Awards, Confessions and Writerly Love

I got an award, yeehaa!! Thank you to Suzie, the Writer Junkie, for awarding me The Versatile Blogger Award. I am thrilled and honored.

Ain't it purdy? My favorite color green, too. Heck, my favorite color, period.

I met Suzie last weekend through Slushpile Slut's Next Top Title Blogfest. Suzie has three WIP's going, a Paranormal Romance and two Romantic Suspense novels. I don't know how you guys with multiple's do it, my one kicks my bohunkus. Anyway, click on over to Suzie's house and check her out.

Now, down to business. The rules, yes, there are always rules attached to these awards, they're all about sharing love after all. I've cheated a bit (ooo, already cheating!) and copied the rules straight from Suzie's blog:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. (check)
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who think you are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Okay, here goes for #2.

1) I recently moved from Southern California to North Georgia and spent three excruciating months wallowing in self-pity before picking myself up and getting on with Life.

2) I've known since I was a peanut that I am a writer. Unlike many writers, though, I didn't always write. At age 12, I started writing poetry and quit about 20 years later (except for every now and then).

3) I began journaling in 1991, something I still do several days a week. I have every single one of my journals and have lugged them cross-country twice (to CA from GA and back again).

4) I wrote a children's book (that I never intended to write) while in CA (2004/5) because the two main characters kept hitting me over the head and made me do it. I shopped publishers for a minute (not agents) and got one really encouraging hand-written rejection amidst the flurry of form rejections. I had a blast writing it and realized then and there that I have way more free time than I had thought.

5) 2006 was the hardest year of my life. The recession hit hard in the beginning of that year, slashing my income in half (too bad it didn't do the same to my expenses). In July, my stepfather died. In October, my mother died, and THAT was the hardest thing I've ever lived through. To date. Harder than losing my dad (who passed in '77) and my brother (in '91). Three years later, I was still reeling, though finally regaining my bearings. The stress of that year was so great that I literally got sick, but managed to stay upright and functional and continued slogging along. I still suffer a tad from leftover PTSD, though the biggest remaining symptom is #6.

6) As a result of #5, I lost the ability to multitask. Which isn't such a bad thing once you get used to it. It forces me to live in the moment and be present in the now. And isn't that how life's best lived anyhow?

7) I have no ties. Minimal possessions. I rent. My car's paid for. My cat is my fellow vagabond. I work three part-time jobs, two of which I can do anywhere.

I have finally stopped doing the more, more, more dance. I got off the merry-go-round. I have lots of time to devote to writing. And I can write anywhere. Except, ah-ha, here's the except. This novel I'm writing? It's happening where I've been planted. Or rather, where I've planted myself. It was spawned in the red clay and green hills of North Georgia and I can't leave until it's done.

This blogosphere, this glorious blogosphere? What a world. Who knew that through my computer, I'd meet you? Each time I click over to a new blog, I meet a new comrade in arms. I get to bump keyboards and fall in love with other writers every single day. Who knew.

With that, I'll get back on track, and on to Rule #3. I don't know if these guys think I'm fantastic (as the rule says), but I do know that I think that THEY are fantastic. So, I'm sending some high-test link love to each and every one of them. Some have directly touched my life, some my writing, and some have touched both. Please carve out a bit of time and tip-toe your way through these writer's blogs:

1) Roland Yeoman, Writing in the Crosshairs
2) Eric Trant, Digging with the Worms
3) Postman, The Sententious Vaunter (who should be back from England soon)
4) Angela, Slushpile Slut
5) Raquel Byrnes, Edge of Your Seat Romance
6) Susan Fields
7) Bryan Sabol, Time Guardian Blog
8) Christine H, The Writer's Hole
9) Zoe Courtman, No Letters On My Keyboard
10) The Genie of the Shell, The Magic Nutshell
11) Lilah Pierce, Thoughts by Lilah Pierce
12) Ashelynn Sanford, A World of My Own
13) Melanie Sherman, Meanderings of Melanie Sherman
14) KM, Katie M. Stout, Writer
15) EJ Fechenda, EJ's Rants and Ramblings

There are quite a few others who also deserved this award but, alas, I'm at the magic number 15, L.A. is about to win the NBA Finals, yeehaa! and I don't think I've got the steam left to go tell everyone.

Sooo, I'll visit you all in the morning!

Lots of Love, Olivia
Go Lakers!