LIEBSTER AWARD NOMINATION
The amazing author Shannon Eichorn (who both has a blog and is active on Twitter) nominated me for a Liebster Award. As far as I can gather from extensive link-clicking from her blog to another blogger's blog, and so on, this is a sort of tag-you're-it way to promote new or under-followed awesome blogs. And look, it has a logo!
Since Shannon nominated me, I must answer the tremendously insightful questions she posed, nominate 10 more blogs, and pose new questions to my nominees. (And let them know they’re nominees of course.)First, a contribution to the Liebster trivia collective: Leibster is only one letter away from Leinster, which is the surname of Murray Leinster, who was one of my early discoveries as a reader of science fiction. Leinster was a pen name for William Fitzgerald Jenkins.Shannon's challenging inquiries and my absurdist answers below:
- Do you have any competing passions?
Tons of passions compete for my time. Reading books and graphic novels, gardening, watching movies and television, listening to music and making it, camping and hiking...they're all time-consuming attention hogs. Then there's the blanket collecting obsession, my enduring fascination with shiny objects, and my love for all things glow-in-the-dark. In a word: yes.
- What would you say to someone who admires you and your work?
To someone admiring me? "Thank you."That's a safe courteous way to accept a compliment and move the conversation away from personal topics.Someone admiring my work?"Thank you. What's your favorite part?" or "Thank you, where did you hear about it?"Those are easy ways to get a fun conversation started.
- In your opinion, what is something everyone should do once in a lifetime?
Work in public service--cashiering, cleaning, serving food, or any job requiring caring for others (physically, mentally or emotionally)--in exchange for a wage.And be required to live on that wage alone.
- What do you get from being an online content provider?
The freedom to mock the phrase "online content provider" to my heart's content in a forum that could potentially be seen by millions. Ahem. (1) in reality, my posts usually only reach a hundred or so. At most. I would like more, of course. I want a global, adoring audience. (2) Writing online is like reading aloud on an empty stage. The perfect balance for a shy & introverted storyteller like me.
- How do you feel about the future?
Ambivalent, the way I feel about most things. I'm an over-achiever in the overthinking department.
- Cats or dogs (ie, let me throw you a bone)?
Yes! I love both. That's why I have gene-modded hybrids in several stories.
- Favorite work of fiction?
That's a toughie. Let's restrict it to written novel-length works of fiction. Hm. Still tough. The one I've re-read most often in my life is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, the one I've re-read most in the last decade would be God Stalk by P. C. Hodgell.
- Please tell us about your current projects.
I'm dividing my time between four things right now:1. Writing a novelette to round out my Rough Passages collection, which is an alternate-history series about a world where mid-life crises curse people with superpowers. A dystopian government controls the changed population, and this story follows a conscientious objector through her transformation and its consequences.2. Finishing up Book 3 in the Chronicles of the Restoration series. Book 1: Novices was a dystopian coming-of-age novella. Book 3: Prodigals is a novel about recovering from defeat and starting over. The only problem? I haven't written Book 2:Sacrifices yet. So that project is still a long way from publication-ready.3. Re-formatting my two novels for a second print edition, formatting the companion novellas for print publication as an omnibus single title, shopping for a cover artist for both.4. A new Restoration short about William Clooney and how he came to meet Justin.
- Can you tell us about something special you have planned?
Nope. It's a secret.Just kidding! This year I'm getting my act together and business-ing up so I can sell at SF cons and separate finances and have a business tax ID and suchlike. Well. In all honesty I hope to pay someone to help me do it. Because Business is not my Thing.
- Coffee or tea (or something else)?
Yes. Sorry. Unqualified binaries bug me. My alternate answer is "It depends." I am fond of most beverages, alcoholic or otherwise. Dr. Pepper would be one exception. Blech. Yogurt drinks would be another. Pretty much everything else cam be enjoyed in the right time and place.
And now <drumroll> my nominees: Keymasher: the site & blog for Erica Lindquist & her writing partner Aron Christensen. They write science fiction, contemporary fantasy-noir, and more. Currently they are working on a hot-stuff erotic urban fantasy serial under the pen names Natalie & Eric Severine. I like the storytelling, I like the style, and I like the site. 'Nuff said.(The design may look a bit familiar; Erica was a huge help to me when I was kicking Wordpress.com customization into line for my site.)
Final note on nominees: I read a lot of blogs, so this is a tiny, non-representational selection chosen on a first-to-mind basis. I'll prolly think of ten more great people I could nominate two seconds after hitting "publish." To them I apologize in advance.The most important point: THIS IS A NO OBLIGATION NOMINATION. I likes your blogses and your bookses, and I would love you to get more visibility and more blog traffic. That is all.
The nominees' mission: (should you choose to accept it)to continue the cross-promotion that is the Liebster Award by doing the following:
- Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog in your post. (in this case that's me, and my site link is dawnrigger.com)
- Copy and paste the Liebster Award badge into your post.
- Answer the ten new questions posted below.
- Nominate your ten bloggers. Inform them of their nomination by commenting on their blogs with the news (EDIT: I must admit I made most alerts by twitter because it is an easier way to contact many people quickly) and provide the link to your blog post about the award.
- List ten new questions for your nominees to answer.
I repeat. There is. No. Obligation. This took me a morning and an afternoon to do. Maybe other people are quicker at the blogging part, but it's an investment I would not expect everyone to be interested in. But. You're invited. If you have interest, enjoy the fun part.
For the last segment, I need to propose questions for my nominees. Here goes:
- If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why? (It's a useless question for a job interview, but a fun one for showcases like this.)
- What's one of your cherished habits, rituals, or routines? (writing-related or otherwise) A thing you do regularly for personal satisfaction alone.
- What is it about your favorite color that puts it at the top of the list?
- Which six fictional or historical people would you bring together for a weekend house party in the big country manor you inherit from a long-lost relative?
- Where would you go if you won an all expenses paid 4-week family vacation to anywhere in the world? Presume zero scheduling/school/medical conflicts.
- What would you do there once you arrived?
- When did you first show your writing to someone else, and what happened?
- What bit of writing made your heart bleed to write but clawed its way out despite the pain. Blog, fiction, Facebook post...nominee's choice.
- Which blog post or fictional passage made you laugh most to write--which one did you had the most fun creating even if hardly anyone ever saw it
- Pickled vegetables: delicious or disgusting?