NaNoWirMo Spotlight and Liebster Award!

Will I ever not post during the week then promise myself to make it up Fridays or over the weekend?  Hell no.

My week got thrown for a loop when I came down with an out-of-nowhere fever that left as soon as it showed up.  It hit 102 degrees on Thursday.  My rule of thumb is go to work no matter what, unless I'm dead, have something super contagious, or have a fever (this is assuming I don't have sick days... which I don't yet).  I called in, everything was fine... until my boss made me feel bad about calling in as one of the other women in our group had the day off and another has strep... so she did kinda make me feel that a fever wasn't good enough.  So I went in.  And it was awful.  And I felt like this about it...

As of Friday evening, I was fully recovered, and celebrated with illicit beverages.... which is a typical Friday for me either way.



So yeah!  Chris Kelworth is doing a series of spotlights of people who will be participating in NaNoWirMo this year.  I said I was interested to be featured for, shits and giggles, and BLAM!  Check me out!  Thanks for the feature, Chris!

And check this out!  Jennifer Chow swings by my blog and lets me know that she's nominated me for a Liebster Award.  First, I was confused and thought it was Leapster and felt that this in no way is a chile-appropriate blog (see gif above).  Then, I got all giddy.  Apparently what I share here is interesting enough for people to find their way here one way or another and see who the hell this "Dara" is and why she claims to be a writer.  So that being said...

I want to credit Evelyne Holingue with the best description of the Liebster Award:

"Liebster comes from the German verb Lieben, which means to love. Liebster is the superlative form of the adjective lieb, which means kind, likeable, lovely. As a noun liebster also means sweetheart and boyfriend. Ah the complexities of the German language!  As I understand it, the Liebster Award is like a little gift from one blogger to another."

Mission for me this week, share the love.  Rules are as follows:

1. Write a post about the nomination and link back to the nominator’s site.
2. In that post, explain the meaning of the award and answer the questions given to you.
3. Create questions for your nominees.
4. Nominate 5 blogs with fewer than 1000 followers.
5. Contact nominees and let them know that you have nominated them.
6. Post the award button on your blog.

First, anyone who I nominated, please do use these same questions (add or subtract); I borrowed them from Jennifer as I liked them.  Second, I'll be searching for said nominees this week.

My nominees:
Samantha May, at Writing Through College
Julie Luek, at A Thought Grows
M.J. Fifield, at My Pet Blog
Shannon O'Regan, at Papillon D'Amour (p.s. that's my mama's blog!)
DB, at 204 and Losing it


Do you remember your first blog post?
In days of yore, I had a LiveJournal.  Remember that?  Apparently it still exists, and it looks just awful.  End tangent.  I've tried to start blogs many times since then, and at this point they're all a blur.  My first post on this one here was a bit of an intro post, who I was, what I'm trying to do, the usual.

Why are you blogging?
Partly at the recommendation of my friend (see that first post I mentioned), also as an excuse to write to fill my daily quota.  Mostly to share the experience of starting out.  I'd like to think I have a fun sense of humor, so the ride should be entertaining.

What do you like best and least about blogging?
Best: sharing and meeting new people and communities online.  It's fun, and for me, the best way to find support in writing.  Least: actually sitting down to blog.  Example, I've been trying to post this entry since Friday.  I suck.  I procrastinate like it's my job and I get all ADHD so I just never OH SHINEY RED BALL!

What blogs do you like to follow?
My current news feed is filled with writing blogs; I find if I surround myself in it, I'll get it done myself (most of the time).  Though there's a few other I follow.  Friends, family, sites like xkcd and Penny Arcade.

What would you like to share with your readers that they might not know about you?
I got my head caught in a revolving door when I was six-years-old.  Yes, I still avoid them at all costs.

If money, job and family weren’t an issue where would you live and why?
Ireland.  It's a hell of a lot more laid back and filled with less bullshit that here.

Have you learned more from your successes or failures?
I'm still learning.  And at a quick glance, from my failures.

What one key message do you want your readers to take away from your blog?
Oooooo.... never thought of having a message.  Right now, I just see it as sharing my experiences while I go through with this whole novel/writing thing.

Do you prefer the book to the movie or the movie to the book?
I go both ways.  (HA!)  Some books I would have never read if it weren't for the movie, and vice versa.  Some movies butcher the crap out of the book, some do well on their own.