Stylish Blogger Award!

A nice surprise awaited me on Monday—my first-ever blog award, gifted to me by Mel Chelsey over at Writings, Musings and Other Such Nonsense. I’m not sure my blog is “stylish”, exactly, but hey! I’ll take it!

The rules seem to be 1) I get to pass this award along to five other bloggers, and 2) I need to tell you seven random things about myself.

Random Things…

1. After years of not owning a television, I’ve been lured into watching a few series via Hulu and Netflix. Purely for writerly research, of course (cough, cough…)
2. I love to sing. I mean, really really love to sing. Certain tight harmonies—or when a chord resolves—makes something unknot inside me, this physical shift that makes me happy and teary all at once. (Hmm, could this be why music plays such a role in my fiction?)
3. I grew up on a farm and spent most of my life living in the country until we moved into town about eight years ago so kids would be closer to school…and our “town” house still doesn’t feel like home. I’m looking forward to moving back to the mountains!
4. I want to learn parkour.*
5. I love the perfume Red. Unfortunately, it does not love me. When my sweetheart bought me a bottle for my birthday (also Valentine’s Day), I sprayed it on and seconds later had hives swelling my eyes shut…just before leaving for our romantic evening out :).
6. I’m a Firefly fanatic. And a Joss Whedon fanatic. And I love Nathan Fillion, too, and think Castle is one of the Best Shows Ever.
7. My favorite dessert is Italian Cream Cake—made from scratch, with lotsa butter and pecans and cream cheese frosting. It’s a pain to make, but wow, it’s delish.

Now to pass on the award…this was difficult, because I’ve been finding so many terrific blogs lately! Oh, the agony of decisions! Here are my choices, though. Please check out these fantastic writing blogs:

1. Kelly James-Enger at Dollars and Deadlines, a great resource for anyone who freelances, particularly those who write nonfiction
2. Andrea Mack at That’s Another Story, where you can find lots of information for writing middle grade fiction
3. Jill Kemerer of Jill Kemerer, Exiting Safe, Chasing Fantastic, for writing information and inspiration
4. Rachael Harrie of Rache Writes for everything you want to know about writers’ platforms
5. Patrick at The Artist’s Road for interviews, articles, and thoughts on creativity and art

*Photo courtesy of Marco Gomes on Flickr Creative Commons