Liebster Blog Award!

A couple weeks ago, LB Shaw was kind enough to nominate me for the Liebster Blog Award!  I’m amazed and very appreciative.  Thank you so much LB!  This is such an honor and I am really excited about getting to show off my blog.  I’m really proud of all the changes I’ve been making this year and I hope that everyone has been enjoying my improvements.  As of right now I’m putting out new content on Wednesdays with my Hump Day Radio, Saturdays with a continuing Saturday Spanks Blog Hop story and on Sundays with my Sunday Morning Chat series.  I’ve had the opportunity to talk with different authors and it’s really been a fantastic way to get to know more about those amazing individuals.

One of my first interviews was with LB Shaw, and she’s really got a great blog of her own that you should check out.  She’s really a great author and I’d recommend checking out her blog and twitter feed to see all the wonderful stuff she’s got for her fans.  And don’t forget to check out her books on Amazon.  

RULES

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)
3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

The following are the questions LB asked me to answer:

1. What inspired you to write? Or has it always been a part of you?

I’ve always been a writer, ever since I remember.  I’m attracted to stories, and how they are shaped and created.  Whether this is in novel form or in a movie, game, or song I’m always looking for an interesting story.

2. What do you do when you're stuck in a particular scene or experience writer's block?

It really depends.  I write as the reader reads.  So I go linearly through the story, and I don’t jump around.  Often times if I’m having a problem with a scene I let the project go and it just disappears from my workload.  If I really think it’s a good idea I mill things over and eventually try again.  Sometimes reusing the idea but starting from scratch, other times I continue where I left off.

3. Favorite book of all time?

What is my favorite book?  Wow, I don’t really know.  I really enjoy reading, but I usually read a book once.  I think that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of the most influential works in my early years.  Jurassic Park and the Dune Series are also really well written stories that drew me in their worlds.  But then again I do like the Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child series.  There are so many great books.

4. Do your family or friends know that you're a writer or what genre you write in?

My wife knows, and she’s very supportive.  She does my formatting and covers.  Two of my friends know what I write and that I’m trying to make a go of this as an author, but no, most people don’t know.  They do know I've written in the past and I have shared my older stories, but not lately.

5. If you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go?

A trip anywhere?  I want to go so many places.  Too many to list.  But if I had all the money in the world and could just go, I want to go and explore a bit of Peru.  I want to see Machu Picchu, and see a different way of life.

6. Coffee or tea?

Tea.  I drink about 3 quarts of iced tea every two days in the summer.  Usually decaffeinated or herbal.  There are so many great flavor combinations out there.

7. If you could meet a famous writer, who would it be (even if they are dead) and what would you say to him/her?

Personally, I am not sure.  Being a writer, I just like my privacy.  I usually don’t have an overwhelming need to say anything to the authors or musicians, or actors I’ve met.  Just maybe thank you and I appreciate their work.  I’d much rather be in the audience while they did a reading.

8. Do you think you could survive a week without using social media?

I would love to take a week off.  It’s just a tool to me and I don’t use it in my personal life unless forced to.

9. What's your favorite hobby?

I really like playing board games, but not necessarily like Monopoly or Risk.  The games I like are referred to as Designer games because the name of the Designer is on the box.  I like that what essentially amounts to the author of the game is printed for the world to see.  It’s funny how books and paintings always had that respect, but board games not so much.

10. Do you view your writing as an art form, a unique expression of your perspective and thoughts, or do you sometimes feel as though you are just churning and burning to get out as much content as possible?

I write for different reasons.  Right now I’ve taken a little bit of a break of writing because it’s become such a pressure, but when I do write, I try to make sure it’s to tell the story that I feel a need to tell.

11. What is one piece of advice you would give a new writer just starting out?

Pen to paper or fingers to keys on a consistent basis.  The key to being a writer is to write.  And don’t be afraid to ask and to take the advice of others.  Being so locked into your own ideas without taking input from others doesn’t make you a better writer, it makes you stubborn.  Most people are trying to give you ideas to help and fix a problem that they see in your work.  If more than one person says there’s an issue, you probably have one.

Aim high with your writing, low with your sales expectations.  Get a social media presence early on and then work from there.

11 random facts about me:

1. I own a cat.  I like to joke that we’ve got a psychic link, but I know we don’t.  She just controls my mind.
2. I like to use a curved keyboard rather than the traditional shaped ones.
3. I am a science fiction fan, and have a soft spot for Star Trek and Stargate.
4. I’m lactose intolerant.
5. I’ve only worked a desk job for a few months in my whole life.
6. I’ve walked over 2,000 miles in 2003.  Took me 6 months, but I’ve learned that two points on the map are able to be traversed by only foot power.
7. I love podcasts; I’ve got quite a few on my Zune.  Some of my favorites are The Dinner Party Download, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Flip the Table, and Live Wire Radio.
8. I have a Zune.  Anyone know what those are?
9. Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies.
10. I’m a collector of various things, but usually I’m good and keep my focus to one collection at a time.  That being said, I’m also learning how to not to get so obsessed with collections.
11. I love cooking and baking.

Many people I contacted about the award had already participated at some point in the past, so the following are my two nominees for the Liebster Blog Award: 

LA Cloutier

Kayla Lords

And my 11 questions for you are:

1. Where do you like to write?
2. Do you listen to music when you write?
3. What’s your favorite fruit?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What do you consider your most triumphant achievement?
6. When will you consider yourself successful?
7. What addiction do you have?
8. What do you consider your best trait?
9. Where is your favorite vacation destination?
10. What’s your earliest memory?
11. Who do you admire the most?

Thanks for stopping by!  Please take the time to follow and comment!  Have a great day and an even better night!