I can happily announce that this rather small blogging operation has been nominated for an award!

First and foremost I humbly accept and let me take this opportunity to say thank you to the Thinking Moon Blog for the nomination. This is the first time my writing efforts have ever been recognized in any way, it truly does mean a lot but this award nomination isn’t all about me (begrudgingly moves away from the spotlight…)

As well as being the rules of my nomination (more on that in a bit) it is my duty to say something about the fellow blogger who nominated me. The Thinking Moon Blog  contains a huge and diverse amount of content categories from sustainability articles all the way to Buffy the Vampire Slayer stuff (my favorite category). You can also find more Thinking Moon content via the tweet machine and Instagram. The word on the street is this awesome blogger has got a book in the pipeline! Check out the blog and remember to hit the follow button.

So, what is the Liebster award? 

Well firstly ‘Liebster’ is a German term which means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. The Liebster award is an award that exists on the internet and is given by bloggers for bloggers. The whole deal is for bloggers to spread the word about each other in a rather nice way. This thing grows year by year as blogging communities grow. 

Here are the rules: (control c’d from Thinking Moon… more info via the Liebster site)

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you. They will thank you for it and those who you nominate will also help you out as well.
2. Answer the 5 creative and unique questions given to you.
3. Write a small post about what motivates you in life (not just in blogging)
4. Nominate 2 – 6 blogs that you feel would enjoy blogging about this award
5. Create 5 creative and unique questions for your nominees
6. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here or simply link to this post.)
7. Once you have written and published it, you then have to: 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

Unique questions given to me….

Q1: Who was the last indie author/musician/podcast/lemonade stand you supported and why? If not who do you think you will bring your support to this year?

The last Indie Author I supported was Susan Mary Malone, her immersive collection of short stories ‘Over the Pass and Other Stories’ made for some wonderful reading and escapism. One of my main goals this year is to support as many indies as I can considering I am one. The best way to show support to any author is to leave a review and interact. 

My reason for supporting this author and many others is the fact they all approached me via the tweet machine late last year. I put up a simple request for some reading suggestions which eventually got over 30,000 impressions, I soon installed twitter back on my phone… 

Q2: I’m obsessed with tattoos and I know not everyone is, but if you were to get one what would it be. Or if you have one already what is it and why?

Tattoos are very popular these days but nothing has ever motivated me to get one. I’ve been told that if you want to get a tattoo you have to be really sure, I can’t even decide what I want for lunch most days.

As a kid I was obsessed with drawing stitches on my hands so perhaps I’ve already got enough ink flowing through me, I did become a writer after all… Thinking about it, if I ever did get a tattoo it would probably be something from my books. ‘Twister’ from Open Evening has a rather distinctive bad ass tattoo on his upper arm. (yes I just plugged my own book…)

Q3: What was your favourite childhood television show?

‘The hardest thing in this world is to live in it…’ 

Of course I am quoting Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even though I only caught the final two seasons of this show back during it’s original run when I was 12/13 I still count it as childhood. I have since watched the whole deal (several times, normally every few years).

There are so many things I could say about ‘Buffy’ and even ‘Angel’ equally but we’re only at Question 3 so I will just say this. If I never watched this show then I would never have ever been inspired to become a writer. And even before those aspirations came to me, I viewed Buffy Summers as my first ever television hero. The latter episodes see her become a leader and an adult whom I looked up to an incredible amount. And that counts for all of the characters who spoke to me in different ways. The cast really were that group of older kids I looked up to and this show got me through some real tough times.

Q4: What scares you the most, that most people consider to be irrational?

I really don’t enjoy flying. I know that can be quite common and I did manage to get myself through a long haul flight to mexico and back but I still really, really, really don’t like it. The worst part is literally waiting in the departure lounge before. The waiting to go and do something I really don’t want to, I find quite hard. What I don’t like about flying is the sensation and the lack of being in control. Take off is pretty cool though… ‘you cant take the sky from me’… 

Q5: What is your favourite place to bring an out-of-town guest?

There is only one place I would class as my home away from home and that is Loftus Road Stadium; the home of my football team Queens Park Rangers located in Hammersmith West London. Since a very young age my Dad took me with my brother to watch them play in what is quite a small but wonderfully immersive stadium. Wherever you sit you’re normally close to the action and the atmosphere is always electric. I may not seem like the usual football following type, and I’m not really, but QPR are my team and if anyone is looking for an afternoon or evening of football culture and atmosphere, I recommend it!

A little bit of motivation for life…

It would be easy for me to say money motivates me in life but in large sums it motivates pretty much everyone apart from Bill Gates and people who own oil. What motivates me in life is balance, and I’m not trying to be super positive or half glass full here.

I have an awesome job in science and I have a just as great hobby in writing and blogging. In between that I have a significant other and a great bunch of friends. All of this stuff doesn’t function unless they are balanced. Balance in life leads to variety which in turn leads to being happy. A winning lottery ticket wouldn’t go a miss either!

My Nominations and Questions…

The bloggers I would like to acknowledge and nominate are…

Bookshelf Battle –  a fellow indie author and blogger.  I follow Bookshelf Q Battler because of the level of humor and sheer content all of which I find to be very pleasant. I have even read/reviewed the novel written by this awesome blogger called ‘The Last Driver’. Check it out.

Bookworm –  a reading and writing blogger whom I have recently connected with via the tweet machine and is always there to like or retweet my stuff.

This whole deal is optional so don’t feel any pressure to participate and nominating others is entirely optional but just remember no wordsmith is an island, we’re in this together!

Of course there are numerous more supporters out there, all of which I would like to thank for reading and following this blog.

Questions for nominees:

1.  You’re sitting in a bar at an empty table. There are 4 seats available, living or alive name any 4 people you would invite to join you and why?
2. Name a film or television show that has shaped or influenced you in some way?
3. What’s the biggest lesson you have learned in writing or life?
4. When was the last time you laughed out loud?
5. You have the opportunity to gain a super power. What is it and why? (invent your own or pick a known one)