THE LIEBSTER AWARD

Thank you with all m my heart to Finkelstein, Gunroswell, and Jabrush1213 (in opposite order of nomination) for the honor of nominating me for the Liebster Award. Not just one nomination, but three! I am beyond humbled.

Here are the Award rules:

Once you are nominated, make a post thanking and linking the person who nominated you.

– Include the Liebster Award sticker in the post too.

– Nominate 10 other bloggers who you feel are worthy of this award. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can also nominate the person who nominated you.

– Ensure all of these bloggers have less than 200 followers.

– Answer the ten questions asked to you by the person who nominated you, and make ten questions of your own for your nominees.

– Lastly, COPY these rules in the post.

The word Liebster is German for the following:

Per the rules of this award, I have nominated 10 writers whose material or style of writing catches and holds my attention.  It was difficult to narrow the list to 10, but I did the best I could, limiting nominations participating in a writing class.  Each of the writers listed below possess one or more of these traits. Each is an amazing writer. Each has a unique style.  Some have been writing for years; others are new to the field; yet others were writing to the WordPress Writing 101 in a language not their own yet still made an impact through the content of the stories they told more than had they used Oxford or Chicago style manual rules.

My nominees in absolutely no particular order are

• Pricelessjoy.wordpress.com
• Artseafartsea.wordpress.com
• Lynnmlovewords.wordpress.com
• Luisa4florez.wordpress.com
• Finkelsteinandsons.wordpress.com
• Jabrushblog.wordpress.com
• authenticitee.wordpress.com
• ivaberanek.wordpress.com
• andytownend.wordpress.com
• ranu802.wordpress.com
• gunroswell.wordpress.com
• https://elsaabelli.wordpress.com

These may be my official nominees, but there are several others I would have added to the list.

Because there were three nominators and limited space, I am selecting 10 questions that are a mixture of the ones asked by each:

1. What drew you into blogging?
   • I had a lot to say about education, especially with all the major changes that have been occurring over the past decade or more—some positive, some detrimental to the teaching and learning processes. I needed a forum to express my views.
2. What political party are you and why?
   • I am registered as a Democrat, although I am actually an Independent. The reason for my registration is that, at the time, it gave me a chance to help in the nomination process during primary elections. Now the rules are changing and whether one can participate as an Independent in the selection of candidates is dictated largely by the state in which one lives. (sigh)
3. Who did you look up to as a child and has that changed?
   • President John F. Kennedy was my hero during my childhood, and in many ways remains so, despite the personal character flaws that have been coming to light for decades. He remains someone for me to respect because, while in office, his focus was on serving the US to the best of his ability, and he had been trained throughout his life (as were his brothers) to separate politics from personal opinions or religious beliefs. Too few politicians follow this policy any more, to the detriment of the US in particular and world politics in general.
4. What is one of your favorite quotes?
   • “…People don’t alter history any more than birds alter the sky; they just make brief patterns in it.” Terry Pratchett, Mort (1989)
5. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?
   • Free time? What’s that?
6. If you were President, what is the first thing you would do?
   • I would work on Congress until they got tired of me and gave in to dump lots and lots of money into education—at all levels, and especially the post-secondary level. And believe me, I can be a real pest when I feel strongly enough about something. I’d just wear Congress down. 😉
7. Blogging or writing?
   • There is little difference to me. Blogging gives me the opportunity to get “the word” out sooner, but writing—the art of it and creating more than can be put in a blog post—that’s what I’m working to be better at.  I will never be a best-selling author, and will probably never be published at all (except for self-publication on Kindle), but it’s the process of writing anything that excites me.

1. When was the last time you had to laugh so hard you’d cried and why was that?

• Recently I went through a period of depression over serious health issues and, during convalescence, the loss of my two 5-year-old cats within two months of each other, maybe less—one to a freak accident, the other to severe illness which was simply not treatable in a timely manner here on the island of St. Martin. I turned to my 40-volume set of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and laughed and laughed, with tears often flowing from my eyes. I read all 40 books in about 45 days, and it was while reading these books that I came out of the depressed state I was in.  Between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (whose newest book of short stories came out during this period and who co-authored a book or two with Pratchett), I laughed with tears flowing freely.  I needed these authors to help me through a difficult period.

1. What do you think is the most important lesson we need to instill on boys?

• Boys need to learn to respect women. It may start with respecting their mothers, but needs to go far beyond that to make certain that their “macho” friends don’t change their minds as they grow into adolescence.  Perhaps we still have time to change the focus of the world’s masculine “power” and remind our boys to share power with girls and women, and always assume that when a girl or woman says “no,” she means it.

1. What is your ultimate guilty pleasure?

• Good chocolate.

1. Looking good or feeling good?

• You can’t look good if you don’t feel good.

My ten questions:

1. Why do you write?
2. What is the difference between writing and blogging?
3. Why do think education is or is not important?
4. Given one million dollars and your choice of how you spend it, what would you buy?
5. What is your favorite song or recording artist/group and why?
6. What is your passion?
7. Cat or dog (or other pet) and why?
8. You are on a deserted island with a huge villa and all the comforts you could possibly wish for. What is missing, and why do you desire it?
9. Do you prefer sunsets or sunrises, and why?
10. Which is your preference: photographic art or hand-produced visual art (any media you choose)? Why is this your preference?
11. You have the power to change the world. How would you proceed?

Best wishes for much success in your writing, whether in book form or in blogging! Love you all!