Liebster award

Liebster Award: And the nominees are….

Posted on by MELewis

liebster_award‘Liebster’ means beloved in German, so it is fitting that the award that bears this name requires you to share the love. I am hereby nominating the following blogs that enrich my life as a reader:

  • 365 things I love about France – This blogger finds so many positive things to say about our fair land, I am truly ashamed…yet written with humor and realism.
  • Life on la Lune – I enjoy reading this blog about a British writer’s life in France, which  seems strikingly similar yet very different from my own.
  • One French Word – A beautiful food blog that also make it easy to learn a lot of French culinary terms!
  • Taste of Savoie – Another delicious blog with a lot of interesting tidbits about places to go in our corner of France.
  • C’est la vie – A newcomer deals with her frustrations and family life in France.
  • Long View Hill – I love this writer’s frank approach to sharing her fitness and life challenges.
  • Scene by Minerva – Absolutely beautiful photographs of flora and still life captured through this talented photographer’s lens.
  • Aimée Cartier’s Blog – Only recently started following this blog but her voice and humor hooked me from the get go.
  • Wife After Death – This blog deals with the painful road back to life following the loss of a spouse. Her writing is so good I want to be there for every step!

Fellow bloggers, I know that not everyone will have the time or inclination to participate. Your mission, if you accept, is to follow the Liebster Award rules as outlined in my last post.

Here are your questions:

  1. Blogging takes so much time that you could be spending doing something else. Why do you choose to blog?
  2. Who are your favorite writers?
  3.  If you could have any talent, artistic or otherwise, what would it be?
  4.  Do you ever dream of moving to another country and if so, where?
  5. Where and when do you write?
  6. What is your preferred form of exercise or sport?
  7. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
  8. What household chore do you least like to do?
  9.  Picture yourself in a perfect moment of happiness: where are you and what are you doing?
  10. Let’s raise a toast to your continued to success with blogging – what are you drinking?

Santé!

Liebster Award: I’d like to thank the academy…

Posted on by MELewis

liebster_award…Or at least my fellow blogger, Rose Red, a wonderful writer with an amazing voice who nominated me for this great honor. And it is, indeed, an honor to be acknowledged by other writers whose work you truly admire.

To be fair, blogging awards like the Liebster are as much about PR and promoting interest in new blogs as they are about recognizing writing talent. But that’s what this whole blogging thing is about!

So I’ve decided to accept and ‘pay it forward’ as the award rules specify.

1. Each nominee must link back the person who nominated them.
2. Answer the 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator.
3. Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers.
4. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.

I’ll start by answering the 10 questions provided by Rose, then do the rest in my next post.

1) When and where do you find time and space to blog?
I do most of my (non-work) writing in that magic hour early in the day, after breakfast and before getting out of bed. Yes, that means I have breakfast in bed.

2) What is the worst job you have ever had/done?
Teaching English to the French. I was an awful teacher and they were not very good students.

3) If you could try any job for a day, what would you do?
I’d love to be an actor in my favorite TV soap, EastEnders.

4) What are you reading at the moment?
Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. A brilliant memoir that may just give me the inspiration to write my own (although there’s nothing remotely as exciting about my journey).

5) Can you remember your favorite childhood book, and what was it?
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. Can you guess which one was my hero?

6) Do you listen to music while writing, and what do you like to listen to if so?
Absolutely not. I find it too difficult to think over music or any other background noise (except the dull roar of the train, my second-favorite place to write).

7) What, if any, is your favorite song lyric?
“Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel.” From Both Sides Now, by my fellow Canadian, musician and artist, Joni Mitchell.

8) What is your idea of the perfect holiday?
The idea of a perfect holiday. Thinking then planning is the most perfect moment of any holiday. The reality inevitably falls short.

9) What would you choose as your last meal?
Something magical that would give me eternal life. And/or French fries.

10) What are you most likely to say if you drop something heavy on your toe?
Fuck. Or possibly ‘putain.’ But no swear word in French gives as much satisfaction as the f-word.

Thank you Rose, for the giving me the chance to participate!