Inspiring Blogger Award
I don’t care how many years it’s been since I was skipping around because my teacher had given me a gold star the warm glow you get when someone sends praise your way, never goes away. Thanks to two kind bloggers I therefore had a rather broad grin on my face this past few days. Stephanie at So Many Books and Ali at HeavenAli both nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blog Award. Thank you ladies!
The rules are:
- Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
- List the rules and display the award.
- Share seven facts about yourself.
- Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated
- Optional: display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you
7 Facts About Me
- My very first job involved decorating cakes in my parents’ bakery. If you need anyone to stick jam into doughnuts or cream into eclairs, just let me know.
- My first career was in journalism. Anyone who thinks that’s a glamorous job should think again. I reported on everything from crime to political corruption to industrial disputes. The worst job was having to write a weekly report about cricket in the summer and football in the winter. I knew zero about either sport and my teams never seemed to win – ever.
- I’ve met Anthony Hopkins and enjoyed a glass of wine with him. No Fava beans were involved fortunately – he’d only recently won the Oscar for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter so I think he was a bit tired of that diet.
- Nothing makes me more cross than broadcasters who pronounce ‘aitch’ as ‘hatch’. While we’re on the subject of pet peeves, all my colleagues know never to use the word ‘leverage’ in my hearing or sight.
- I love to travel – my favourite country so far is South Africa
- As a Welsh national, I am supposed to be able to sing (if you ever watch a film or tv programme about Wales they always feature people singing). I can’t. I absolutely cannot hold a note so if you want to stay my friend, make sure you never invite me for karaoke.
- According to the Kingdomality personality profile, in a medieval society I would be the discover – someone who is always looking for new experiences and thrives on change. If you have never done this, go to kingdomality.com – it’s far more fun than Myers Briggs and is uncannily accurate. Will you be a Black Knight or a merchant? A bishop or a merchant?
And now for the nominations
Many of the bloggers I follow regularly and interact with most have already been nominated so I thought I’d spread the wealth with my own nominations.
- Stu at Winstons Dad’s blog: for inspiring us all to read more works in translation
- DoveGreyReaders: an eclectic mixture of book reviews, gardening and local history from Devon
- wordsandpeace.com: Emma deserves an award from the French government for drawing so much attention to books about and from that country
- Literary Exploration Michael wasn’t much of a reader until 2009 but is now making up for lost time by working his way through the 1001 books to read before you die list. He’s making far better progress than I am with my projects
- Novel Readings Rohan’s reviews are always insightful and I love reading about the university courses she teaches. Plus she shares my love of Middlemarch
- Seeing the World Through Books Mary inspired her students to see the world outside their own locality when she was teaching English at Massachusetts college. Her blog is a rich resource of world literature books
- Tony’s Book World: another lover of world literature
- Nataallh: a writer from Gaza City who gives us an insight into life in this besieged city
- ArabicLiterature: M.Lynx is a writer based in Cairo who blogs every day about literature in English from the Arabic world.
- BookRhapsody: Angus was one of the first bloggers I ‘met’ and loved reading his reports about his book club in the Phillipines.
- The Literary Bunny: Christina had a break from the blog for a while but is back. I enjoy following her stories of about the books that her family buy for her as surprise gifts.
- StillUnfinishedBryan has a refreshingly honest take on life and books
- 101books Robert’s journey through Time Magazine’s list of greatest English language novels since 1923
- Some of the bloggers who inspired me and gave me practical as well as moral support when I took my first steps with this site are sadly not as active as they were. But I’m going to nominate them anyway in the hope it rekindles their interest.
- Laura of Musings: a wonderful guide in my journey through Booker prize winning novels
- Alex in Leeds her idea of the book jar has inspired so many people (just look up the term on You Tube if you want proof)
Hello, Karen, and many, MANY thanks for nominating my site, SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH BOOKS, for the Inspiring Blogger Award. A friend sent me your link this week after seeing that my site had been nominated, and I’m thrilled to be on the list. We all review books and send out our reviews on the internet, for better or worse, but this is the first time I’ve seen my site highlighted like this, and I thank you for it. It’s especially exciting because it came completely out of the blue (and during the slowest time of the year).
Thanks Karen, even if I’ve been out of the loop lately (real life is, again, taking over). 🙂 Your blog inspires me as well. Scratch that. You’ve been a very inspiring blogger. I really like your View from Here feature, and I wish I could do something similar. 🙂
I have a few people who have promised to do some View from Here pieces so I hope to rekindle that feature shortly Angus. If you know anyone who would like to be featured, please let me know
Oh, Wine with Anthony Hopkins! That must have been a fun and interesting experience! My kingdomality is benevolent ruler which made me laugh because of friend of mine and I always talk about all the things we would fix if we ruled the world 🙂
My profile turned out to be The Discover which is pretty accurate. It’s someone who is excited by new ideas and thrives on change. Given that my role in work has changed three times already since December it’s just as well that change doesn’t freak me out.
Thank you so much for sharing those amazing bloggers with us . Always good to know great people 🙂
Oh Anthony Hopkins is my most favourite actor ever! i am so jealous!! (Though I expect if i actually met him, I’d be hopelessly tongue-tied). And I had a go at Kingdomality and got the Black Knight, which didn’t sound right at all – I’m constantly taking on tasks for which there is no obvious reward, and I prefer to let others win because I like to avoid the backlash when they don’t. Heh. But great to see several bloggers in my list who are new to me, and congratulations on your award, thoroughly deserved!
it was certainly hard to think of anything meaningful to say when those twinkly eyes were locked on you..
I am so pleased. Your blog is indeed an inspiration — maybe I’ll be inspired enough to return to blogging soon! Thinking of it.
Don’t think too long Barbara, I miss you