This week my blog was nominated for a Liebster Award. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, it’s an award that brings attention to smaller blogs liked by fellow bloggers. If you’d like to check out the origins of this award, I found a great post on it here.

Eva from In the Garden of Eva nominated me for this award. Eva blogs about her career as a writer and makes fun observations about life and writing. Thanks so much for the nomination, Eva!

The rules for accepting this award keep changing over time. Here’s what they are today:

1. List 11 random facts about myself.
2. Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated me.
3. Nominate 11 more blogs who have less than 200 followers and let them know they’ve been nominated.
4. Post 11 new questions for those bloggers to answer (if they wish to accept the award—it’s completely optional).

Since this is bound to be a longer post, I am going to start with my nominations so I can highlight some great blogs. If you’re still with me after that, you are welcome to read All About Me!

I’m sticking with the spirit of the award by nominating blogs I have followed for a while that have a relatively small audience (under 300 followers) and have consistently posted great content. I’m new to the world of blogging, so I only have six of these blogs to nominate. To make up the difference, I’d like to highlight five other blogs that have too many followers to be nominated but are great sources of writing tips.

And the nominees are…

Andrew Knighton Writes – Andrew writes sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk fiction and pens thoughtful posts about the writing process, films, and publishing. He is a fellow Joss Whedon fan.

Brenna Layne – Brenna is a writer of YA fantasy fiction. I love the writing style of her posts, which cover a variety of personal and writing-related topics.

Diary of an Aspiring Writer – N J Magas is a writer of speculative fiction who wrote a great interactive A-Z series in April on favourite authors.

I Can’t Possibly Be Wrong All the Time – If you love Game of Thrones, then you definitely have to check out Pat’s blog. ‘Nuff said.

Writeaway – Joanne is a fantasy writer who recently published a post on self-doubt that completely blew me away.

Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams – Lori is a reader and writer of fantasy who shares my love of The Princess Bride and wrote a fantastic A-Z series on favourite fictional characters.

11 Questions for the Nominees to Answer (should they choose to participate):

1. What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
2. What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
3. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
4. What do you do when you’re having writers’ block?
5. Why do you like the fantasy/science fiction genre?
6. If you could meet anyone you wanted, who would it be?
7. Introvert or extrovert?
8. Fill in the blank: “Writing is like _____________.”
9. Who or what inspires you?
10. Why should people read and follow your blog?
11. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

And here are five blogs that provide helpful writing tips (among other things):

Apoplectic Apostrophes

Change It Up Editing

Creative Writing with the Crimson League

Melissa Janda – A Time to Write

Write Through It

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my blog so far. I wish I could nominate all of you! And now, what you’ve been waiting for…(maybe)…All About Me!

11 Random Facts About Myself

1. I hate rhubarb.
2. I have always wanted to learn how to play the drums.
3. My favourite dessert is a Nanaimo bar.
4. My first major purchase was a typewriter (at age 8) because I wanted to write stories.
5. I am turning 40 this year, and I am still waiting to grow up.
6. I like to collect stones from the beach, when I actually get a chance to go there.
7. I am a huge Joss Whedon fan.
8. If I could have any superpower I wanted, I would pick flying.
9. I love to dance.
10. I once won a contest by singing “Let it Be” (I won theatre tickets).
11. I’m an introvert, so I don’t like talking about myself. Yay, it’s over! Oh, wait…

Answering 11 Questions

1. What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?

Selling those fun neon glowing bracelets and necklaces during concerts at a theme park. We got pulled out of the MC Hammer concert because it was too crowded. Go figure.

2. What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?

It’s hard to pick—I read so many books! I loved Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings. I recommend Sanderson for anyone who loves epic fantasy and detailed world-building. In non-fiction, I recently read Your Network is Your Net Worth by Porter Gale. Unlike the usual boring business books, this one was very helpful and actually inspired me to take notes.

3. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

The community of people I have met here. I love the conversations and the thoughts that everyone is sharing.

4. What do you do when you’re having writers’ block?

I go for a walk to clear my head. I have the best ideas when I am moving around!

5. What’s the weirdest/funniest comment you’ve ever received on your blog?

My blog hasn’t been around that long, so I can’t say that I’ve received any weird comments. The nicest comment I have received so far was from a reader who said that my posts could help her ESL students. I was thrilled to hear it!

6. What’s the best writers conference you’ve ever been to? (And if you’ve never been to one, what conference have you heard good things about?)

I haven’t been to a writer’s conference. I belong to the EAC (Editors’ Association of Canada), and I am looking forward to their annual conference in June. The EAC provides lots of great seminars on writing and editing topics.

7. What’s your Meyer’s Briggs Personality Type?

I’ve done this one a few times, and I keep coming out as INTJ. According to Wikipedia, that means I “possess the unusual trait of combining imagination and reliability.” Sounds good for a blog writer. I’ll take it!

8. Fill in the blank: “writing is like _____________.”

playing the piano. You need to pull everything together into a coherent whole, and if you’re doing it well, you find that zone of contentment.

9. Who is your dream literary agent?

I’m not looking for an agent, but if I needed one, I’d want someone who always had my back, truly believed in my writing, negotiated like a champ, and coached me through the whole process.

10. Why should people read and follow your blog?

I started this blog because I believed that people like to learn about communication, but are often turned off because they are intimidated by rules or bored with how ideas are presented. This is why I added in the sci-fi/fantasy slant on things. Anyone who wants to master grammar, build better relationships, speak with confidence, or write well will hopefully find some fun and useful tips in this blog!

11. If you died tomorrow, what would you miss most about your life?

Hugs. Lots of hugs from my family. You can never have enough hugs.

Thanks, everyone! Now, off to work on my next post…