Questions of Honour !

Well, I’d seen this blog award doing the rounds and read various posts with a mixture of awe and envy and at the end of them still wasn’t clear what it was all about! Nevertheless, when nominated by Teagan Kearney at Writing My Novel – No Working Title Yet to receive the Liebster Award, gladly collected it as a badge of honour and will soon have Max’s trumpet out attempting to parp in celebration!

💖 Thank you Teagan ! Forever in my heart for bestowing upon me, my first ever blogging award!

The origins of the award are lost in the mists of on-line time somewhere before 2010. Like a Chinese whisper, there are several versions of the rules but the goal seems to be to bring attention to relatively small blogs that may not have been discovered yet – the recipients must have less than anywhere between 200 and 3000 followers. Seeking to clarify a little, Wikipedia failed me on this rare occasion, but reading earlier bloggers who have also tried to track it down, it seems it must have originated in Germany (well, duh) as a way of saying publicly ‘I love your blog”.

Checking with a German friend to avoid the problems of google translate (thank you Clarissa! @ClarissaGiebel) and any further dilution of meaning, ‘Liebster’ means ‘Darling’ and is masculine, whereas ‘Liebste’ means darling as feminine. In some contexts, liebster also means the most favourite – Either way I either have ‘a most favourite’ or ‘a darling blog’.

Well darlings, I’m going with “darling blog” and hunting around for a strip of red carpet and high heals so I might feel a complete luvvy. To reveal a bit more of the award winners, and perhaps why everyone else should know them and their blog a bit more, there’s a tradition of posing questions for the recipients and inviting them to come up with a new set for their own nominees to pass the honour forwards.

I found all sorts of questions! There are clearly blogs of genres I never thought to think existed and have no intention of ever visiting again! There’s little of intellectual interest for my readers to be gained considering threesomes versus steak for example. Nevertheless, whilst I’ve kept a few of my questions lighthearted, they focus around things I would genuinely like to know about you.

The whispered history indicates the nomination should be passed on to anywhere between 3 and 10 other bloggers – Totally rolling on my back in the limelight (on the red carpet) like a cool cat, graciously bestowing prizes on others – I did hunt out 6 suitable candidates – who haven’t already been Liebstered –  whose captivating blogs I have been dipping in and out of for some time, because there’s always something interesting going on.

So, the rules in summary:

✔️Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.

✔️Answer the questions posed.

✔️Nominate up to 10 blogs to pay the compliment forward.

✔️Set your own questions for them to answer.

✔️Recipients may accept the award as an honorary award if they haven’t the time to do anything further.

 

The questions Teagan posed me are:

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?

Sitting my baby brother on a second story windowsill to look down below at my friends. The window was open and I guess from the reaction, all the adults around thought I was a jealous older sister about to throw him out!

2. What was the first story/poem you ever wrote?

I can’t really remember though there will have been many at primary school. The headmaster was all literature and arts and my Dad had to teach me maths at home. For a while, I was one of three nerdy girls in sixth form, sat in the corner of the classroom at breaks writing dark, love lost poems and lyrics that would have worked well for the Moody Blues.

3. Post a link to your favourite poem.

This is by far the hardest of Teagan’s questions. There are many I love for different reasons – My mood dictates in this instance: “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time“  by Robert Herrick

4. Who do you admire, in terms of style, as a writer?

There are so many – this is a mean question! I know I’m supposed to be a poseur and doff my cap towards one of the greats, even Shakespeare who I genuinely pick up and read because his words are beautiful. Hand on heart honestly though, Stephen King – his writing is so easy to read, even the genres I don’t enjoy (horror) – he has the craft mastered and I love the way he develops his situations and characters. I have read his memoir “On Writing” five times and gain something every time.

5. What is your current writing goal?

To tackle the last 20% of my memoir manuscript – I’ve left all the dirty washing, scientific research and deciding where it ends until last and it’s difficult.

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Daniel Craig

7. Post a link to your favourite painting.

This painting symbolises more than a quick few words can convey: Max was 2 when I was given less than 6 months to live. When I got my head around it enough to start fighting, I set myself the goal of seeing him start school. This is his self-portrait age 5 in his first school uniform.

You can see the likeness ! Here’s Max age 5, ten years ago

8. What do you think is your biggest obstacle to achieving your goals?

Starting up new ones too regularly. All the time, actually. I get bored easily and crave novelty.

9. What wish is at the top of your bucket list?

Honestly – finish my memoir so I can get on with the rest of my bucket list!

10. Post a link to your most popular post.

Most viewed: Diagnosis: From despair to new Life – guest post from Fiona Buxton

Most commented: Bite Size Memoir: School at Seven

 

Now for my nominees who are:

 

💖 Sherrey Meyer at sherreymeyer.com who is a writer currently working on a memoir about ‘a Southern matriarch and how she ruled the roost with not so pleasant methods’. Sherrey was a particular support and inspiration in my earliest blogging days!

💖 Pamela Helberg at pamelahelberg.com – Pam is writing a memoir, in her words: “an intimate look at what happens when the Perfect Lesbian Family falls apart”. I came across Pam by accident, when she wrote a post about her daughter’s dismay at getting a black doll instead of a white one for Christmas. If there was a “best ever post award” this would be a front-runner for me. It’s such an eloquent exploration of parental distress over society’s power over image and self-esteem, I urge you to read it. makeup beauty doll and other complications

💖 Charley Kitley at lifeasasemi-colon.blogspot.co.uk – Charley is a Mum in her 30’s dealing with bowel cancer. Life is not easy but her take on it is fun and easy to read. She somehow normalises what I know cannot be very easy at all. I share her need to keep other’s engaged in difficult discussions so that having cancer is not isolating. Do visit, you’ll have fun with her kids as well as her wigs.

💖 Diane Mottl at beingtrulypresent.com is a Canadian author and artist whose blog ties meaningful – in the moment – stories to her beautiful pencil drawings.

💖 Rachel Bown at bananagiraffes.com – Rachel has recently published “The C-List” which is about the daft and sometimes funny things that happen to people living with cancer and includes useful tips for making the best of it. Her latest blog post is providing me with some much needed structure to finish my own story!

💖 Chris at: reflectionsonawastedlife.wordpress.com – I ‘met’ Chris on-line through Rachel Bown. He is another struggling with bowel cancer. His writing is dry, eloquent and under-stated, keeping the world up to date with his current battles as he continues to pursue the music scene around Manchester.

So my luvvies, please answer the following questions!

1. If you were a superhero which one would you be?

2. Be honest, last holiday – what did you read?

3. What everyday, little things make you smile?

4. When you get bored and switch off reading when someone else’s blog / post what’s the usual reason?

5. What nicknames have you had that suited you?

6. Apart from “Love Me, Love my Dog” which song makes you cry?

7. What was the most ‘no going back’ moment in your life?

8. Who’s the best James Bond?

9. What book still haunts you?

10.What do you enjoy most about your own blog and blogging?

11.Which of these questions was the best?

Please let me know when you post your answers – I hope you have as much fun as I have!

Finally I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who reads any of my posts and visits other blogger’s sites. We’re all busy opening our hearts on the page in the hope we strike a chord with a few others on the way. Thank you for listening.

(Anyone can answer question 11 !)