I just got nominated for my first blog award :)

Thank you Andrew Toynbee! I’m psyched to play along.

What is the Liebster Award?

“The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The Meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.”

The rules that come with the Award:

1.      If you are tagged/nominated, you have to post 11 facts about yourself.

2.      Then you should answer the 11 questions the tagger has set for you & generate 11 new questions for the people you subsequently tag.

3.      Tag 11 more Bloggers.

4.      Tell the people you tagged that you did.

5.      No tagging back.

6.      The person you tag must have less than 200 followers.

Firstly, 11 facts about myself

1.   I went for years without TV. This may be surprising since I write so much about it now, but TV was basically absent from my early 20s. The first show that I got hooked on coming out of that phase was House. I didn’t know TV could be so smart, or have such a sarcastic, hilarious, disabled genius as a main character. It opened up my TV-watching world. I still remember the first episode I saw, and what monologue of House’s got me hooked (for House fans, the episode was “Lines in the Sand” (304) and it was House’s “circle queen” speech).

2.   I’m a little obsessed with seasons. Living somewhere perfect like San Diego with amaziing weather all year round would depress the hell out of me. I want hot, humid summers with storms, cold winters with snow, springs full of flowers and rain and colorful autumns.

3.   I miss organic chemistry.

4.   I’ve ridden the Greyhoud bus more times than I can count. I took it all over the west coast, and cross-country twice. The first time I took it was from Flagstaff to LA,, and the bus was full of recently released convicts.

5.   The only TV show I watched with any regularity while in high school was The X-Files.

6.   I see letters and numbers as colors and this has a huge impact on the way I write, what times I set my alarm for, character names in fiction writing, phone numbers I use, and so on.

7.   I had a thing for stop signs when I was a real little kid. I think it was the red that got me.

8.   My favorite band is TOOL. I heart Maynard.

9.   I’m trying to get into a TV writing class for the fall, but it’s not looking too hopeful. I’ve taken another class from this professor and he encouraged us to take this next one but the sschool switched it from a writing class to a theater arts class, so now it’s only available for film majors, because they are in some special program track and pay higher tuition. I’m really bummed. I bet everyone can guess what show I was going to write a script for if I got in!

10.   Canada and India are the only forreign countries I’ve ever been to.

11.   I’ve lived in seven states.

11 questions from Andrew Toynbee and his very own blog…

1. Has any book made you go ‘wow’ as you’ve completed it?

Yes, lots of books have, but the first that comes to mind is The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. The ending has such a profound impact.

2. From where do you draw inspiration for your stories?

Real life events, snippets of conversation, dreams, taking an old idea and twisting it around, and from the dark recesses of my mind.

3. Do you listen to music when you write, or do you prefer silence?

Music, almost always.

4. How has blogging changed your writing or your outlook towards it?

Hmmm, I’m not sure that it has, except that sometimes I feel like I’m blogging when I should be writing. It may not directly affect my writing, but it’s awesome that I get to read and interact with all kinds of writers and bloggers I wouldn’t otherwise. That’s the best part.

5. What is your favorite food?

Just one? I can’t do that, I love food. I really have a thing for fall foods, so anything with butternut squash or yams is an instant favorite. I also really love eggplant. In the dessert category, anything with chocolate will do. Probably my favorite dessert is this concoction called “Ship goes to pieces against a rock” or something like that. It’s mint chocolate chip ice cream over a warm brownie, with fudge and whipped cream. It’s served at a local coffeeshop/dessert place and it is orgasmic.

6. What finally prompted you to attempt your first novel?

Honestly, it’s hard to remember. I wrote a “novel” in high school about a group of teenagers that didn’t know they were vampires (this was way before Twilight, people) and I’m not sure what sparked it. Probably some image I had in my mind of some scene in the story.

7. Dogs or cats – and why?

Dogs, and medium to big in size. They’re just more substantial and much more even-tempered.

8. Naughty books – all the details or leave the story at the bedroom door?

Well if the book is already naughty, why would you leave out any details? :)

9. What is your current WIP about?

My current WIP is called A Case of You (after Tori Amos‘ cover of the Joni Mitchell song by that name; I always tend to name things after songs and lyrics) and is about a relationship gone horribly awry. In a broader sense, it’s about loss but not the usual things that would usually come to mind with that word. It’s turning out to be pretty dark. It’s also pretty hard to write, but it feels like an inner imperative I can’t get away from. It’s helping a lot to plot things out more thoroughly ahead of time.

10. Has a movie brought you to tears for any reason?

Um, yes. I cry pretty easily at movies, books, etc, so I probably could not count them all. But the first movie I remember crying over was My Girl.

11. Do you prefer to write at home or elsewhere?

Home, for sure. I’m trying to get used to writing at work (there’s a lot of downtime at my job) but something still feels awkward and it’s harder to get in the flow of writing. Plus I prefer to lounge around in PJs while writing.

My questions for my nominees:

What’s your favorite thing you’ve written (it can be a full-length manuscript, a blog post, a great paragraph, anything)?

What prompted you to write your first blog post?

Do you prefer to write/blog in the morning or at night?

What’s your favorite new music find?

If you could pick anywhere to live for one year (can’t be your current location, has to be somewhere else), where would you go and why?

What scene in a book/story/movie/TV show do you wish you had written?

Do you keep a journal? Did you ever?

What inspires you?

Do you believe in extraterrestrials?

What are some of your guilty pleasures?

What dream stands out most in your mind and what do you think it means?

My nominees:

Okay, first I want to say that there were SO many I wanted to nominate, so it was hard to narrow it down. Also, most blogs I looked at don’t make their number of followers public so I pretty much threw that rule out the window.

Leftbrainwrite – an amazing writer of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and blog posts. Check out her latest story, The Runaway, posted in parts every Friday, which is part of her current novel.

Battered Hive – a brilliant poet from Phoenix, Arizona and I’m not a big poetry person at all, so this guy’s seriously good. Check his work out.

weak interactions: screen science explained – this blog focuses on the science behind shows like Breaking Bad and Fringe. Gotta love a blog with a page on chirality!

Ms. Nine – great, frequent blogger. I’m dying to read her WIP, and her recent posthumous interview with John Steinbeck (who prefers to be called The Stein) is one of my favorite things I’ve read this week.

Tucker’s Hole – a blog devoted entirely to Breaking Bad. NickCR explores each episode as well as posing questions and tackling in-depth topics.

The Heizenberg Effect – another BrBa-themed blog, this one focuses on lots of fan-made art. There are paper dolls, Breaking Gif posters, Walt’s head in Breaking Bad quotes and amazing paintings and drawings of many of the characters and scenes. One of my favorites.

Michelle Proulx Official – great blog about writing and editing. She’s the reason I’m doing NaNoWriMo summer camp this year!

ChemistryPanda – blog about all things chemistry, including some great reading lists for medical chemistry.

Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel – Musings of a Med School Spouse

Sidekick Reviews – Sci-Fi Movies, TV, Gaming News and Reviews (another BrBa blogger!)

diannegray – writing and loving life. This is one of my favorite recent discoveries, her posts are awesome!

~Emilia J