Last night I went to a baseball game with some favorite relatives: Rick, Patti and Kaylee. In early April, Kaylee turned 11. When I asked her how it felt to be that age she told me “different because all my baby teeth are gone now.”
Interesting comment!
“Eleven is my favorite number,” I told her.
This morning, blogger Hannah Mieklejohn continued The Magic Of Eleven by nominating me for a Liebster Award. Thank you, dear Hannah, for this award and especially for the opportunity to pass it on to other readers and writers in this community.
Please see more about her life of creativity, and her blog, below.
Hannah Meiklejohn
“WHEN I COULDN’T GET CRAB APPLES, I USED HORSE CHESTNUTS.”
THE LIEBSTER AWARD
I have been nominated by for my first blogging award! Thank you Donna M. Monnig for the honour. Donna’s blog Rhyme N Review is full of her poems and book reviews. She also talked about books, art, music and movies.
The Liebster Award is very unique in the fact it brings recognition to the smaller blogs of the ‘verse. With that in mind, all of the nominated blogs will have under 200 followers.
The rules:
1. Thank the Liebster Blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Post 11 facts about yourself, answer the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for your nominees.
3. Nominate 11 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.
4. Display the Liebster Award logo.
5. No tag back thingys.
Okay, here goes…
11 facts about myself:
- I play piano (and own a 1910 G.A. Buckland & co. upright)
- I think woodlice are tiny armadillos
- I had my first tattoo done when I was sixteen
- I programmed all my car radio stations to play either rock or classical
- I love the muscle ache after a good workout
- I’m enthusiastic about most things but people who don’t know me well enough mistake this for sarcasm
- I have a red-belt in karate (8th Kyu)
- I love classic cars, especially American muscle cars
- My favourite Star Trek character is Scotty
- If I could have a superpower it would be flying with a cape
- I have a Chinese Dwarf hamster called Bella (saving the best for last)
Answers to the 11 questions I was asked:
What is your favorite poem? – It’s not prestigious, it’s not deep or meaningful, but I just love The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Who’s your favorite poet? – I couldn’t possible pick just one. I would have to put them into categories (I do work in a library after all). My favourite children’s poet is probably Allan Ahlberg because reading his Heard it in the Playground as a child I made me want to write my own poems. My favourite contemporary poet is probably Carol Ann Duffy. I love how she structures her poems to create meaning in both line and sentence. My favourite poem of hers is Mean Time. Favourite 20th century poet is (and isn’t) Sylvia Plath. I admit I find her work annoying but I am strangely drawn to it all the same. I also like Christina Rossetti, William Blake, Rudyard Kipling, Shakespeare… the list could go on.
Do you prefer rhyming poetry or free verse? – I like both. I usually prefer reading free verse but I love the sound of a rhyming rhythmic piece. I prefer writing in rhyme for that reason but I do like the freedom of the free verse.
What compels you to blog? – This blog began as a place to share my creative writing, and my journey as a writer, but it has turned into more of a general blog about anything vaguely book-related. It’s nice to be a part of an online community of like-minded people. The communication that we have, even if it’s just ‘likes’ is why I continue to blog.
What’s your favorite holiday? – I like destinations with a lot of history and culture. I enjoy walking around and visiting museums so I usually stick to cities. I am a huge fan of architecture so I’m always taking pictures of amazing buildings, from old ruins, to futuristic marvels of creativity and imagination
What’s your favorite genre? – I like postmodernist literature, dystopian science fiction and anything with travel or action but I also read a lot of classics. Strangely, I’m not big into historical fiction even though I love history and I do enjoy setting my own stories in the past.
What’s your favorite book? – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I read it for the first time last year but I know I will read it again and again. When I was reading it I re-read passages before moving on because I wanted it to last. I kept on telling everyone about what crazy thing Orr just said, what insane logic Milo Minderbinder just applied, what crazy situation Doc Daneeka just got into. I became obsessed, and in love with Yossarian (that’s an in-joke). A changed the tagline on my blog to a line from the character Orr.
If you could do anything in the world, what would it be? – If I didn’t have to work for a living, I would travel, write, look after abandoned dogs, protect endagered species, get more tattoos, drive fast cars and do some scuba-diving.
Are you tired of answering these questions yet? – No not really, but then I didn’t answer them all at once. Plus I got to ramble on about Catch-22.
What do you wish people would write “less” about? – It depends on the platform but generally people complain about their lives too much. Be grateful to be alive, people. Facebook is especially bad for this, and for embellishing the truth. It’s like Descartes gone wrong. ”I lie therefore it is”.
What does writing mean to you? – I would like for people to see and enjoy my writing but ultimately I write for me.
11 Questions for my nominees:
- How would you describe your blog/s?
- What would you do if you won the lottery tomorrow?
- What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
- What was the last book you read?
- Do you prefer the sun or snow?
- Have you ever had a bone broken?
- Do you have any pets?
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
- If you could be friends with a celebrity, who would it be?
- What is your favorite pastime?
- Where do you aspire to be five years from now?
And finally, my 11 nominees:
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