these last two weeks. We should be getting insulation before Christmas, and a couple new windows hopefully soon after. So I should be ready for some productivity in a warmer house come the new year.

In the meantime, I’m focusing more on submissions. I may not complete any of my other way out there goals for the year, but I’m so close on my poetry submitting!

 

Goals:

• submit a minimum six poems before Dec 31
• prepare more queries for EotF, to send after Christmas

 

Ten days until Christmas! My favorite things about the season:

The decorated Christmas tree (looking at it, not so much the process), and watching my son's excitement over every little thing: the tree, snow, presents, the countdown. Do you know what he says when asked what he wants for Christmas? “Presents.” So easy to please.

First Bling!

My very first blog award! Thank you, Jenn.

 

So here are the rules of the blingage.

 

Premio-Dardas: "This award 'acknowledges the values that every Blogger displays in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values with each message they write. Awards like this have been created with the intention of promoting community among Bloggers. It's a way to show appreciation and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web."

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted it to you, along with his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to (15) other blogs that you feel are worthy of this recognition. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen as recipients.

 

So, in no particular order, I present this award to...

 

1. Inkygirl - her comics remind me of the humor and universal truths in our profession

 

2. Liana - for an motivating blog, and reminding me that randomness can be a good thing

 

3. Authoress - for encouraging participation and communication between writers, creating a community within her blog, and all the wonderful challenges and contests.

 

4. Nikki - for always managing to write an entertaining blog, and sharing her wealth of household tips, despite the craziness that is her life

 

5. Alan Campbell - for sharing his writing life, and Scottish wit

 

6. Writer Unboxed - for a great group of writers, at all stages of publication,

sharing their journey

 

7. Poetic Asides - for celebrating and motivating poets

 

8. Lynn - for sharing her query process, complete with successes and failures. it makes me want to get busy sending my own out.

 

9. Cake Wrecks - for making me laugh during the week, and ooh in awe on Sundays, at the unbelievable cakes out there. my preschooler and I enjoy looking at the blog together.

 

10. Fantasy Book Critic - for a wealth of knowledge about new SFF books, and providing an opportunity to win some!

 

11. Shrinking Violets - for celebrating the introverts!

 

12. Patrick Rothfuss - for being the most generous writer I know

 

13. Diana - for proving that writers can genre hop, just write a book that you love, whether it's secret societies or killer unicorns

 

14. Justine - for taking the time to answer questions on her view of the writing and publishing world

 

15. Fangs, Fur, & Fey - for an amazing community of fantasy authors, of which I hope to be a part of someday.