I’ve seen other bloggers receive
this nomination, and wondered with moon eyes and downturned mouth, when my turn
would come? Well, days, weeks and months
have passed, and at last, I’ve been Liebstered!
The
Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have a following
of between 200 and 3000 – depending on which resource you read. You can, if you want accept the award as an honorary one if you don’t
wish to pass it on, but I’m happy to accept and pass the baton on to other
bloggers.
Here are the Liebster Award
rules:
Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
Thank you, Lora Hughes for kindly
nominating me for this long desired award. Check out Lora’s brilliant blog, The Writing Closet at: http://lorahughes.blogspot.co.uk/
Answer the questions posed.
Here are Nora’s thoughtful,
intriguing questions:
1. What is the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?
This question poses no challenge
– it was an absolutely delicious peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake bought
at a cafe in a small town when I visited a friend who lives so far away I’ve
not revisited – despite the lingering memory of that cheesecake!
2. Do you need contact with people in order for you to create?
No, I don’t. Am I inspired by life? Yes, but I believe everything and
everyone I’ve ever seen, read, heard or experienced in any way influences my
writing. Meeting other writers, whether online or in person, and reading books
and blogs about the writing process makes me want to start writing straight
away, but I believe my creativity and inspiration comes from within
myself.
3. Does (your) despair have its place in (your) happiness?
Whew, this is a difficult
question, Nora. Is any emotion we experience pure or somewhere on a spectrum?
Like every other human being on the planet, I experience a range of emotions
every day, and sometimes I’m up and sometimes I’m down. So in that sense, I
guess you could say my despair has a place in my happiness, but I focus on the
full half of my glass – I have so much to be grateful for (like not living in a
war zone, having running water and electricity, and being born in a country
that provides a free education) that I do my best to not dwell on the things I
don’t have. I comfort myself with the knowledge that there’s always someone
better off...and someone worse off than me, and in the long run, although
everything is real – it is temporary.
4. Give me a link to a recording of your favourite piece of music.
I’m not particularly musical, but
like anything with a good beat – and I loved all the versions of this theme
song to The Wire, although the first
is my favourite, because some music just resonates more than others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR9_wbTrInI
5. Talk about the relation between mental health (good or bad) and
the creative act.
Oh dear, another question which
is really making me think and which I don’t feel qualified in any way to answer
although I’ll give it a go! On the one hand, being creative when experiencing
say, exhaustion, may be impossible, yet on the other hand, being creative puts
you in touch with a deep inner part of yourself, it’s uplifting, renewing, and
is often recommended as therapy for mental illness. New Zealand writer Janet
Frome, who spent eight years in a mental asylum, said 'Writing is a boon,
analgesic, and so on. I think it's all that matters to me. I dread emerging
from it each day.'
6. Recommend something for me to read that you haven’t written.
Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare – a book to
enjoy as a reader and learn from as a writer.
7. Give me a link to something that you have written.
This is a short story I posted on
Wattpad about a relationship break-up and the aftermath.
8. Is there a moment you can remember when something happened or
you had some thought that changed things for you? If so, tell that
story. If not, what could have changed everything?
There’s at least half a dozen
moments when something did happen which changed things for me, but those
stories are not for telling here...and the list of things which could have changed
everything is a long one – I might even write a novel about it one day!
9. What is THE most amazing thing about human beings?
Their potential.
10. Write a summary of how you see yourself.
A writer following my dreams.
Choose a number of bloggers to nominate.
Again depending on your research
- this varies – the number you can choose is between three and ten. I’m
nominating four bloggers, which seems a small number, but somebody pipped me
and nominated several bloggers I had in mind – and almost everybody else I know
has already been Liebered!
But here are four fabulous
bloggers whose sites are well worth a visit.
Christine Campbell is one of
those people I’m happy to have met since starting my own blog. She’s a
positive, upbeat person who makes you realize that the beauty of life is
happening all around you – and you should stop and appreciate it! Christine has
a new book Flying Free just released
– so check out her blog at: http://cicampbellblog.wordpress.com/
Anita Dawes offers support to
other writers, posts great photos, and is a generous soul who is running a
fundraiser for the Merlin Charity which works to deliver medical expertise to the toughest places in
the world. Buy her short story White
Roses and all proceeds go to the charity. Find out about Anita at her blog:
anitajaydawes.blogspot.com
Jan Baynham is, like me, on a
writing journey which she documents on her blog. Jan’s cheerful posts reveal
her enthusiasm, determination and enjoyment of the writing process. Check out
Jan’s blog at: http://janbaynham.blogspot.co.uk
Lisa Reiter is an inspiring lady
who writes a lively blog where she posts some of her writing, yummy healthy
recipes and talks about a number of topics including her survival of cancer. http://sharingthestoryblog.wordpress.com
Make up more questions for your nominees to answer.
Here are my questions and I look
forward to reading the nominees’ answers:
1. What is your earliest childhood memory?
2. What was the first story/poem you ever wrote?
3. Post a link to your favourite poem.
4. Who do you admire, in terms of style, as a writer?
5. What is your current writing goal?
6. Who is your celebrity crush?
7. Post a link to your favourite painting.
8. What do you think is your biggest obstacle to achieving your goals?
9. What wish is at the top of your bucket list?
10. Post a link to your most popular
post.
This has been fun, and a change
from my usual blog topic – so thank you again, Lora!
Writing Update
The read through of The Unforgiveness of Blood© is finished and I’ve settled on a title that connects to the vampires in
the tale. To be honest there’s not a whole lot of fang action, and what there
is focuses on my moody heroine, as the novel is more action-adventure/romance
oriented. Some pages of the manuscript have only a few marks, but others look
like I’ve thrown the inkpot at them. My intention is to work hard so that the
additions, corrections and decorations are finished, and the book is ready for
beta readers by the end of May. The goal is still to publish in July! (Or
August...)
Today’s Haiku
FLIRTING
he likes her curves so
has problems meeting her eye –
she takes advantage
Useful links:
This link is to an informative
post on the history of the Liebster award:
One of the most helpful posts on
the Liebster Award I came across:
http://wordingwell.com/the-liebster-award-the-official-rules-my-first-blog-award-and-a-few-personal-secrets-revealed/
And here are the links to my
nominees – all in one place!
http://lorahughes.blogspot.co.uk/
I’d love it if you popped over to Wattpad and read any of my posted
stories...just click on the links to the left.
Join me on Twitter at: teagankearney@modhaiku
Thanks for visiting my blog, and please do leave a comment.
To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who
write, good writing.
