Leibster Award/Tag Round One

The past couple of weeks have been pretty exciting in my internet world, featuring two nominations for the Liebster Award. The Liebster Award is a blogging award where blog writers can nominate other blogs they believe should get some extra recognition. The writer then has the opportunity to add some background information about themselves by answering the questions their nominator listed and also pay it forward by nominating their own choices. Every writer makes up their own questions, so each nomination is an opportunity to share more about yourself — which means you’ll be seeing two of these posts this month!

This nomination is from Drew McVittie over at The Scribblings, so I’ll be using the rules listed on his blog.

Liebster Award Rules and Nominees:

Rule 1: Thank the person who nominated you for the award.

Rule 2: Answer the 11 questions the person asked you.

Rule 3: Nominate 11 people.

Rule 4: Ask the people you have nominated 11 questions.

Part 1: Drew McVittie

Part 2: Questions about me

1. You’re suddenly inside your favourite movie. What do you do first?

Wait, this means I have to pick a favourite movie. I’m terrible at picking favourites. I love too many things, dammit!

Let’s just go with the first classic that pops into my head–The Princess Bride. And hope I wouldn’t appear in the fire swamp, because I am totally the person who doesn’t pay enough attention to her surroundings and falls into quicksand.
2. What aspect of your work are you most proud of?

The worldbuilding, for sure. People already love the worldbuilding in Keeper of the Dawn, and the worlds I’m building now are much more elaborate. There are many fantasy species and tropes you’ll recognize, but I’ve put my own twist on most of them and created some new ones. I can’t wait to share them with the world.

3. How many projects do you currently have?

Hahahahahahahahaha. Too many. I am actively working on a vlog focused on writing tips, the first draft of a novel tentatively titled The Path to Dragons, and the first draft of a non-fiction book called Self Care for Creative People. Oh, and a graphic novel I’m coauthoring with a friend. And the outline for another non-fiction book I’m going to coauthor with another friend. And in a couple weeks I’ll be returning to Moonshadow’s Guardian, the fantasy novel I hope to whip into shape in time to publish next year.

4. Which book do you feel has affected your life the most?

Well, Harry Potter set me on the path to becoming a writer, so that’s the obvious answer. I’d follow that up with Sabriel by Garth Nix. I read Sabriel when I was nine, and it has one of the most interesting necromancy systems I’ve encountered to this day. All of the books in the Old Kingdom Series (Sabriel is the first) also feature strong women as the main characters, and they’re all vastly different. The Old Kingdom Series has strongly influenced much of my writing and worldbuilding, even though my worlds are vastly different.

5. What is your definition of what it means to be a writer?

To be a writer is to have a burning need to pour words onto the page, whether they’re about your own life or fictional ones.

6. What is the most stereotypically writer-ly thing you do?

Constantly space out mid-conversation and start thinking about executions and assassinations and the differences between them and–you get the point.

7. Do you hand write or type?

Both! I use paper and pen for all my brainstorming and most of my notes, but I draft everything on the computer. My hand cramps way too fast to get an impressive word count on paper.

8. Where is your preferred place to write?

My little corner desk. It’s always a chaotic mess because it’s so tiny, but it’s a space I’ve carved out for myself.

9. What would you choose as your totem animal?

Wolf. Or a jaguar. Something big and predatory, but also beautiful and graceful.

10. What do you consider your biggest flaw?

My inability to stick with anything other than writing. Writing’s a tough business, and it’s always best to have a backup plan. I don’t. I can’t imagine doing anything else for very long. And that means I’m under a lot of pressure to make this work. Sometimes it encourages me to push forward, but sometimes it’s crippling.

11. What’s your drink of choice?

Dr. Pepper! Which is terrible for me, I know. I also enjoy tea, especially the iced variety.

My Nominations

So here I’m actually going to cheat, because I’ve been nominated for two of these things and 22 people is a lot of people to nominate. So I’m going to do 11 total. For today, let’s start with four:

1. Chris Pavesic is a dear friend of mine from when I worked at Musa Publishing. She writes short fiction in a variety of genres and blogs with me at The Steampunk Cavaliers.

2. Sharon Ledwith is another dear friend from the Musa Publishing days. She writes middle grade and YA fiction, usually with a fantastical bent. She’s also a fellow Canadian!

3. Michele Berger is a fellow Book Smugglers author and also an award winning writer. She’s written both non-fiction books and science fiction books.

4. JJ Burry is a friend I made in the Twitterverse. She writes all kinds of things with a focus on poetry, and follows