Two Lovely Awards!!!! Real Neat and Premio Dardos

The lovely Jade at Scatterbooker https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/has nominated me for two awards this Monday! Now that’s woken me out of my Monday Slumber, what an unexpected, and lovely surprise. Thank you so much Jade for the Real Neat Blog Award and the Premio Dardos award.

Real Neat Blog Award Rules

1. Put the Award Logo in your post

2. Answer 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you (my questions are at the bottom of this post.)

4. Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.

5. Let them know you nominated them (by commenting on their blog etc)

Here are the questions I’ve been asked and my answers:

What is the best book you’ve ever read? Well I think I’m still discovering the answer to that question, but some of my favourites are: The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray, My Sister’s Keeper, The Book Thief, The Miniaturist, The Big Sleep, The House of Silk, which I’ve just finished reading, plus lots of fantasy novels, particularly Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom: Sabriel, Abhorsen and Lirael, Victoria Schwab’s The Archived and The Unbound, and of course Vicious, plus some romance where would a girl be without a touch of love in her life? So my favourite Rainbow Rowell is Eleanor And Park, and my favourite Stephanie Perkins to date is: Lola and The Boy Next Door.
What is your favourite holiday destination? My favourite holiday destination has to be Malaysia, as this is where my mother’s family come from and I would love to go back and see them one day, with a short stopover in Singapore, (the land of my birth), or Hong Kong (where I grew up as a child!)
What is your favourite thing to do in your spare time? Reading! Also I enjoy Tai Chi. Love relaxing pastimes, rather than fast and furious ones!
Who is your secret celebrity crush? Oh this one is so easy, it would have to be Kelly Jones, from Stereophonics. Love their music and he is hot!!! Exceptionally!!!!
Do you have a favourite sports team? No, I don’t really like sports much! Though I do love watching Ski racing, I’m not a great skier, but I love to watch others fling themselves off a mountain.
What song is guaranteed to get you up and dancing? Dancing Queen, Abba, or I don’t feel like Dancing, Scissor Sisters.
Do you have any pets? I did as a child. Lots of pets, a hamster, gerbil, gold fish, two cats, and a dog, not all at the one time but now I don’t have any. Which is a shame, I would love to, but my husband is allergic (or says he is!) If I could have one pet it would be a cat, and we have an occasional visiting black cat, which is really nice. He has a lovely shiny black coat, and a cute white patch on his neck.

The Premio Dardos Award

My nominations for both of these awards are:

1. Ronovan Writes. “Welcome to Lit World Interviews, a place for authors to share and be shared with others. A place to find advice for an Author to promote themselves, write, edit, and publish their work. ” “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway” ‘Supporting authors at every step” https://litworldinterviews.wordpress.com/

2. Emma Cazabonne: France Book Tours: “First of all, in case you have not guessed yet, I LOVE reading!” “I learned how to read when I was about 4, because I kept bugging my mother telling her all day long that I was bored. It was in France, in a tiny little village, 250 inhabitants, no kindergarten, nothing for young kids. So my mother figured out that if she taught me how to read, I would leave her alone. It worked, and that was the beginning of an incurable obsession.” “I am French and have been living in the US for over 10 years. Besides being a book blogger, I am an English-French translator and an online French tutor.” I’m nominating France Book Tours : http://francebooktours.com/

3. Diane Wickles. “I’ve got romance on my mind…” A lovely blog about romance, and Feng Shui. Diane’s new book, Hong Kong Treasure is coming out soon, releasing on Chinese’s New Year, the 19th of February, looking forward to reading it. https://ddominikwicklesromance.wordpress.com/

4. JacquiWine “Mostly books, with a little wine writing on the side.” She’s particularly interested in world lit/literature in translation. https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/

5. Sarah Vernon’s First Night Design Blog. She has a marvellous blog about: Art, Design, Theatre, Literature, History, Food, Laughter … and the ex-pat life. https://firstnightdesign.wordpress.com/

6. Lance Greenfield, a recent follow who says: “love to travel. I have visited about 80 countries in my life, and I love to immerse myself in different cultures, languages and cuisines.” https://lancegreenfield.wordpress.com

7. Tall Tales and Short Stories BlogSpot. Another excellent new find: “ALL THINGS CHILDREN’S AND YA FICTION: NEWS, REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS” http://talltalesandshortstories.blogspot.co.uk/

8. The Crazy Bag Lady. “Set your spirit free. Bohemian artist who loves to travel and draw.” http://www.bulanlifestyle.com/

9. Mommycookforme “home recipes from one mother to ,” and she paints too. https://mommycookforme.wordpress.com/

10. Doru. “Storia illustrate” – a photograph to tell a story. https://atdoru.wordpress.com/

11. Deutscherwanderwolf. Literature, running, and exchange studies in Hamburg. https://deutscherwanderwolf.wordpress.com

12. Blue Dark Art. “I am a graphic designer and photographer. I love Nature, Animals, Sun, Tropical Atmospheres, and Colors are the nourishment of my wandering Soul!…But my Dark Side is not so far…” https://bluedarkart.wordpress.com

13. Caffeine Crew. Caffeine Crew was created to deliver the best in geekery, whether it be gaming, books, music, anime, anything. http://caffeinecrew.com/

And a couple of new blogs I found today:

14. Culture and Cake.”Give me books, cake, wine and fine weather!” https://cultureandcake.wordpress.com/

15. Culture and Food. Anna Mindes. “Understanding the world by tasting it” https://cultureandfood.wordpress.com

My questions:

1. Do you have any unusual pastimes such as pot-holing, or ball-room dancing?

2. Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?

3. What kind of books do you like to read, and do you have a favourite?

4. If you had a choice to listen to a music concert, go to a film, or the theatre, or an art/photography exposition, which would you choose?

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

6. What is your favourite and your least favourite food?

7. Are you good at keeping secrets?

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February 9, 2015 19

One Lovely Blog Award – Thank You!!!!

I am honoured to have been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you author Susanne Leist for nominating me. “Author of the Dead Game – a Paranormal Fantasy, A Vampire Suspense.” She has a lovely blog so I’d recommend you go check it out: http://susanneleist.wordpress.com/

Amazingly I have been nominated for this award three times! So touched.

To accept this award, the nominees have to follow a few rules:

* Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
* Add the One Lovely Blog logo to your post.
* Share 7 facts/or things about yourself.
* Nominate 15 bloggers you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.

7 facts/things about myself:

1) I am a terrible procrastinator. This extends to every possible decision making process in my life. Will I, or will I not, have a baked potato for lunch? Ok, I’m hungry so that crept into this 7 things about me. Getting published, what a minefield for a confirmed procrastinator. There are too many ways: unsolicited, agents, self-publishing, ugh. Can’t we just simplify this? Just read my book and like it, job done!

2. I love the arts, films, and theatre. Secretly I think I would like to be an extra in a block-buster film or even have a tiny part!

3. I am kind but I also have a bit of a cheeky, wicked side. I’m a good witch! Black cats seem to be attracted to me!

4. I love Chinese food, and anything spicy. I’ll fight for that last dim sum, or curry puff! So, dive in!

5. Books excite me. Writing excites me. Talking about Books excites me. Talking about Writing excites me!

6. I tend to make friends with people from a variety of cultures. Currently I have a Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, as well as English and Scottish friends too! And that’s just in Cambridge. I’ve “chatted” to so many people from different countries whilst blogging. Love this cultural mix of bloggers.

7. My nose goes red and my eyes go funny looking if I’m stressed. Well, this is what my youngest told me! No hiding it. I guess. Also I tend to talk less, while some people can’t shut up when they’re under pressure. Sorry, mum! At least I don’t twitch or tremble that would be even more embarrassing.

My nominees:

Just fifteen nominees how will I manage that? There are so many wonderful blogs out there. I’m bound to leave out someone. Yikes. To keep it simple I’m concentrating on review/writing sites, art, health, and inspiring blogs.

Here goes:

These are all so wonderful just love them all.

Heena Rathore. P: “I’m a 23 year old curious soul. I live in Pune, Maharashtra, India.” “Besides reading I love writing, singing, baking, watching random movies, cartoons, sleeping, etc. I love dancing more than anything and my dream to learn all forms of dance.” http://thereadingbud.com/

Christy Birmingham: “This site is a haven for you to gain insights through poetry about love, connection, endurance, inspiration, health and more. You are welcome to the poetry table and we also serve up flash fiction, short stories and book-related posts.” Freelance writer and author based in B.C. Canada. The name of her site is just about as perfectly poetic as you can get: http://poeticparfait.com/

Jade St Clair:“My name is Jade St Clair and I am an unashamed Scatterbooker. I live in Melbourne with my geeky boyfriend and our crazy black and white cat called Zeus and I am currently at uni studying internet communications.” http://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/

Val Boyko: “Life is a series of highs and lows. Be grateful for the highs. Be graceful in the lows. Enjoy life fully and find contentment in your Middle Ground.” http://findyourmiddleground.com

Ali Isaac: Just started following Ali. Her blog looks awesome. “I write for many reasons… to tell a story, of course. Every writer has their own story to tell. I write to challenge my reader’s perceptions, because sometimes, things are not at all how they appear. I write to educate, because my life has taught me things no one else knows, and its my duty to share. I write for sheer pleasure, but mostly, I write to be read.” http://aliisaacstoryteller.com/

Deneé: This young lady is a Goodreads Librarian no less! How do you even reach those giddy heights? This is her introduction to her blog: “Hello! My name is Deneé, I’m 25, an Interior Design graduate, and I blog about writing, authors and books.” http://novelreveries.com/

Sherri S. Bessi: A treasure of a site to celebrate how precious life is. “These letters are written to remind you just how much you matter, just how important you are, and just how beautiful the gift of life as a human is.” http://theothersideofugly.com/.

Stephanie: “I have great plans to write an amazing book. Unfortunately, when it comes down to actually doing it, I totally lack inspiration (not to mention the hundred other things that need to be done get it published). So, instead, I read. I read a lot. I read YA, Romance, Mystery, Crime, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction. Almost everything – the good, the bad, and the in between.” http://stephaniesbookreviews.wordpress.com/

Nicholas Rossis: Great blog full of advice for would be authors. Here’s a short snippet of Nicholas’s About page: “I was born in 1970 in Athens, Greece. I love books and write fantasy, children’s books and science fiction http://nicholasrossis.me/”

Sig Nordal Jr: “Be the best you can be.” Great advice! Inspiring photos, quotes and much more. He has so many amazing photos of libraries on his blog! http://sigurdurnordal.me/

Claire McAlpine: ” I love words, language, sentences, metaphors, stories long and short, poetry, reading and writing. Reading is a journey, a meeting place, something to enjoy in solitude and to share with friends.” https://clairemca.wordpress.com/my-writing/

Sally Georgina Cronin: “Health, music and words for a great life.” “I am one of those people who has led an eclectic life. My father was in the Royal Navy so we lived abroad several times and I only really settled down in the UK at age 14. My education suffered a little from switching between seven schools in different countries but I now have a repertoire of swear words second to none!” http://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

Naomi Frisby: “I review books written by women – old and new, literary and commercial, fiction and non-fiction with the occasional YA title.” http://thewritesofwoman.wordpress.com/

Esther Newton: “My love affair with writing came about as a result of an accident, when I could no longer carry out my job working in a bank. That accident was the best thing that’s happened to me!https://esthernewtonblog.wordpress.com/

Nicole E. Perkins: This is a stunningly beautiful artist blog: “Oklahoma’s Unknown Artist: NE.Perkins” http://nephotoimages.com/

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January 14, 2015 14

One Lovely Blog Award Thank You

Thank you so much to Elsie Elmore for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog award. It was such a surprise to be nominated for this award twice, especially as I’m quite new to the blogging community. I’m thrilled that she enjoyed my blog and deemed it worthy of the award. I shall be checking out her list of nominees, I’m sure there will be several on there that I will want to follow. I was originally nominated for this award by Marie Abanga, http://www.marieabanga.com, after I returned home from the YALC Lit Con in Earl’s Court London, this July.

After being awarded this blog award twice I realised that the links to my awards weren’t working properly, so thanks Elsie, you prompted me to check them! I have just started to update my categories section so now you should be able to click the Award category and see my awards.

Here’s a link to Elsie Elmore’s blog about the award: http://elsieelmore.com/2014/09/30/one-lovely-blog-award/

Many congratulations Elsie, your blog is awesome. I particularly love your section on Writer’s Resources and I shall be adding you to my list of Writerly Resources that I update from time to time. Here’s Elsie’s link http://elsieelmore.com/writers-resources-a-helpful-list/

It’s great to connect and support fellow bloggers, hope you like the unusual picture! I found it on Pixabay, quite by chance, and I glad I did. These Supertrees of Singapore are weird and wonderful enormous structures. Apologies for going off topic a bit Elsie but these trees are just so awesome that I thought I would add them to the end of this One Lovely Blog Award post. Singapore, the land of my birth, has the biggest per person carbon footprint per person in the Asia Pacific area, and it is hoped that the Supertrees will raise awareness of the environment. Singapore aims to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 10% by the year 2020. More details via this link. The photos are incredible, so click the link to see more: http://www.kuriositas.com/2013/09/the-supertrees-of-singapore.html

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October 1, 2014 5

Wonderful Team Member Readership Award

Thank you so much to Natacha for nominating me for this award http://natachaguyot.org/2014/07/25/wonderful-team-member-readership-award. I’ve just returned from holiday in Cornwall and found this award in my comment box. A nice surprise welcome back!

Rules

1) The nominee shall display the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award logo on his/her blog.

2) The nominee shall nominate 14 bloggers s/he admires, over a period of 7 days, all at once or little by little, by linking to their blogs and informing them about it.

My Nominees

In case any of my nominees would prefer not to accept the award, please simply consider this a token of my appreciation for your awesome blogs. No worries. 😉

My nominees are:

1. No wasted Ink http://nowastedink.com for your very helpful writer’s links.

2. A Woman’s Wisdom for guest blogs and author links http://awomanswisdom.wordpress.com

3. Published Indie Authors for drawing attention and supporting indie authors http://publishedindieauthors.wordpress.com

4 Laurence O’Brien’s Books Go Social for those first pages of up and coming books. http://booksgosocial.wordpress.com/

5. Cleopatra loves books. Well me too! Great name for a blog. Check out her teaser Tuesdays, and so much more at: http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress.com

6. Sonya’s blog about guess what? Yep, Books! Not just a crush but a full on love! http://aloverofbooks.wordpress.com

7. Chris at the Story reading Ape blog. http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com – an author promotions enterprise.

8.Books are delicious. Yes and so is food, so I’m with you on that! Inspiring blog about writing, books and increasing traffic to your site. http://booksaredelicious.com/

9.Pretty books. Yes, I just love gorgeous book covers. http://theprettybooks.wordpress.com. Thanks for your YA recommendations and the twitter hastag #aryaclub.

10. Just Get it Written. http://mscoffeehouse.wordpress.com. For the celebrate the small things Fridays. A member of the Insecure Writers Group, a supportive group for us writers who are full of self-doubt. Myself included. I must join!

11. Marie Abanga – Marie Abanga.com. This woman is just amazing check out her award-winning blog http://marieabanga.com/

12. Rosie Amber, for her good deeds, book reviews, and resources for writers http://rosieamber.wordpress.com

13. Lynette Noni for her practical writing tips. http://lynettenoni.wordpress.com

14.Amanda’s Nose in a Book. For her reviews, confessions, love of YA, and her own spin on MizB’s WWW Wednesday. Plus her list of affiliates, too! http://amandasnoseinabook.wordpress.com/

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August 4, 2014 11

My First Award: The One Lovely Blog Award

I had a nice surprise when I returned from the UK’s first ever YA Lit Con, curated by Malorie Blackman, held at the London Film and Comic Con, 12-13 July 2014, in Earl’s Court in London. I have been nominated for my first blogging award, the One Lovely Blog Award by Marie Abanga, http://www.marieabanga.com. Thanks Marie for thinking of me, and nominating me for this award, such a delight for a new girl on the block to blogging. 🙂

The rules for this award are the following:

1. Thank the person nominating you and link back to them in your post

2. Share seven things about yourself

3. Nominate fifteen or so bloggers you admire

4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know

Well here are my seven things about myself that I am prepared to tell you. I tend to be quite secretive but I will tell you this much:

1. I’m a Scorpio. I have a sting in my tail. My sting doesn’t manifest itself much but when it does you may say ouch! Only kidding, I’m a gentle Scorpio, with a passionate nature!

2. In the Chinese zodiac I am a rabbit. I hop about everywhere, graze, and like the good life. Sounds like me!

3. I am a female Peter Pan, I have no intention of ever really growing up. That’s why I am attracted to writing children’s, middle grade, and YA novels.

4. I went to a private school in Edinburgh. It wasn’t quite Hogwarts, but it was quite posh. I don’t own a broomstick but black cats seem to like me.

5. I love the underwater world, I snorkelled and swam with a Barracuda when I was fourteen, luckily it didn’t attack. I have eaten Barracuda but that is another story!

6. I admire daredevils: skiers, rock climbers, extreme sports enthusiasts but am a complete coward myself. When I write I can be whoever I want to be, it is such a fun ride, the ultimate buzz, the hero possibilities are endless.

7. My best accomplishment to date are my wonderful children, you make me so very proud. 🙂

I struggled to pick just fifteen blogs to nominate. I had so many awesome blogs in mind but have managed to narrow it down. They all are so deserving of the One Lovely Blog title and I hope they would like to accept the award.

I would be my great pleasure to nominate the following super, lovely blogs for this award:

The Paper Butterfly, a delicate dancer with health issues who has had to hand in her ballet slippers but has now turned her creative spirit to writing. http://www.thepaperbutterfly.wordpress.com

D.Dominik Wicklesromance, for your romantic take on spicing up our love lives with a touch of oriental wisdom. http://www.ddominikwicklesromance.wordpress.com

Marcia Meara for Bookin’ it , author interviews, and book reviews.http://marciameara.wordpress.com

Eclectic Alli for her bit of this, and that, and her meandering dreamy thoughts. http://eclecticali.wordpress.com/

Paul Militaru for his wonderful photography, http://photopaulm.com

Ekaterina Botziaou, for her entertaining blog on everything Greek http://ekaterinabotziou.com/

Bonnie for her cheery lovely blog which truly deserves the title bonnie. http://thebonnyblog.com/

Traditionally Modern Food for all those wonderful Indian recipes that I drool over. http://traditionallymodernfood.wordpress.com/

Word Musing, a beautiful blog all about words, poetry and short stories. http://wordmusing.wordpress.com

Victoria Davenport of Coffee, Write, Repeat. A budding YA writer, with a fantastic blog, whose tag line writing life one word at a time is memorable and to the point. http://coffeewriterepeat.wordpress.com/

Globe Drifting, this wonderful world of ours encapsulated in a blog! You must visit. http://globedrifting.wordpress.com/

Therapy Bread, not just a blog about bread these edible creations feed the spirit, body, her friends and family too!http://therapybread.com

Wise Monkeys Abroad, a wonderful world playground to explore http://wisemonkeysabroad.com/

Irenedesign 2011 for her wonderful gemstone jewellery. I had to add this one as I’m as a bit of a jewellery addict!http://irenedesign2011.com/

and last but not least, Lucy Powrie’s Queen of Contemporary YA Book blog that I have just discovered. Excellente!http://queenofcontemporary.wordpress.com/

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July 14, 2014 18