UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL



 



I’ve seen other bloggers receive this nomination, and wondered with moon eyes and downturned mouth, when my turn would come?  Well, days, weeks and months have passed, and at last, I’ve been Liebstered!

The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have a following of between 200 and 3000 – depending on which resource you read. You can, if you want accept the award as an honorary one if you don’t wish to pass it on, but I’m happy to accept and pass the baton on to other bloggers.

Here are the Liebster Award rules:

Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
Thank you, Lora Hughes for kindly nominating me for this long desired award. Check out Lora’s brilliant blog, The Writing Closet at: http://lorahughes.blogspot.co.uk/

Answer the questions posed.
Here are Nora’s thoughtful, intriguing questions:

1.  What is the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?
This question poses no challenge – it was an absolutely delicious peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake bought at a cafe in a small town when I visited a friend who lives so far away I’ve not revisited – despite the lingering memory of that cheesecake!

2.  Do you need contact with people in order for you to create?
No, I don’t. Am I inspired by life? Yes, but I believe everything and everyone I’ve ever seen, read, heard or experienced in any way influences my writing. Meeting other writers, whether online or in person, and reading books and blogs about the writing process makes me want to start writing straight away, but I believe my creativity and inspiration comes from within myself. 

3.  Does (your) despair have its place in (your) happiness? 
Whew, this is a difficult question, Nora. Is any emotion we experience pure or somewhere on a spectrum? Like every other human being on the planet, I experience a range of emotions every day, and sometimes I’m up and sometimes I’m down. So in that sense, I guess you could say my despair has a place in my happiness, but I focus on the full half of my glass – I have so much to be grateful for (like not living in a war zone, having running water and electricity, and being born in a country that provides a free education) that I do my best to not dwell on the things I don’t have. I comfort myself with the knowledge that there’s always someone better off...and someone worse off than me, and in the long run, although everything is real – it is temporary.

4.  Give me a link to a recording of your favourite piece of music.
I’m not particularly musical, but like anything with a good beat – and I loved all the versions of this theme song to The Wire, although the first is my favourite, because some music just resonates more than others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR9_wbTrInI

5.  Talk about the relation between mental health (good or bad) and the creative act.
Oh dear, another question which is really making me think and which I don’t feel qualified in any way to answer although I’ll give it a go! On the one hand, being creative when experiencing say, exhaustion, may be impossible, yet on the other hand, being creative puts you in touch with a deep inner part of yourself, it’s uplifting, renewing, and is often recommended as therapy for mental illness. New Zealand writer Janet Frome, who spent eight years in a mental asylum, said 'Writing is a boon, analgesic, and so on. I think it's all that matters to me. I dread emerging from it each day.' 

6.  Recommend something for me to read that you haven’t written.
Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare – a book to enjoy as a reader and learn from as a writer.

7.  Give me a link to something that you have written.
This is a short story I posted on Wattpad about a relationship break-up and the aftermath.

8.  Is there a moment you can remember when something happened or you had some thought that changed things for you?  If so, tell that story.  If not, what could have changed everything?
There’s at least half a dozen moments when something did happen which changed things for me, but those stories are not for telling here...and the list of things which could have changed everything is a long one – I might even write a novel about it one day!

9.  What is THE most amazing thing about human beings?
Their potential.

10.  Write a summary of how you see yourself.
A writer following my dreams.

Choose a number of bloggers to nominate.
Again depending on your research - this varies – the number you can choose is between three and ten. I’m nominating four bloggers, which seems a small number, but somebody pipped me and nominated several bloggers I had in mind – and almost everybody else I know has already been Liebered!
But here are four fabulous bloggers whose sites are well worth a visit.

Christine Campbell is one of those people I’m happy to have met since starting my own blog. She’s a positive, upbeat person who makes you realize that the beauty of life is happening all around you – and you should stop and appreciate it! Christine has a new book Flying Free just released – so check out her blog at: http://cicampbellblog.wordpress.com/

Anita Dawes offers support to other writers, posts great photos, and is a generous soul who is running a fundraiser for the Merlin Charity which works to deliver medical expertise to the toughest places in the world. Buy her short story White Roses and all proceeds go to the charity. Find out about Anita at her blog: anitajaydawes.blogspot.com

Jan Baynham is, like me, on a writing journey which she documents on her blog. Jan’s cheerful posts reveal her enthusiasm, determination and enjoyment of the writing process. Check out Jan’s blog at: http://janbaynham.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa Reiter is an inspiring lady who writes a lively blog where she posts some of her writing, yummy healthy recipes and talks about a number of topics including her survival of cancer. http://sharingthestoryblog.wordpress.com

Make up more questions for your nominees to answer.
Here are my questions and I look forward to reading the nominees’ answers:
1.      What is your earliest childhood memory?
2.      What was the first story/poem you ever wrote?
3.      Post a link to your favourite poem.
4.      Who do you admire, in terms of style, as a writer?
5.      What is your current writing goal?
6.      Who is your celebrity crush?
7.      Post a link to your favourite painting.
8.      What do you think is your biggest obstacle to achieving your goals?
9.      What wish is at the top of your bucket list?
10. Post a link to your most popular post.

This has been fun, and a change from my usual blog topic – so thank you again, Lora!

Writing Update
The read through of The Unforgiveness of Blood©  is finished and I’ve settled on a title that connects to the vampires in the tale. To be honest there’s not a whole lot of fang action, and what there is focuses on my moody heroine, as the novel is more action-adventure/romance oriented. Some pages of the manuscript have only a few marks, but others look like I’ve thrown the inkpot at them. My intention is to work hard so that the additions, corrections and decorations are finished, and the book is ready for beta readers by the end of May. The goal is still to publish in July! (Or August...)

Today’s Haiku
FLIRTING
he likes her curves so
has problems meeting her eye –
she takes advantage

Useful links:
This link is to an informative post on the history of the Liebster award:
One of the most helpful posts on the Liebster Award I came across:
http://wordingwell.com/the-liebster-award-the-official-rules-my-first-blog-award-and-a-few-personal-secrets-revealed/
And here are the links to my nominees – all in one place!
http://lorahughes.blogspot.co.uk/

I’d love it if you popped over to Wattpad and read any of my posted stories...just click on the links to the left.

Join me on Twitter at: teagankearney@modhaiku 

Thanks for visiting my blog, and please do leave a comment.
To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those of you who write, good writing.

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