I Got the Versatile Blogger Award!! Happy Dance!

This blog post is long overdue! My dear #cyberbud Maureen Hovermale was awesome enough to nominate me for this award back in November. Read that post and others here at her blog The Zen Corner. One of my favorites is her blog on Twitter Jail  complete with a diagram that John Madden would be proud of. First, I want to say thank you to Maureen although that doesn’t really cover the amount of gratitude I feel for her encouragement and support.

As a baby blogger, I was overjoyed to be recognized by a writing pro like Maureen whose blog was one of the first I visited. I love her sense of humor. Like me, she isn’t afraid to poke fun at herself and to turn her everyday life into something spectacularly amusing. Maureen and I hit it off right away, so I wasn’t surprised to find out that we had so much in common.

Getting that nod from her was the good news. The bad news was that I was still very new to the whole blogging thing and was not following more than a handful at the time, so I panicked. In true Maureen fashion, she didn’t want to stress me out and said that I was not obliged to do it, but there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to give others the cloud floating giddiness I got from this award. Thanks to Maureen, I have spent the last few months on a blog marathon that I have thoroughly enjoyed. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with 15 nominees, but in the end I was crushed that I had to cut some out.

Here are the rules:

Thank the person who nominated you. Tell 7 things about yourself so that your readers may learn more about you. Nominate 15 other newly discovered bloggers then let them know you nominated them. I also agree with Maureen’s rule, you are under absolutely NO obligation to pass this on.

7 Things About Me (because I love talking about myself…not):

1.    I’m a Disney freak. So much so that a good portion of my wardrobe has a Disney character or logo of some sort on it (including the adopted Jack Skellington, my fav)

2.    Chocolate is an essential part of daily living. I hate white chocolate which isn’t really chocolate, so it doesn’t count anyway.

3.    Sometimes my Honey insists I sit and watch basketball with him which I hate more than white chocolate right down to that nails on a chalkboard squeekity squeek squeek sound of their stupid shoes. To entertain myself, I make sexual innuendos out of the announcers comments like “He’s driving hard to the hole.” One of my all time favorites “They need to pass that ball out to the master stroker.” “They all better start stroking if they expect to score.” Honey ejected me from the game for laughing so hard. Immature? Yep.

4.    On the other hand, I love football! GO FINS!

5.    I hate movies with sad endings. I don’t care how good the acting, story, or cinematography may be. Real life has enough sadness. I’m not going to pay to watch fake sadness. Sign me up for a comedy or action movie.

6.    I have a Jeep Wrangler and one of my favorite things in the world is to drive around in it with the top off in the summer, hair flying. Sigh…stupid winter.

7.    I’m a fighter not a lover.

Without further ado here are my nominees for the Versatile Blogger Award. Display your button proudly and feel free to share with it with the bloggers you love if you want to. I love each and every one of these, so they are in no particular order.

Claire Smith: Claire’s blog is amazing. She is definitely versatile. There is something for everyone on her blog! Not only is Claire a writer, but she spends time promoting other authors as well doing #CelebritySaturday interviews that are a ton of fun. She also has an interesting segment called #askthereader in which she tries to bridge the gap between readers and writers. Now there’s an idea!

Thomas Amo: Of all the writers I have met, Tom is probably one of the most generous towards his fellow authors. One of my favorites is a segment called Writer to Writer, where he reads a book and then chats with the author. His blog also keeps readers up to date with his projects including his horror novel An Apple for Zoe and his recent comedy release Let’s Get Lade.

Allie Burke: Warning: Highly Addictive. Allie recently started a new blog appropriately named “in the clouds” because she says “it is so me” and it is. I have been following Allie for awhile. The way she writes her blog posts makes you feel like you’re sitting there having a cup of coffee with her and just chatting. While you’re there, check out her books Violet Midnight and Emerald Destiny!

K.C. Neal: I have to admit, I have blog envy ;) K.C.’s blog is crazy amazing. She is one of the busiest bloggers I know. Plus, she has lots of great info to help other bloggers and is even teaching classes about it! Oh, and did I mention she has an awesome book out as well? I need to borrow some of her coffee.

Roberta J. Gordon: Roberta, like me, is new to blogging, but you wouldn’t know it. Her thoughts are honest and direct. She is currently looking for an agent for her book Gemini Witching: Elements 101, and will be writing about her experiences, so bookmark this one. Roberta is going to be one to watch!

 

M.R.Merrick: I am a huge fan of Matt’s. I read his book Exiled and was hooked. His blog is amazing! Not only does he have information about his projects, but he also talks about writing, does book reviews, and other fun stuff. He is very generous when I comes to supporting his fellow authors. I cannot wait until the release of his second book Shift!

Tymothy Longoria: Aspire No More is the name of his blog and that says it all. You just have to read his blog because it defies explanation. Tymothy is a juggernaut and I have to doubt that he is going to take over the world!

Nicholas Denmon: From his blog title (Cat Get off My Keyboard) to his posts and pics to his Jack Kerouac quote, Nicholas’ blog is a treasure trove of goodness. As you may have guessed by now, I love humor and Nicholas has it. He also has lots of information about his writing projects including his novel For Nothing which is currently being adapted into a screenplay! Congrats! 

Mireille Chester: First off, I love the tiny little dragon!! Yeah, I want one too! Mireille writes amazing reviews and is incredibly supportive of her fellow authors. Also, I totally love the cool countdown calendars she has for the release dates of her new stories. Since I’m a fan, I’m counting down too!! Since I know you will be curious, you can find out more about her here. 

Chuck Wendig: Chuck is awesome and incredibly brilliant. His blog is full of great information for authors mixed with wicked humor. He makes me laugh out loud while I’m learning. But if you decide to dive into his blog, better have your big kid pants on because Chuck holds nothing back.

Mark Everett Stone: Let me just say that I am a HUGE fan of Mark’s books! His writing style is original and distinctive. I love the way he writes, and I love his sense of humor. Mark’s blog is honest and hilarious at the same time.  In between the release of his books, I’m so glad I can someplace to go to get a Mark fix!

John D. Ayers: John’s blog is called Darcy-Esque World, and if you love Jane Austen this blog is perfect. John has captured the essence of Austen with his prose and musings as Mr. Darcy. He is currently working on a Darcy novel. If it is anything like his blog, I cannot wait to read it! Is it because I have a mad crush on Mr. Darcy? Could be...

DanielNest: Daniel is also fairly new to blogging, but you wouldn’t know from reading his posts. Versatile is a perfect description for his blog. In addition to his regular posts, he has a wide variety of stuff to read including short stories, reviews and guest posts. Anyone brave enough to blog about Chuck Norris jokes wins my vote!

Amber Mitchell: Amber’s blog Down the Rabbit Hole is beautiful to look at. Once you get passed that, she has some great information on Y.A. books. I tend to read adult novels, but my daughter is a voracious reader who is getting into Y.A. books, so I really depend on Amber’s spot-on reviews and information about authors and books in this genre. Amber has a genius section called Happily Never After in which she summarizes the end of novels, so you can get a quick review before reading the next one in the series.

Mark Dave:  Mark is fearless. He is not afraid to voice his opinion even if it means he might offend others. You may be wondering why I would be drawn to a blog like that, but I respect his honestly. Not to mention the fact that what he says is often true and what people may be thinking but are afraid to say. We need people like Mark to challenge us and to make us think. Plus, he sometimes uses the word “boobs” because he likes them, which makes me giggle like a girl (heehee…he said “boobs”).

Congratulations!! Time to party! Pat yourselves on the back and keep up the good work.