The Versatile Blogger Award

The lovely Gwendolyn over at Apprentice, Never Master has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award (thank you!)

I confess that I have received award nominations before and haven’t done anything with them because I didn’t feel I knew enough people to forward the award on. Now, however, I follow lots of lovely people and am happy to pass this award forwards (although I can’t manage fifteen. See below).

Versatile Blogger Award Rules

1. Display the award certificate on your blog. (Look right.)

2. Announce your win and link back to the blogger who gave it to you. (Done and done.)

3. Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers. (I can’t do justice to fifteen different blogs so I’m presenting seven lovely blogs with just over 2 awards each. Thanks Gwendolyn I borrowed the idea from you!)

4. Drop them a comment to tip them off that you’ve linked to them.

5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself. (Hmmm, define interesting. I’ve put seven facts anyway.)

The Nominees:

1. Finding my Creature – even though Anushka has a full time job and is getting married this year she still finds time to write a phenomenal amount of stuff. Definitely versatile.

2.  Sally Jenkins – published short-story writer and informer of many useful competitions. Thanks Sally!

3.  BlogAboutWriting – Helen Yendall is a published short story writer, poet, would-be novelist (in her words) and creative writing tutor. She was Warwick Poet Laureate from 2006-7. If that’ isn’t versatile I don’t know what is!

4. Vampires, Ladies & Potpourri. Keri Peardon is a legal secretary, a writer of vampire novels, a medieval re-enactivist (is that a word?) and a lover of handicraft. Busy, inspiring, knowledgeable, versatile lady.

5. The dog ate my novel: Kellie Larsen Murphy’s blog is entertaining and informative. Kellie has recently self-published A Guilty Mind and her work rate in releasing and promoting the book is awesome.

6. Kittyb78: Kitty is a Writer/Mother/Wife/Black Dragon Kung Fu Instructor that adores cats and tigers. Author of YA Paranormal Romance book Dangerous Temptation. Very versatile.

7. Annie Cardi: Annie is a YA writer with an awesome blog. She posts Friday Fifteen (book reviews in fifteen words or less), Links Galore (full of fascinating facts), links to really cool products and some interesting and inspiring posts. Your one-stop-shop for all things YA.

Although I have dedicated more time recently to getting to know new blogs I still don’t have a massive list in my reader. I prefer to read most or all of the posts from a few blogs than dip a toe in many. As a result I don’t feel I know fifteen blogs enough to nominate them.

Seven Interesting Things About Me:

1. I played the violin as a child even though I’m more or less tone deaf. The children ask me not to sing along to the radio.

2. I paint and sell abstracts in bright colours but I was afraid of using colour in art at school.

3. My most random skill is being able to neatly fold a double-fitted-sheet: learned while working in a Youth Hostel in Dunedin, New Zealand.

4. I like to climb mountains by myself, but I failed the Three Peaks Challenge due to dodgy knees.

5. I read Clarissa from cover to cover (one of the longest novels in the English Language at nearly a million words. It’s an Eighteenth Century Epistolary novel featuring Rape as its core story and I read it the year I got married. It didn’t do much for pre-marriage romance!)

6. I bought my husband for £16.95 on the Internet

7.  I wore a large red silk dress at my wedding

To all of the bloggers mentioned in this post. Please take this award as what it is: an award. Follow the rules (or don’t) as per your own personal philosophies.