Liebster Blog Award - Mark 1

I have recently been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Red Nomad Oz from Amazing Australian Adventures. The award is an award bestowed upon bloggers by their blogging peers. The word 'Liebster' is German with a range of meanings, such as 'sweetest', 'kindest', 'dearest', 'beloved', 'lovely', 'kind', pleasant', 'valued' and 'endearing'. The award acknowledges bloggers' talent, and by nominating someone, you indicate that they are some of your personal favourites in the blogging world.

When I first learned I had been nominated, my heart plummeted to my boots. Why did I feel this way after receiving this honour from a blogging colleague? It was because I was nominated for this award in the middle of last year, but that initial nomination came at a time when I was moving house and starting a new job and was overlooked and forgotten in the busy-ness of that time. This initial nomination came from Liesel Hill at L.K.Hill.

However, receiving the second nomination reminded me of the first and I searched until I found the details I had saved, and have contacted Liesel to apologise for the oversight. What I have found interesting though is that in the space of the ten months between nominations, the conditions of the award have changed, a bit like Chinese Whispers. With the first nomination last year, one of the main criteria was that the blog had to have fewer that 200 followers and the award was to be passed on to ten more bloggers. However, the second nomination came from the wonderful Red Nomad Oz who has far more than 200 bloggers and the award is passed on to eleven more bloggers.I have decided to address each nomination individually in separate posts, so today's post addresses the initial nomination from L.K.Hill. 

I'd like to thank Liesel very much for her nomination. She is an author who writes over three separate genres - sci-fi fantasy, crime and historical fiction.

Here is how the Liebster Blog Award works - 

1. The nominated blogger must post 10 facts about themselves.
2. They must then answer 10 questions from the blogger who nominated them.
3. Then nominate 10 bloggers and give them 10 questions to answer.
4. Link to your ten bloggers in your blog post.
5. Let the bloggers know you have nominated them.
6. Don't nominate the blogger who nominated you.

Let's start with ten facts about me:

1. I am the eldest of six children - this came with responsibilities I wasn't very happy about, such as frequent babysitting and having to set a good example all the time.
2. My best subjects at school were English and foreign languages - which I've since forgotten - not the English, just the foreign languages.
3. I am a calligrapher and an artist as well as an author.
4. My favourite food is smoked salmon - it often doesn't even make it to a plate - usually eaten straight from the pack.
5. I have a large collection of Kinder Surprise toys.
6. I have a large classic movie collection - favourite star is Cary Grant.
7. I love Paris apartment style decor and am setting up my house that way.
8. I am a person who thrives on solitude rather than a people person.
9. I used to make teddy bears - lots and lots of teddy bears.
10. I am a trained teacher and a trained mental health worker.

Answers to the questions from Liesel -

Question 1: How long have you been blogging for?

Answer: 11 months

Question: Why did you start a blog?

Answer: I started A Novel Journey to record the publishing journey of my novel, Mine to Avenge, and as my first step on my author platform.

Question 3: What has been your weirdest experience with blogging?

Answer: I think this has to be the occasional spam comments through the dashboard that have nothing whatsoever to do with the blog. It is why I now choose to moderate the submitted comments.

Question 4: What is your favourite book?

Answer: Random Harvest, by James Hilton

Question 5: Who is your favourite author?

Answer: C.S. Lewis

Question 6: What do you want to be when you grow up/what is your profession?

Answer: When I grow up, I'd like to work as an author or calligrapher - in the meantime, I currently work as Case Manager in a Parenting After Separation program.

Question 7: How many books do you think you might have?

Answer: Not enough. Seriously though, I don't know. Not as many as I have had. I still have some in storage, and others I have had to give away as I have moved a lot. It's always heartbreaking and difficult for me to cull my books. I often find myself buying them back again later.

Question 8: Do you prefer reading a proper book or an e-book?

Answer: I like either - e-books are great when you have to 'strap-hang' on the bus or when travelling on holiday, when you can take a whole library with you, without having the weight of the books. I still love holding a traditional book as well, and can't see myself giving them up either.

Question 9: If you could choose to live one character's life in a book, who would it be?

Answer: Anne of Green Gables, I think. She is much like who I dreamed I was - and I was crazily in love with Gilbert Blythe.

Question 10: If you were stranded on a desert island, what ten items would you want to have with you?

Answer: A copy of Random Harvest, dark chocolate, a stash of pens and pencils (note: this is one stash), a stash of paper (ditto), my teddy bear, cappucino yogurt, smoked salmon, slippers, ginger beer, and a photo album with lots of pics of my three boys.

Here are the questions for the bloggers at the blogs I have tagged to receive the Liebster Award -

1. What is your favourite city in the world and why?
2. What was your first job after you left school?
3. What was your favourite toy?
4. If you could choose any animal as a pet what would it be and why?
5. Which season is your favourite and why?
6. Which fictional character would you like to invite to dinner and why?
7. Who is your favourite film star?
8. Do you ever lend books to your friends?
9. What is your favourite place to have a picnic?
10. Describe your ideal day in twenty words or less.

Here are the blogs I've tagged and nominated for the Liebster Blog Award:

1. Sonia Fogal - A Journey Through the Woods 
2. Elaine Jeremiah 
3. Edel's Book and Beauty Blog 
4. Brook Cottage Books 
5. E.J.Rycer 
6. The Australian Bookshelf 
7. Daystarz's Books 
8. The Never Ending Bookshelf 
9. Book Muster Down Under 
10. Lost in a Good Book 

 Congratulations bloggers. Keep up the good work. I enjoy following you and am sure others do too.

To blog or not to blog...what is the compromise?

I have seen several blog posts during the week debating whether an author’s writing time is best spent on their blog or on their actual books. It has been interesting and thought provoking reading, as it is something I have been thinking about myself. I can perfectly understand each viewpoint, but I am confused about which position, if any, I need to take for myself.

In several of these posts, authors announced to their readers that they are abandoning their blogs to focus on writing their books, or they are thinking about abandoning them. One author said that Facebook and Twitter more than adequately served their purposes in terms of staying connected with their readers. 

As a full time worker, I completely understand this thinking. Since my burst with NaNoWriMo in November last year, I have barely touched my current work, and am feeling anxious at times that I am losing the connection I had with it over that month of solid writing. I was able to give attention to NaNoWriMo then because I was between jobs.  

However, since then all my writing has been devoted to blogging, and I am now preparing my posts for my upcoming blog tour, but to fit that in as a full time worker means getting up early to write when I can. I also snatch time on weekends between the necessary things like shopping, cooking washing and appointments. I also enjoy writing the blog, so it’s not really that I resent doing that as opposed to getting back to work on the next book, but because the next book is a sequel/companion volume to Mine to Avenge, I am almost feeling that there is a need to direct my energies more into that, as I don’t believe there should be too big a gap between books that are part of a series. 

The opposing viewpoint is that a blog is an essential means of keeping connected with readers and building your readership, particularly for debut authors. It gives readers an opportunity to find out more about you and your book with the depth that Twitter and Facebook don’t necessarily have. It is recommended as a valid way of using your writing skills to market yourself and your book. 

So in a sense I am torn. I want to spend more time on my current work in progress and yet I need to work on building my readership. The question I am asking myself is, what is the compromise? Is there a compromise that other authors have found? I am wondering if the compromise is somehow in changing my approach to this blog and working out how to best use it to continue promotion and maintain contact with readers while giving time to the next book. I will continue to ponder the question to see what I come up with and would welcome any thoughts and ideas.