The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I’m catching up on some blog awards I was nominated for and set aside for various time and energy reasons. Which I feel terrible about, because I honestly enjoy receiving these awards, and writing up the fun posts that go with them. This time I’m sending out my heartfelt thanks to Millie Thom for nominating me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. See her post here.  First off, go sisterhood! Second off, I’m a huge fan of Millie’s blog, and devour every word of her posts. I especially love the posts about her travels and about historic events and holidays, which are always filled with gorgeous photos and tons of fascinating details. Go check it out!

This award is extra fun, because each person who does it answers the questions posed by the person who nominated her, then gets to pose new questions to the next people she nominates! I hope you will be amused by my answers and also by the questions I came up with.

Rules

• Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
• Answer the 10 questions given to you.
• Pass the award on to ‘N’ (as many as you want) other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.
• Give your nominees 10 of your own questions to answer.
• Include the logo of the award in a post or on your blog.

 

Answering Millie’s Questions:

1. How would you describe what your blog is about?

Ah, starting with an easy one—nice. My blog is about posting stories I write in my fictional world of Eneana.

2. Do you see your blog changing (as in expanding or developing in any way) at some stage in the future?

Well, it already has veered away from my initial idea, in that I did not originally expect to include posts like this one, or like my NaNoWriMo updates, only stories. I’m still trying to stay away from more conventional blogging, e.g., writing post about writing, or my life. However, I might include other types of posts as I get closer to finishing and hopefully eventually publishing my novel. (Can I say my “first” novel? Most days it feels presumptuous enough to say that I’ll finish this one!)

3. Do you write your blog posts straight onto the WordPress page or onto a word document first?

I always write and save my work in another word processing program, and only copy it to WordPress when it’s done. And then I notice little errors and problems and realize it’s not actually done, and awkwardly change them in both the original version and the WordPress version, hoping I do them both the same. I especially like working in Openoffice Writer, because I can create multiple dictionaries, so I can keep regular English words separate from the huge number of Eneana words and names I want to be sure I’m spelling correctly.

4.  When you write do you need to be on your own or are you happy to write with others around you?

I always have to be alone, in a quiet place. I can barely even read a book in a café, with all those distracting sound and sights, much less write one. I have no idea how people accomplish anything at write-ins, sitting right there next to some other writer and not talking. Not talking? Concentrating on writing? How is that even possible? I do feel like I miss out by not attending all these write-ins in my area, and I was especially disappointed that all the local NaNoWriMo events were write-ins rather than social support groups. But I know I wouldn’t get much written at all.

5. Which is your favourite species of tree, and why do you like it?

Hm, I never thought about having a favorite tree. Today it would probably be this gigantic druid tree in a story I’m writing, but I think you probably mean real trees. 🙂 I have a wonderful memory from childhood of the willow tree in front of my grandparents’ house. The branches were so long and low that they reached the ground, forming a cave inside. My younger sister and I hid in there and played make believe, often pretending that we were fairies or elves. It was absolutely magical.

6.  If you were to have a day out somewhere easily reachable from your home, where would it be?

Living in southern California, I’m surrounded by wonderful options. I love wandering around Laguna Beach and popping into all the art galleries or going to the Sawdust Art Festival, and topping off the day at one of the fabulous restaurants there. The Bowers Cultural Museum in Santa Ana always has some new anthropological exhibit to stir my imagination and give me ideas for Eneana, and of course Los Angeles has tons of amazing art and science museums. All summer long there are free concerts and Shakespeare plays at nearby parks, perfect for showing up early and eating a picnic dinner with friends. And lest you think I only do staid adult cultural things: Disneyland!

7.  Which ‘celebration’ (annual or otherwise) in the country where you live do you enjoy the most?

That’s a hard one, because I am a huge fan of holidays and will take just about any excuse to celebrate, especially if it involves cooking and eating lots of delicious food. So I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, and tend to go nuts at New Year’s too. At the risk of sounding vain, though, I have to say that my birthday is my favorite holiday. For every other holiday, I have to share my friends with their families or all their other friends. You can only go to one New Year’s Eve night, for instance, so my wide range of friends are split up amongst various options. For my birthday, there’s a good chance I’m not competing with any other events, so I get to see all my friends! I spend all week planning and cleaning and start cooking up a huge feast three days in advance. Even if I claim it’s “just appetizers,” nobody leaves my birthday party hungry, that’s for certain! The time I spend planning and cooking are super fun for me, and unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas—which these days are always hosted at someone else’s (larger) house—for my birthday I get to do it all. Whee!

8.  Which way would you choose to travel, given the choice: car or train?

By train. It’s so much more relaxing than driving, and I love hanging out in the dining cars and observation cars meeting other passengers. Plus the seats are more comfortable than either cars or airplanes. The only problem with trains is the time. Great substitute for cars, not such a great substitute for a plane ride across the country.

9. Which subject did you enjoy the most at school?

This is another hard one, because I enjoyed just about everything at school. I suppose I could narrow it down to my top three, if I can group some topics together and don’t have to rank them: choir, math (until I got to calculus), and science. I loved drama/theater too, but that was after school, not a class. It just so happens that I have my high school transcript sitting on my desk, from when I needed it for a job application several months ago (yes I know, I should clean off my desk more often). Given my current interests, you might be amused to learn that English and history are the two subjects I got the worst grades in (which is to say, an occasional B). I seem to remember arguing with my English teachers like an annoying little know-it-all, which in retrospect might not have been the best strategy to win friends and influence people. And my teachers made history boring by making it all about memorizing dates and names. Yuck. I also got B’s in Phys. Ed., because ugh, could I be any worse at running or climbing or throwing balls? Hey, let’s try. Nope, already the worst possible. I honestly think those were “pity” Bs. If only dance had been an alternate option….

Now, if you mean college instead of high school, my answers would be completely different: sociology, psychology, and creative writing. I did manage to ace calculus in college (a non-sadistic teacher made all the difference), and went on to learn some pretty advanced statistics, but boy, sometimes I wish I lived back in happy, intuitive algebra land again.

10. What do you think is the best thing about being a woman today?

After surviving high school faux-history class, I ended up learning a great deal about actual history in college and graduate school, especially the history of work, family roles, and gender inequality. So my initial response to this question is: almost everything. For instance, I’m super keen on being able to own property, live alone without being governed by a father or husband, refuse a marriage, initiate a divorce, get a good education, and control my fertility. Voting is pretty cool too. More recently, it’s wonderful to see advances in terms of gender equality in the workplace, government, and military. We still have a very long way to go. Tragically, there are many women in this world who don’t enjoy even the most basic rights. And U.S. policies for maternity leave and child care are abysmal. Still, I’m the last person you’d hear wishing I’d been born in a “simpler” or “more romantic” time.

Nominees

In the eight months I’ve had this blog, I feel so lucky to have (virtually) met so many wonderful blogging “sisters” (and “brothers” too)! Many of them don’t accept blog awards, and others I either just gave an award to or am saving up for a future award. So I’m limiting myself to these six. I encourage all of you to go check out these fabulous, interesting blogs by these fabulous, interesting women!

1. J. A. Allen from Scribbles on Cocktail Napkins
2. Amanda from Mandibelle16 
3. Megan from Invisible World
4. Vijaya from Strangelander2015 
5. Jacqueline Obyikocha from A cooking pot and twisted tales
6. Alona Morning from Alona’s Writing Corner

My Questions For My Nominees

It was so fun coming up with these questions that I only ended up borrowing one from Millie’s list. However, if you don’t feel comfortable with any of these questions, feel free to substitute one of the questions I was asked, or just make up your own question and answer that instead. Three cheers for free choice and free expression!

1. What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? Or put another way, what are you hoping others will get out of it, or that you will get out of it?

2. How do you deal with the inevitable frustrations of blogging, like posting something you worked really hard on and getting little response? (It’s okay to admit if crying is involved; we’d understand.)

3. What is one way that someone has been especially supportive about your blog and/or your writing more generally?

4. What is one thing you wish you had known when you first started your blog?

5. How do you find or make or schedule time to write for your blog? How well is that working for you?

6. Everyone procrastinates at least once in a while. What’s a guilty pleasure that you indulge in when you’re supposed to be working?

7. What do you like to do when you’re not working or writing? Do any of your hobbies, or your occupation, feed back into your writing?

8. Which holiday or celebration (annual or otherwise) in the country where you live do you enjoy the most?

9. Since I love food, I have to include it here: Tell us a story about one of your favorite foods, like a special time that you made it, or when you first had it, or just describe what you love about it.

10. Tell us a story about someone who told you (or implied) that you couldn’t do something because you were a girl/woman, and how you responded.

 

That’s it for today. Have fun!

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