First and foremost, I’d like to thank the lovely Becka over at Sweet Stuff By Becka for nominating me for this award! No matter what it may actually be, I appreciate the thought and will give you my quick confession!

So upon being nominated, I quickly read over Becka’s post in which she was nominated! Much to my suspicion, I read over it and said to myself… Oh man! This sounds like one of those chain letters you get through email! My inner skeptic scoffed at the idea of conforming to the internet and its blog version of the chain letter. Then I began to consider the way this particular award works.

A kind soul (AKA Becka, thanks again!)  reads your blog and thinks it is worthy of their own promotion. Thusly, they create a blog post (as this one here) and link to the person who nominated them while also promoting more blogs that they think are awesome. In turn, I am to do the same thing. As much as I hate chain mail in my inbox… I like the actual heart behind this one.

“The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn’t that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.”

After reading that description, it didn’t matter if it sounded like chain mail or not. What matters is how I perceive it now! The award is all about building a community, which is exactly what I’ve done here through my efforts this month! Also, it is a sweet and honest reward, and therefore I pass it on!

There are indeed rules, which also must be passed on and they are:

• Link to the person who nominated you (Only a kind courtesy out of thanks!)
• Answer their questions (Mini interview!)
• Nominate new blogs for the award (Pay it forward!)
• Ask them 10 new questions (Your turn!)
• Let the nominees know they have been nominated (Keep in touch and follow up!)

So, if you’ve read those you know what comes next… Becka! I hope you enjoy!

The Interview! (Dun Dun Dunnnnn!)

1)What was the best thing that happened today?

I got home and found I had been nominated for this award.

That may sound silly, but I got to work early, had training, missed my break, my lunch had for some reason gone bad, left late, got home and my partner wasn’t feeling well, cooked dinner, fell asleep and then found out I’d been nominated. After the day I had, a win is most certainly a win! If it had been yesterday, my short story, Circle of Vengeance hit the Kindle store (.99 cents for now, free as soon as they fix it!)

2)Where do you find your blogging inspiration?

My blogging inspiration comes from my love of writing. I have been writing for what feels like forever now and have loved telling stories as much as I write them. There is something so rewarding about the art of writing that I can only hope to one day be fortunate enough to make money at it. Sad thing is, I love work and will never stop, although I would consider dropping in hours or changing careers!

3)Do you consider yourself a glass half full or half empty kind of person?  Why?

I’ve always hated that analogy! I am the kind of person who doesn’t look at what’s in the glass… I’m the kind of person who looks at the potential within that glass. How much can it hold? What can it hold? The possibilities there are much more interesting… although now I’m thirsty.

4)What’s your favorite childhood memory?

Getting my first game console. It was a sweet Nintendo Entertainment System, and I also was one of the few proud owners of a Power Glove. Motion control nearly two decades before the Wii was a thing. That is why Nintendo gets my money!

5)Where do you want yourself and/or your blog to be a year from now?

I want to still be blogging right here with you guys. As hard as it may be if I achieve all my life goals in the next year, no matter what I always want that connection with people. I love communicating and hearing positive or negative feedback. I am fortunate that the community I’ve built here is entirely constructive and or positive feedback. It means a lot!

As for where I want to be… I have a list of fifty life goals and one of the more important personal ones is for me to be published. In one regard I would absolutely love to make billions of dollars because some of my other goals consist of running a school for the creative arts with many degrees into the gaming industry paired with the industry itself. Also I would love to be able to give scholarships to not those high achievers who never make the most of their awards, but those people who work hard and want to better themselves. I worked two jobs while attending university because I was ineligible for student loans. Now I’m bald. I want to prevent that for other people!

6)What’s your favorite home cooked meal?

Hard question! If it’s my mom’s cooking then it is mashed potatoes, under beef mince cooked in gravy, topped with corn or her seafood chowder! If it’s my partner’s mother’s cooking, her deliciously mouth watering round steak casserole with garlic sourdough bread… *Drool* If it’s my cooking, it is my homemade pizzas and if it’s my partner’s, it is any dessert she makes! They’re deliciously sweet!

7)What is a goal that you have that may be hard to achieve?

Starting the school mentioned above. Where do I even begin? How do I begin? I know nothing about the industry, I am not in the industry and I am not anywhere near wealthy enough to start it. Really I just want to help people on the path to finding their own dreams, and in the creative fields and gaming are where my passions lie.

8)Who do you look up to?

Tall people?

Seriously I look up to those people who treat others the way they wish to be treated and the leaders who lead by example. My mother taught me all of these values, so in essence… I suppose she is at the top of that pyramid!

9)Why do you keep writing/baking/sewing/(insert hobby here)?

I keep writing because for me not to write would be for me to cease to be!

Writing and I are one and the same, we have an intimate relationship in which no one will ever know nor understand me the way my muse does. Other people may understand that relationship, but I have never felt the need nor urge to travel. My muse has taken me to broken warzones amid arid planets, beautiful vistas that have left me breathless and to places where words have yet to be invented for what I have seen. In these travels I have met some of the most interesting people and beings, and despite the dangers of these areas… I have never feared for my life despite watching beings fade into the next life and beyond.

I write because I can’t help it. I write because I love it. I write because that’s what makes me who I am.

10)What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Impossible Question.

Seriously though, Heavenly Hash… can’t even get that flavour in Australia. Yes, I am heartbroken.

***

Okay! Now that I’ve subjected you to my info session, here are the blogs I nominate!

ElitistGeek – One of the ones who has emailed me and made a more personal connection. I enjoy her writing and her posts are visually appealing (Something I could probably learn from, hahaha!) Also she is doing NaNoWriMo and killing it! Keep her on track and check her out!

Valourbörn – Another one who has reached out and contacted me directly. Also if I’m not mistaken, I think Alex has been nominated for this award before and it shows why in the quality of the posts!

Nikki and the Novel – Nikki is a frequent commenter and one of the many reasons the frequency of my posts has increased to almost one a day. Her blog is a nice plain and straightforward design and her posts are quite amusing!

When I Become A Superhero – I believe Lizzee has been nominated for this award as well, and with good reason. She is also very active in commenting and is a positive force in the world of blogs!

The Xabeldi Chronicles – If I have one thing to say about Serena, it’s that she has written a heap of stuff. When she shared a few links with me, I became overwhelmed for a moment while I considered my own achievements. She has just released on her blog her epic fantasy entitled, The Last Hero. This story alone clocks in at over three hundred thousand words. Three. Hundred. Thousand. Swing by and give her the respect she has earned!

Honorable Mention: Lorraine Reguly’s Life – After being a skeptic, this kind lady’s post on the above award helped me realise that despite it sounding like a chain letter, what I was passing up was the chance to make others feel good and be a gracious nominee and accept the award! She has beyond the two hundred followers, so I’ve given her this mention as without her I may not have done it! Silly internal critic!

So for those of you who I’ve nominated, firstly I’d like to thank all of you for making contact (with the alien known as TJ Edwards… er, me that is) and for your ongoing support in my blogging efforts. Secondly, fantastic work in each of your own regards, it has been a pleasure to stumble upon your blogs and learn so much in so short a span of time. Not only are you a wonderful part of my community, but now, hopefully the greater one!

Last but not least, here are my ten questions for you… Mwa Ha Ha.

1. Why did you originally start your blog and is it going to plan?
2.  Describe your “write space” (AKA Where you write!)
3. What is your biggest challenge with regards to writing?
4. What are your top three vices?
5. What is your biggest goal in life?
6. What was the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?
7. Have you ever submitted a work for publication?
8. What is the one post or piece of writing you want everyone to read and why?
9. You rub a magic lamp, a genie pops out and you now have three wishes, what are they?
10. What is your all time favourite author?

Now that you all have your homework, I look forward to your responses! Although this post has gone past twelve AM I’ll back date it so I maintain my one a day ratio… it will be a week tomorrow since my blog exploded into the active community I have now and I want to thank not only the people above but everyone who reads, skims or even just followed my blog. The frequent views, the comments and the emails all keep me focused on writing and you guys are positive enablers making me want to not only blog more, but just write more in general! Thanks again and tomorrow I will post perhaps a second part to my last post entitled, “The Journey“! Thanks again and now I can hear my bed calling me!