Very Inspiring Blogger Award

There are many Very Inspiring Blogs

I am so happy to be receiving these awards because it allows me to spread the word about all the great blogs that I read every day.

I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award last month by the lovely Anushka over at FindingmyCreature.

At the time I was buried deep in revisions followed closely by Christmas and my daughter’s Jungle Party. Now things have quietened down I finally have time to answer properly.

Thank you Anushka for the nomination, sorry I was so slow to respond.

Below are the rules for the Very Inspiring Blog Award

1. Display the award logo on your blog (see right)
2. Announce your win with a post and include a link to whoever presented your award. (ta-da!)
3. Present 7 awards to deserving bloggers.  Create a post linking to them and drop them a comment to tip them off. (duly done)
4.  Post 7 interesting facts about yourself. (see below)

Seven (Mostly) Interesting Facts

1. The first grown up book I read was Lord of the Rings. I was about 8, I needed a dictionary, and it took me months to finish. To this day (after reading it twice more and watching all the movies) I still don’t have the story straight in my head.

2. I was born in Watford, raised in West Sussex, moved to Northamptonshire when I was eight and I’m still here (although I have lived in Leeds, Manchester and New Zealand in between)

3. I have a first class degree in History from Leeds University but I hated History. I took as many English Literature modules as I could.

4. I was registered to do an MA in Shakespeare so, when I was travelling round NZ, I had the Complete Works of Shakespeare in my rucksack. I read most of it. (I didn’t get to do that course because my father got sick, but I still love Shakespeare.)

5. I finished my English MA the same month I got married. My dissertation was on Marriage and Divorce in Eighteenth Century Literature.

6. I worked as a bar manager when I was a student. It ruined my enjoyment of clubbing because I used to think someone has to clean up this sticky mess at the end of the night.

7. The worst job I ever did was cleaning pig pens. My stepfather was a pig manager and I earned some cash washing down old units with a pressure hose for three weeks. It stank.

The 7 nominees are:

1. The Inner Wildkat: Kitt Crescendo writes insightful and interesting posts such as the one here about fame, friendship and honesty. She also writes some rather racy posts on sex toys and sex advice. I’m not sure if that counts as inspirational but it’s certainly entertaining! 😉

2. A Scenic Route. Kirsten writes beautiful posts on her blog. Even her About me is a dream of poetic prose as she discusses “Creating worlds from infinite possibilities, narrowing them down to the parts that work. Choosing who lives, and who dies. Explaining why. Words wrapping around roads, making mountains, filling the skies with wings and clouds and stars in constellations no human eye has ever seen. Waking dreams, that when written down can be revisited again and again.” Beautiful.

3. 2Me4Art:  I haven’t been following this blog for long but already I’m a huge fan. The photographs are breath-taking. In her About Me Amy she says “We have to make, create, glue, glitter, snap pictures etc., or we will dry up into empty shells.” Amen to that!

4. Ubiquitous. Quotidian. Robert writes thoughtful posts about a range of topics from this one on life to meaningful essays on Disney Princesses. His strapline Have Internet, Will Travel is particularly relevant to me at the moment as I travel around the UK using the YHA.org.uk website and Google Maps Streetview.

5. Raised by My Daughter: I came across Neal while reading comments on Amber’s Parenting with Crappy Pictures blog and have followed him ever since. Neal shares the highs, lows and hilarious moments of raising his daughter Addison. His blog and his Facebook feed reassure me that I’m not alone.

5a. Parenting with Crappy Pictures: I wasn’t going to include this one because I reached my quota of 7. But hey I’m all for bending the rules. Amber’s blog has kept me laughing and sane for a long time and it deserves a mention. This post particularly is brilliant. I love her kids.

6. Apprentice, Never Master. Gwendolyn recently nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award and it gives me great pleasure to nominate her for the Very Inspirational Blogger award. Her writing is AMAZING and I am drawn in every time a post appears in my inbox.

7. Sharing the Wealth: This is my sister Michelle’s blog where she covers everything from making money on the web to Why Hating Mondays is Insane. Her range of topics is huge and she has a very balanced view of the world.

Thank you everyone for being wonderfully inspiring!