First kisses, fiery operas, and blog awards, oh my!

I’ve been looking through my “blog post ideas” document (yes, I’m geeky enough that I actually have one—eek) and realized that I was given several awards over the last few months which I’ve never acknowledged or handed out.

SO, today I’m playing catch-up. As I’ve been prone to do, I’m changing the award rules mainly because if I followed all of them, this post would take the ENTIRE month to read. As it is, we're already bordering on tomorrow.

To save time, I’m listing the original rules to each award along with how I plan on circumventing most of them (heehee).

On with the awards!

Thank you sparkly Cherie from Ready. Write. Go. for the Cute Blogger and Awesomesauce awards!

In turn, I bequeath the puppy to:

Anne Michaud

Stephanie Alexander

J. Lea Lopez
Jessica LeSaicherre
Lori M. Lee

Puppy Club rules are:

1st RULE: You do not talk about Puppy Club.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about Puppy Club.

Hee.

Instead, you talk about 5 books/films/TV shows you’ve read or watched in the last 12 months. In answer to this, let me direct you to the list of seven books that made me who I am today. I figure they’re even more consequential than the ones I’ve read recently, considering how they shaped me when my mind was young and pliant.

My Awesomesauce nominees:

Mindy McGinnis for consistently coming up with new series ideas for her blog along with clever acronyms to represent them. She ROX at this! Just go see!

Bethany Crandall because she's not only witty and charming, but she's also a spectacular writer and #goatposse activist. OH, and she has a hamster living in her brain. If that's not awesomesauce, I don't know what is.

Jenny Phresh because her diabolically wicked and sharp wit never cease to amaze, astound, and impress me. She's also a respected member of #goatposse and can write prose as eloquent as any Charlotte Bronte poem when she sets her mind to it, both of which are no small feat for a pony.

Michelle Simkins, a faerie queen with a green thumb, a crafter, a writer, and an exceptionally creative blogger who excels at networking. Oh, and she's #goatposse, too. How she juggles all of these talents and still has time to twitter-play with us is beyond me. Such a busy lady deserves a side of Awesomesauce on her full plate.

Rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who gave me this fabulous piece of work. Check!

2. Pay it forward to no more than one person per month. Elaborate why said person is deserving of said award. Yep. I cheated on that. But it's justified! Since I've had this award going on three months now, I opted to nominate three winners. And I added one extra for next month, because I doubt I'll be giving the award out again after this.

3. Answer the following questions:

- What is your favorite song currently playing on your iPod, CD player, etc.?
Letters VS. Numbers - My Turn to Evil. Because it's EPIC and the words are disturbing. 

- If we peek into your Internet history, what would we find?
Lots of research on opera and also tigers eye gemstones. They both play roles in my current YA WIP, a Phantom of the Opera spinoff. One opera in particular: The Fiery Angel, is very symbolic throughout the story.

-And lastly, what is your all-time favorite movie that you watch over and over again?
Some Kind of Wonderful. BEST FIRST KISS EVER! I related to the story because I crushed on my best friend in high school and he never knew. Unrequited love is so deliciously painful! But this movie always made me smile because the ending is what I would've wanted for us (back before I met super-hubbie and found TRUE love, that is).  ;) 

Next, A.M. Springer of Inner Owlet (aka Owlgoat), Liesl of Writers Ropes and Hopes, and Brenda from Write Turn Ahead handed me this lovely little award:

Liebster is German for either “friend” “favorite” or “lobster”. I’m not sure which. So either my blog’s appreciated by these generous ladies for its charm, or it has really big red claws that are tasty when steamed and they’re craving some seafood. Whatever the case, THANK YOU ladies, for the gift!

The rules of the award are simple:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog or twitter.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

 

The goal of this award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. Since I don’t technically qualify, I won’t be posting the award at the bottom of my blog with the others. But I WILL take this opportunity to pass it on to some excellent bloggers who deserve 200 followers and more. And since three people gave it to me, guess what? I get to pick FIFTEEN to pass it on to. Squee! If you have never visited these blogs, please take the time to drop by soon. They're so worth the visit.

1. Kimberly Brock

2. Jennifer Archer

3. Ryan Graudlin

4. Gennifer Albin

5. Dawn Sparrow
6. Amanda Ashby

7. Jane Gray

8. David Kazzie

9. Lisa Ann

10. Kathryn Elliott

11. Sarah Skilton

12. Marian Vere

13. Anna Banks

14. Suzanne Payne
15. Katianne Williams

Last but not least, Anne Michaud at Musings & Little Obsessions gave me the versatile blogger award. Thanks Anne! This lady is a fabulous short short story writer, so hop over to her blog and check out her prose. 

And the nominees are:

Caitlin Vincent
Jemi Fraser

Tonya Kuper

Rachel Brooks

Jane Sadek 

The rules are:

1. Thank and link to the person(s) who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to five blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

To whit I direct you to an earlier post where I met the requirements (same rules as The Stylish Blogger Award) with the seven reasons my MC is way cooler than me. And for a little teaser, that post inspired another I'm planning in a couple of weeks called: seven ways my antagonist is way tastier than a cookie. Heh.

Well, that's it for the awards folks. Whew. Congrats to the winners, and to the rest of my lovely readers, thanks for bearing with me! Have a wonderful last half of the week and a restful and productive weekend. :)