It's always an uplifting surprise to check your e-mail messages at the end of a hectic day and find you've been recognized for your work. That's what happened Monday when I learned Elizabeth Varadan—critique partner, fellow blogger and author of The Fourth Wish—selected me to receive the Versatile Blogger award. I'm so honored; thank you very much, Elizabeth.
It's not easy selecting only five new people to pass this forward to, but here I go:
- Deana Barnhart is phenomenal. In addition to conceiving, organizing and hosting this month's Gearin' Up to Get an Agent blogfest, she has a highly informative blog and a wonderful personality.
- Ann Best is as inspiring as her debut memoir, In the Mirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to review Ann's book and interview her. What a wonderful time we had putting the posts together!
- Laura Barnes arrived on the scene just last month, but already her blog is causing some serious buzz. If you're looking for tips about how to work your social marketing faster and/or better, Laura is your go-to contact.
- Jeanne Bannon, whose debut novel, Invisible, is due out later this year, has exceptionally insightful book reviews and author interviews among other informative content.
- Karen Walker, whose monthlong blog tour for her debut book, Following the Whispers, is a model for this type of marketing, enlightens and uplifts me every day with her posts. Here is just one example: "The way I find balance is to only have a few key things I want to accomplish each day. That way, I don't overwhelm myself and can feel successful, rather than a failure because I didn't do what I wanted to do."
And now for something almost as challenging—telling seven things about myself that others might not know:
- For our first wedding anniversary, my husband, Marcelo, bought us matching combat boots. Can you tell he's former Army? :) Hua!
- I lost my fear of public speaking after talking to a crowd of 650 people. At least I got paid to be frightened.
- My favorite musical group is The Oak Ridge Boys. Listen sometime to their bass singer, Richard Sterban, and you'll know why ...
- I had to memorize Moonlight Sonata for my second piano recital, then family illness prevented me from being able to attend. Well, at least I didn't have to suffer from stage fright.
- As a newspaper reporter, I've been sworn at, hit and propositioned. Sometimes this happened outside of the newsroom too, although only the middle one was an accident.
- I can't stand snakes. They look like disemboweled intestines writhing on the ground. Serious yuck.
- On the morning my grandmother-in-law died, I found a penny with the year of her birth on it—1914. Abuelita Queta lived through the times of Pancho Villa and as a young married woman lived in the jungles of Mexico but was first and foremost a lady.
22 comments:
I hope you weren't sworn at, hit and propositioned by the same person at the same time.
Oh, man, now I'll never get the image of a snake looking like disemboweled intestines out of my head! Yuk.
You had seven interesting things about yourself. That's eight more than I have.
Those were great and interesting. And now, I have new blogs to check out. Thanks!
Michelle, thanks for honoring me with the versatile blogger award. I love reading seven interesting things - there's almost always a surprise.
Karen
Michelle, Thank you so much for the blog award! I am so honored to be on your list! I was just going to comment on how much I enjoyed your collaboration with Alexia Chamberlynn, but I came and saw this wonderful award instead :) I'm going to email you later today, btw. Besides my response to your last email, I have something I'm working on that I think you'd like to be a part of. How's that for building some suspense!
Congrats on the blog award! and to those you've passed it on to. :) Thanks for the good blog links; I will have to check them out. Haha, getting paid to be frightened. I enjoyed learning those interesting things about you, thanks!
Richard, you've just made me feel a lot better by putting things in perspective. No, the swearing, hitting and propositioning happened at different times by different people. That means either I didn't have to go through too much at once or I worked with several fascinating people. :)
Helen, welcome to Bird's-eye View! You have my very sincere apologies for conjuring the snake imagery. How is it I love lizards and hate their relatives is beyond me. :)
Tracey, I love it when someone discovers new blogging friends; it makes both days brighter.
Karen, I thank you for organizing such an inspirational blog tour. So many of your words are candidates for the book of quotes I keep. OK, I just shared an eighth thing about myself!
Laura, it is I who should be thanking you for taking time to help other bloggers save time. A thumbs up from you on a social media tip is high praise indeed. :) And, yes, you've totally hooked me regarding the e-mail message. I'll be on the lookout.
Carol, I hope you enjoy meeting some new blogging friends as a result of this post. That is the true reward. Perhaps if I were paid enough, I might learn to love snakes. No, probably not!
Congratulations on a well deserved award, also to the poeple you have passed it onto.
Have a wonderful week-end.
Yvonne.
Congratulations on the reward! You deserve it!
Your grandmother-in-law sounds like she was an amazing person. And thank you for making snakes seem even more disgusting. Ick.
Yvonne, if this were a poetry award, you'd be short listed and way at the top. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.
Marlena, I felt a little bad putting Abuelita in the same post as snakes, but knowing her she would have found something beautiful about them such as their scale color.
Congratulations on the award! :)
Now I'm going to think of that whenever snakes come up . . .
Hi Michelle: Thanks for following my blog. It's always good to meet a fellow cat lover. I'm following back, so I hope to see you again soon!
Golden Eagle, welcome to Bird's-eye View! It always amazes me that birds, an animal I love, are so closely related to snakes. There is something seriously wrong with that.
Rahma, welcome to Bird's-eye View and thank you for being a new follower! I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog posts.
I love your 7 facts! Ha, combat boots, that's awesome!
Thanks for the shout-out about my newsletter below! And I think I commented on FB, but super congrats on the request for a full!! You can never have too much congratulations, right?
Hi, Alexia,
For someone who'd always been such a girly girl when it came to footwear, the combat boots were a big difference but just what I needed for tromping along the Northern California terrain.
I'm thinking congrats are like chocolate--always a delight!
M
Congratulations on your award and congrats to the bloggers you passed it onto.
650 people? Yikes!
I love the idea of matching combat boots. I love combat boots!
Ooo, I like your seven things! You're one seriously interesting lady- as well as was your grandma :)
Theresa, now I know how Deana must have felt having to select only 10 queries for Lora to review. It broke my heart trying to keep it to five followers.
Juliana, I deeply wish Abuelita hadn't died so soon after I'd married. Although I knew her only briefly, her stories captivated me. I would have loved to have been able to interview her for a book.
I can't stand snakes, either. I take comfort in the fact that Indiana Jones hated them too!
Congrats, Michelle. Still love Elvira, by the Oak Ridge Boys and yes, that guy has an outstanding bass.
Milo, that's another good reason to love Indiana Jones. :)
J.L., you sure know how to make my day with a comment like that. :) Richard is every bit as lovely in person; very modest and shy, he also has a beautiful speaking voice. All of the "Boys" make you feel as if they like meeting people as much as they enjoy singing for them--a true gift.
That's good to know, Michelle. Too many artistes are never as wonderful in person as they seem on the stage or on recordings.
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