Blogging – Page 3 – M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

The Writer Q & A Tag

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Thank you very much to James Fahy author of The Changeling series and Hell’s Teeth for nominating me to take part in The Writer Q & A Tag. Do check out his blog: James Fahy Author, and follow him on Instagram, he has an awesome page…………Jame’s Fahy Instagram Page

What’s this tag about? Its a fun tag celebrating books, and writing. Also it’s a way to discover and make new blogging friends. So that can’t be bad can it?

Here are James’s Questions for me – and at the end of the post there are some questions for my Nominees. I believe I have to nominate ten but I like breaking rules so we’ll see how many I nominate…

What book first made you cry, and why? The first book that made me cry. Um….I’m not sure it might have been a little picture book while I was in my pram…Need to ask my mum…..More recently I’m cultivating this crying book lark to a whole new level. There have been a whole bunch of books that have triggered my crying – here’s some of them: Marcus Zuzak’s The Book Thief, The Fault in our Stars, by John Green, You Before Me by Yoyo Moyes, Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey, Summertime, by Vanessa LaFaye, The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller, The StoryTeller by Jodi Picoult, and The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson, etc… Most of these I’ve reviewed on this blog on my A – Z Book Reviews. These particular books definitely had me crying big time. But that’s okay as I love books that stir the emotions. They really make me happy! Nothing like a good cry, but I have to stop doing it in public places that’s too embarrassing! Just in case you want some crying inspiration look no further than Buzzfeed’s 53 Books That Will Definitely Make You Cry
If you could be any one of your favourite characters (your own or others you’ve read) for one day, who and why? I’d like to be a guy… there you are I’ve said it – confession time! I’d like to write in the POV of a guy for the second or perhaps the third book in the series of my current WIP: The Curse of Time…. I’ve been a lass for a long time, and getting inside a guy’s head will be a challenge so perhaps I’d like to be Dorian Grey for a day ’cause I want to stay young and get up to mischief! Ha Ha!! I see my Ryder character in my WIP: The Curse of Time developing into a modern day Dorian Grey – he’s a bit young at the moment but he’s heading that way!
What is your favourite opening line from a book? I’m pretty taken with this opening line in this book: “I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.”
– Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs.
Do you have any odd writing rituals (has to be a yellow legal pad and a HB pencil for example) No, not really. Apart from lingering in my pyjamas longer than necessary and opening up the door to the Avon lady still wearing them. I swear she thinks I live in my pj’s. Oh, and I forget to drink, eat, brush my teeth, floss, and go to the toilet. Those ain’t so good. When I get to the serious hunger stage I rush off to have breakfast, and do my ablutions…. I’m one of those writers that tends to get their ideas really early in the morning, in fact they often wake me up, sigh…and then I have to get to it straight away… or if I can’t do so due to work or other constraints I’ll jot them down in a note pad and come back to them later.
Have you drawn on real locations / experiences in your writing? Yes, a lot, I think our experiences shape us and in turn they shape our writing. Often this is at an unconscious level. Sometimes I look over what I’ve written and it scares me because to me writing is a bit like bearing your soul for your readers to pick your unsuspecting bones, and often those bones are startling even to yourself.
What story scares you? Horror stories scare me, and up until recently I’ve avoided them! I never read horror as a teen, I was really into detective stories – Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, comic books, and fantasy. I only started reading horror books in earnest (if you can call it that,) Halloween 2015. I joined in the red eye readathon and that did it – I found that I really enjoyed them. Shock, Horror! Of all the subsets of horror, psychological horror really scares the heck out of me. This type of horror draws the reader into the character’s thoughts and emotions. You begin to imagine that particular horrific event happening to you. In my opinion those kind of stories are the most scary. A recent example of this is the short story – Big Driver in Stephen King’s compilation of Short Stories Full Dark No Stars, in which a female writer is sexually attacked by a truck driver while driving back from a writing event promoting her work. That really struck home. That for me is horror at its most powerful, and it works so well combined with dark humour, which Stephen King is undoubtedly a master of.
If you were told you could only read one book before being executed for your terrible, terrible crimes, what would you choose and why? My terrible crimes… oh that must be that Dorian Grey influence I suppose. No question it would have to be some steamy romance, one last heart pounding moment before I die!
Have you ever met any of your literary heros, and if so, were they amazing, dissapointing or just plain awkward? I’ve met a few YA authors via events at The Edinburgh Literary Festival, The Cambridge Literary Festival, and been close to some at UKYA. I think I’ve been pretty chilled about it all.. And nobody has been disappointing as yet… They’ve all been lovely.
Which word / phraze do you find yourself always over-using and having to edit out? Smiled. Smile. Smiling. Cried, Cry, Crying. Yes it’s a light and dark kind of tale so probably these words are over-used….As it’s predominantly written in the past tense I had to be careful not to have to many was’s. At one point there were so many was’s it sounded like I had a wasp infestation. With words funnily enough I think names of people can be tricky. I ended up with two Emily’s at one point, and then I had to make one of them an Emma. She’s still an Emily in my mind…The Chinese girl in the book started off as Aurora or something like that ………….I can’t quite remember but Aurora didn’t sound right so I changed her name to Jade. The main character’s names have always been Amelina and Ryder, liked them from the offset and stuck to those. Oh and I had to change the name of the dog, it started off as the name of my friend’s son. Somehow that didn’t seem OK, bit cheeky, so in the end I settled for Toby. Woof woof… I met a Toby while working at John Lewis… hope he doesn’t mind! Come to think of it my doggy character is a bit like the JL lad, lively to say the least! He went running every morning before he started work. Toby the dog would approve!
Name three people you would have at your ultimate book-club/dinner party. (living or dead…or undead.) Oh this is a fun one! Maureen Johnson because she’s so witty, and would get the party up and running. Stephen King because he would be so amazingly interesting to talk to, and Oscar Wilde, as I just love Dorian Grey! There would have to be music too, so I’d sneak in some gatecrashers: David Bowie, and Prince, because I loved them both, and they died too young. One last crazy party in their honour. Also I’d sneak in the lead singer from Stereophonics, Kelly Jones, who’d be my eye candy crush, and last but certainly not least, Bon Jovi. Two crushes – That would be some party!

I nominate these eleven ….. amazing bloggers to join in, it’s not compulsory but you might just find it fun! Your questions are just below this list.

My questions for you:

1. If you met a sexy vampire what would you do? Hook up, get the garlic and crosses out or run a mile?

2. What’s your favourite genre of book and why?

3. Who is/are your favourite author (s) , poet (s)? What is it about them that inspires you?

4. If you had to control a classroom of year 6 kids would you bale, or enjoy the challenge? Would you be (a.) too undisciplined to do so, you’d just join in the general mayhem, (b.) enjoy bossy them around, or (c.) pray in a corner for the bell to sound. Guess which one would be my reply, winners will be mentioned on my blog!

5. What made you become a writer/blogger? Do your family support you or do they think you’re crazy, bored, attention seeking, or all of these? Tell us a bit about your current WIP and/or books…

6. What is the most awful job and/or experience you’ve ever done/had?

7. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Does this spill out onto other parts of your life? Are you generally organised/disorganised? Can you guess what I am?

8. Do you believe in Ghosts? Fate? Love at First Sight? Fairies? Psychic happenings?Numerology, Mermaids, The Loch Ness Monster, Demons…etc…Make your own observations …. and let me know..

9. What is the worst haircut/clothes/hats you’ve ever had/worn? Photos please, or describe in vivid detail…

10. Please finish this sentence with more than three extra words: Life is one foot in and one foot out, you ….

Anyone else who’d like to join in please do…

Well, that’s it then, thanks for stopping by, don’t forget to comment. Love ya! xx

Bye for now,

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

James Fahy The Writer Q & A Tag

Nominations for Bloggers Bash Awards Are Now OPEN!

We are finally on the count down to the bash, peeps. I am so excited I really ought to be wearing a sports bra what with all the bouncing up and down. So far we have announced the totally-off-the-c…

Source: Nominations for Bloggers Bash Awards Are Now OPEN!

Bloggers Bash 2016: Behind the Scenes Part 1

Sometimes it is good to reblog especially if you get a chance to go behind the scenes of a Bloggers Bash. Follow the antics of Ali, Geoff, Sacha and Hugh, otherwise known in Geoff’s words as the gang of Four – Ali ‘bog diver’ Isaac, Hugh ‘The Welsh’ Roberts, The Geoffle and their Supreme Commander de Blog, Sacha ‘Eyebrows’ Black, at the dastardly bash. You won’t regret it…..

Why Only Eleven?

Thank you so much to Annika for nominating me for The Liebster Award. I am now award free but I’m reblogging Annika’s post to spread the word about so many lovely blogs out there. Do follow Annika she really is a gem.

Annika Perry

Last week I was kindly nominated by Janice at Ontheland – Caring About Our World; Reflecting About Life for the Liebster Award. If you haven’t visited her blog before, you have missed a treat. Janice is a gifted poet and her poetry and accompanying photographs are always thoughtful and delightful. Also she’s passionate about the environment and blogs about this and believes that we all can make a difference to the world we live in.

The Liebster Award seems to be centred on the number 11 and I’m happy to answer 11 questions posed by Janice, as well as thinking of 11 random facts about myself. Finally I have written 11 questions for my 11 nominees.

The award is aimed at blogs with a certain number of followers – in this case followers of nominees should be between 200-3000.

Without further ado. Let’s begin:

Janice’s Questions:

Why do you blog?

View original post 1,333 more words

#Girllove Blog Challenge

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Thank you to Janice at On the Land for tagging me in the #Girllove Blog Challenge. You can see her awesome post about this here: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/girllove-blog-challenge/

#Girllove challenge, launched by Lilly Singh, a.k.a. Superwoman, on her YouTube Channel. Lilly Singh is a Canadian vlogger, actress, comedian, and rapper, age 27. She is tired of ‘girl-on-girl hate’ in schools, workplaces, and social media, so she decided to reverse trends by promoting #GirlLove. In her empowering video young women speak out about their respect and gratitude for other women in their lives. Proceeds from video views will go to the Malala Fund to help educate girls around the world. The goal of the fund is to “enable girls to complete 12 years of safe, quality education so that they can achieve their potential and be positive change-makers in their families and communities”.

Lilly’s challenge was to compliment other women in social media using the hashtag #GirlLove. In the blogging world the challenge has become more detailed.

Here’s what you do for the #GirlLove Challenge:

Tell your followers who inspires you, a famous woman who may be dealing with negativity on a daily basis.
Tell your followers who inspires you in real life, a woman you always interact with.
Tag five women bloggers who you love. Compliment them and tell them why you love them, and comment under their latest post with the link to your #GirlLove post!

If you get tagged, do the post on your own blog. If you want to do it anyway, do it anyway! Add the tag ‘Girl Love’ to your post, so we can see them all! Let’s start 2016 with LOVE for each other!

Janice has a really wonderful blog so if you aren’t currently following her I would really recommend that you rush over there right now and remedy that.

Janice chose some wonderful female bloggers for the #Girllove accolade,so do visit their blogs.

I was so thrilled that she mentioned me! Thank you so much Janice. I think your blog is just wonderful too.

My favourite #Girllove celebrity is Bethany Hamilton who I have mentioned before on my blog. She survived a shark attack, was left with an amputated arm, but overcame this and went on to inspire young people with her amazing surfing skills. Do read about my tribute to her on my #WQW post for Colleen’s Writers Quote Wednesday: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/?s=bethany+hamilton

My real life #Girllove person is undoubtedly my mum she is a rock,I have so much love and respect for her.

There is a wonderful list of truly inspiring celebrities on Marie Claire, my favourites are Aung San Suu Kuy, 1991 Nobel prize winner for peace, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Shami Chakrabarti the director of Liberty and Oprah Winfrey. http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/celebrity/pictures/35170/30/marie-claire-s-most-inspirational-women.html

I don’t normally do tags any more but since it is a while since I’ve done one I decided it would be nice to take part and do a shout out for the fantastic blogging lasses out there, and when I got started I couldn’t stop! My first few names kind of grew to rather a long list, boy the sweat is dripping from my brow.

Here are my #Girllove nominees, I could have gone on and on as there are so many bloggers on WordPress and beyond that I admire and enjoy following, so I broke the rules and went beyond the five nominees. But, I had to limit myself a little so I decided to limit my choices to my favourite pastimes, so there are authors, book bloggers, photographers, artistic and creative bloggers, and jewellery enthusiasts. Oh and a humour choice blogger had to creep in, where would we be without a chuckle?

Here they are in all their glory:

Vashti, an enthusiastic and friendly writer who enjoys taking part in many of the on-line activities that I enjoy too, such as #WQW and Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge. She has such a lovely About Me page that by the time you finished reading it you feel as if you know her, and want to give her a big hug.

https://vashtiqvega.wordpress.com/

Lynz, this lady has a flair for real cooking but more that that she has a remarkably painful and captivating story to tell. She has just recently started a new venture on Fridays, doing a shout out to make us aware of other bloggers in the community that she particularly enjoys and likes. http://lynzrealcooking.com/

Colleen of Silver Threading is re-creating herself during her retirement, sharing, “stories, dreams, poetry, and good old-fashioned wisdom tempered by humor.” As well as this she is the coordinator of #WQW Writer’s Quote Wednesday, a contributing book reviewer and part of the team on Lit World Interviews and Authors Support Authors. Can’t get any better than that! This lady rocks, with a capital R!!

http://silverthreading.com/

Charley loves many things that are so dear to my heart namely: “books, baking, theatre, visiting places, home.” Perfect, bliss, such a lovely lass!!
https://booksandbakes1.wordpress.com/

Jade at Scatterbooker is a book reviewer who just loves books of all genres, hence the blog name Scatterbooker. She has a lovely cat called Zeus, and lives in Melbourne, lucky girl! A cat and the beach, I get so jealous of her cat and beach photos on Instagram….

https://scatterbooker.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/2015-review/

Heena is a lovely lass, a “Writer and Author. Her first book, “Deceived, a psychological thriller, is due to be published in the later half of 2016.” She has two blogs one of which is dedicated to her love of books :

http://heenarathorep.com/
and her book blog: http://thereadingbud.com/

Galit of Coffee and Notes is another fellow Instagram enthusiast, and a lovely lass,”a writer of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, YA, Science Fiction as well as a blogger, book reviewer, a declared coffee addict, a gamer and an avid reader.”

https://coffeennotes.wordpress.com/

Helen is a writer, “When I’m not writing I like to walk, paint, shake my thing at Zumba class and study karate. I have a black belt (helpful when writing fight scenes) and a very nice husband (helpful when writing love scenes)” Blush, blush Helen!! I met the lovely Helen at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015 in London.

http://journeytoambeth.com/

Esther is ” a freelance writer, copywriter and writing tutor for The Writers Bureau.” I met her in person at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015 and she is as lovely in person as she is on her blog. There are many resources on her blog for would be authors so do check it out: https://esthernewtonblog.wordpress.com/

Sacha: Is the brain child behind the Annual Bloggers Bash. This lady does so much for the blogging community and works tirelessly whilst holding down a full time job and looking after her young son. So do check out her blog:
http://sachablack.co.uk/

Ali : Another star, this lovely lady is also an organiser of the Annual Bloggers Bash. What can I say? It was so lovely to meet Ali in person. Do pop over to her blog to say hi, you won’t regret it, Ali’s blog lives up to its wonderfully storytelling name….
http://aliisaacstoryteller.com/

Annika. Writing has been Annika’s passion since childhood. She has a fascinating blog, and is such a friendly, encouraging lady, a real Swedish gem:
https://annikaperry.wordpress.com/

Debby, is a “nonfiction memoir writer who likes to write about life, matters of the heart and women’s issues. Her intent “is to inspire others by sharing my stories about events I encountered, and the lessons that come along with them.” Debby has been a star, often retweeting me on twitter, thanks so much Debby for all your support.
http://dgkayewriter.com/

Sally has a truly eclectic blog and does so much to support and encourage other bloggers. Definitely one to follow. :

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

Val like myself has Scottish routes, (my father is Scottish and I lived in Edinburgh as a child, and teenager.) Her blog is all about finding your middle ground, and a sense of the importance of balance in life. Being that when I was younger I trained as a holistic therapist and practised for a while, this message is dear to my heart:

http://findyourmiddleground.com/

Rachael, is the wonderful organiser of writing #Blogbattle that I enjoy participating in from time to time in this blog. She has a lovely About Me page, here is a short snippet that I particularly related to: “Who am I? Well, I guess I’m just a girl who grew up but isn’t growing old on the inside. I’m just a stubborn person who refuses to let go of some hopes and goals. I’m a faithful woman who desires to speak truth in love. I’m not special to everyone, but I’m worth it to someone.” You’re definitely worth it Rachael, so many times over…

http://rachaelritchey.com/

Lucy, at Blonde Write More loves a touch a humour and I do too, she is also a Bloggers Bash girl who I met in August 2015, and this talented lady won the Funniest Blogger Award. As well as this we both like to engage in Writing on Rachael Ritchie’s Blog Battle too.

https://blondewritemore.wordpress.com/

Ritu, “a working mum of 2, loving wife, daughter, sister, friend to many… I started this blog to just air views, and reminisce,” I’m all for reminiscing Ritu… especially with a smile…:

https://butismileanyway.wordpress.com/

Edwina likes to look at the lighter side of life, and I do too, at least most of the time! With delights such as Wacky Word Wednesday, and a shared enthusiasm for haiku too:

http://edwinasepisodes.com/

Diane is a Romance writer, who “talks to her cat, reads 2-3 books at a time, constantly searches for new vegan recipes and creates her characters. In her spare time, she loves camping and building dollhouses.” Do check out her friendly blog:

https://ddominikwicklesromance.wordpress.com/

Suzie: was at the Bloggers Bash in August 2015, and has an awesome blog, definitely one to follow. She is the face behind the #SundayBlogshare. As well as this she won the Services to Bloggers Award at the Bloggers Bash 2015 and The Most Inspiring Blog Award. Like me she likes to Instagram too. What are you waiting for, pop over to Suzie’s blog for a chit chat….

suzie81speaks.com/

Sarah of First Night Design shares my love of all things creative. Where would we be without these beauties? ” art, design, theatre, history, food, cinema and more.”

https://firstnightdesign.wordpress.com/

Inese is an incredible photographer, capturing those moments that mean so much and she is such a very friendly, chatty blogger, a definite delight to follow:

http://inesemjphotography.com/

Julia, has a truly sumptuous blog which features her love of the colour red. Take a glimpse at all she has to offer in terms of photography, fashion, yummy food to devour, movies, writing, and quotes:

https://myredpage.wordpress.com/

Irene shares my love of gemstones and jewellery. She lives in sunny Spain. Lucky lady! Do check out her lovely blog:

http://irenedesign2011.com/

All the above bloggers are totally awesome, friendly, lovely, supportive people so do check them out without delay!

I’d also like to mention that guy bloggers are incredible too and I do hope that one of the male bloggers might do a #Guylove post!!! To celebrate all those incredible male bloggers out there who do a fantastic job encouraging, and inspiring others in the blogging community……

Otherwise I’ll have to put on my suit and tie and pretend I’m a guy …. so I can do a shout out…

Any offers Guys?? …. Hurry, the alternative could be embarrassing!!

Bye for now, much love,

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Marje @ Kyrosmagica

Guest Post by Hugh Roberts – How to Become a Successful Blogger!

Source: https://jemsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/guest-post-by-blogger-hugh-roberts-how-to-become-a-successful-blogger/

Hugh is doing a series of guest posts on Janice’s blog Jemsbooks about blogging – this first one is all about creating a wonderful About Me page. The About Me page is and always should be your friendly welcoming page, and he explains how to achieve a first class About Me page and sustain it to the max in this wonderful post.

Is Your Blog Under Attack?

Great WordPress tips from Hugh at Hugh’s Views and Views. A must see.

WordPress Tip – Guaranteed You Will Get More Readers!

Great WordPress tip from Belinda Crane about getting all your post out there instead of just some of it…

Blogger Recognition Award and Advice To New Bloggers

Thank you to Beaton at Becoming The Muse for nominating me for The Blogger Recognition Award: https://becomingthemuse.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/blogger-recognition-award/

It’s lovely that he thought about my blog, I appreciate it, it’s always nice to get noticed!

Especially when you’re only 5 foot 4 and tend not to stand out in the crowd. My husband is 6 foot 1 and makes me look tiny in comparison!

So my advice to new bloggers would be:

To get involved, have fun, write or blog about what is in your heart, what inspires you. I’d like to mention a post I did about doing what you love: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/03/19/a-writing-award-to-give-yourself-do-what-you-love/
Join in challenges. There are so many to choose from, try out a few and see which ones appeal. Join in when you want to and don’t beat yourself up when you haven’t got the time.I usually take part in the following fantastic challenges:
I love writing haiku so I’d highly recommend Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge: https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/category/haiku-prompt-challenge/
There’s nothing like a quote to inspire you so I often take part in Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday: http://silverthreading.com/2015/08/26/writers-quote-wednesday-pure-inspiration/
Recently I started joining in Rachael Ritchey’s Weekly Writing Short Story Blog Battle: http://rachaelritchey.com/blogbattle/
This week I had a go at Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photography Challenge: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/camera-lucida-divergent/
Try out new things, be spontaneous and adventurous.
If you can write a Book Review then do, these nuggets of pure gold support authors so much. Or do Bookish posts and memes such as The Friday 56 via Freda’s Voice: http://www.fredasvoice.com/ or Book Beginnings, via Rose City Readers, http://www.rosecityreader.com/. I particularly take great pleasure in supporting new authors, that’s one particular blogging activity that is very dear to my heart. That’s why I love going to Book festivals, both here in Cambridge, and in Edinburgh, I love discovering new up and coming authors.
If you do Book Reviews it is a great idea to have an A – Z list of all your reviews. Do this right at the beginning otherwise it is a lot of work to catch up with this. I’m currently compiling my A – Z list of Book Reviews and it’s taking me a long time to do this as I have 58 reviews on this blog and counting …….!!!! EEK!!!
Don’t be afraid to be who you are, in fact being yourself is super important, if you pretend to be someone else it will probably show.
Chat to people via comments, like and appreciate other bloggers posts, make it a community endeavour.
Have a laugh, but be serious when you need to. Life is made up of both darkness and light so share both.
Help and support other bloggers, this is a community so encourage others to fulfil their potential too.
Get to know other bloggers if you can, meeting them in person at a blogger’s event is such a brilliant thing to do. But don’t meet up with random strangers, keep safe! I’d recommend this kind of organised event wholeheartedly, even if like me you’re intrinsically shy, push your boundaries. I went along to the Bloggers Bash in London on 1st of August and it was such a success: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/02/the-bloggers-bash-oh-what-a-day/
This blogging lark takes time, so be patient, developing a blog isn’t an overnight activity it takes a lot of hard work. I blog at all sorts of weird times of the day, forget to talk to my family, burn the dinner, done it all! Be aware that it is quite addictive!!!!!! No, that’s a lie it is 100% ~~quite~~ addictive.
Remember to breathe, take in the odd bit of fresh air, watch the squirrels in your garden, don’t sit in front of your keyboard all the time! You have to experience life so you have something to write about.
Don’t take it personally if people follow your blog and then seem to vanish into thin air, this happens. In fact in general try not to be too sensitive, just shrug it off. If people want to read your blog they will, especially if you write great content, so focus on that. That’s my no. 1 tip.

I’ve been very slow with this post, life has been extremely busy just recently, I’ve been helping out my mum up in Edinburgh after her operation, and taking in some of the sights of The Edinburgh International Festival which I’ve shared with you in my recent blog posts. So that’s my excuse.

To make up for my tardiness I’ll try to make this post as humorous as I can, I like a little giggle….

Blogging, well I never, over a year ago if you’d told me I’d be receiving awards for blogging I would have looked at you as if you were barking mad. I would not have believed it. Also I certainly would not have imagined that I’d end up going to a Bloggers Bash on the 1st August in London. No, I’d say stop teasing me, but yes I did go, and it’s been such an experience. What an adventure. Why didn’t I do this Blogging lark years ago? It’s a terrible setback being such a slow developer, ack, that’s life, have to accept that NOW is my time, and I’m lapping it up, loving each and every minute of this Blogging journey. Oh, a thought just occurred to me Blogging rhymes with Snogging. Random thoughts like this are always creeping into my mind. Have you ever noticed that before? No of course you haven’t, and even if you had you’d keep it to yourself wouldn’t you? There are some similarities between the two words I suppose, kissing is connecting with someone, on a personal level, and blogging does all of these things on a much wider platform…. That’s what I love about blogging you can say the most incredibly nutty things and get away with it…

Well, I hope I got away with it! I mean, please don’t unfollow me!! EEK!!

Awards are the icing on the cake, and a great way to shout out about great blogs. Hopefully the bloggers that I’m nominated accept awards – I know that many bloggers don’t accept awards due to time constraints. If I’ve nominated you and you don’t accept awards that’s fine don’t worry, I won’t turn up on your front door step, stand on my tippee toes, and and force you to join in! This Five Foot Four girl is a gentle soul so no cause for concern on that count. I’ll just smile and say, “No Can Do, No worries,” blow you a bloggy kiss and get going!

Right, where did all that randomness come from? Started off talking about my small frame and ended up having a bit of a moment. Well I’m writing parts of this while consuming a glass or two of wine, that’s my secret.

The other thing I like about blogging is the way that it encourages you to explore all sorts of creative activities and takes you on new pathways. When I started this blog it was mainly about books, and writing and now it’s kind of expanding in all sorts of directions: haiku, photography challenges, and general craziness, with a touch of magic. I called it Kyrosmagica so it was bound to happen. I’m casting a spell on you…. Beware!!

Here are the rules of the award which I’ve pinched word for word from Beaton’s blog:

The Rules:

Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.
Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.
Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers.
Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog.
List who you’ve nominated in the post.
Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).
Comment on each blog and let them know you’ve nominated them.
Provide a link to the award post you created.
Provide a link to the original post on Edge Of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing!

Without any more jokes about snogging, casting spells, or yapping on about my lack of height, I’d like to nominate some wonderful blogs for this award:

This is quite tricky as I have nominated quite a few people before for various awards so with this in mind I’ve tried to come up with some new nominees, hope I’ve succeeded, if I’ve nominated you before well that’s my failing memory’s fault…

Here in no particular pecking order, (couldn’t resist that!) my nominees for Blogger Recognition Award are:

The lovely Erika At BookVentureLand.: https://errka220.wordpress.com/

Sharukh Bamboat at India Destination blog. I’ve always wanted to go to India but have never been, so this is my way to go there on a virtual visit: https://indiadestinationsblog.wordpress.com/

Annika Perry’s Excellent Writing Blog. : https://annikaperry.wordpress.com/

Kevin at The Screenplay of Life’s Chronicles. Kevin is a stand up comedian, freelance writer and an excellent photographer: http://kevinhotter.com/

A wonderful poetry blog: https://poemsandpoemes.wordpress.com/

Julia at My Red Page. A girl that likes the colour red, writing and photography. Her blog is very stylish: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/

For creative endeavours look no further than Wild Daffodil: https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/

D. Wallace Peach’s wonderful blog, Myths of The Mirror: http://mythsofthemirror.com/

Ameena at Randoms by A Random, poetry enthusiast, and mental health advocate: https://randomsbyarandom.wordpress.com/

EmMakwall Explains it all, especially her passion for films, television, humour, and soundtracks: http://emmakwall.com/

Kayleigh, a Scottish lass who blogs about books, life, and everything in between. She is a fellow Edinburgh Book Festival enthusiast. You can find her blogging at Miserable and Magical: https://kayleighm8.wordpress.com/

Hugh over at Hugh’s Views and News, I met him at the Bloggers Bash in London and he’s a lovely bloke, most definitely one to follow: http://hughsviewsandnews.com/

I’m a devotee of holistic health so I’d recommend Holistic Health Consultant, Reiki Master, and Nutritionalist, Gina Briganti’s blog: http://ginabriganti.com/

Poet and Author Adam Gainer. Adam is very approachable, a friendly guy who shares my love of poetry. https://authoradamgainer.wordpress.com/

and a new discovery, check out Denis’s wonderful afghan hounds and his haiku at Haiku Hound:

https://haikuhound.wordpress.com/

Thanks for celebrating this award with me.

Do leave a comment I’d love to hear from you. If you found the advice to new bloggers helpful please do remember to share, thanks so much.

Bye for now.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

The Annual Bloggers Bash Awards – Join Us On August 1st 2015

Hoping to go to the Annual Bloggers Bash? Find out more here – reblog via Hugh @Hughviewsandviews
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