Painting With Light

Remarkable things sometimes grow in the strangest places.

This edition of my blog is a little different from most.

I received a nice accolade last week from another writer and blogger, Marny Copal, who nominated me – or more precisely this blog you’re reading, Painting With Light, for the Versatile Blogger Award.

It’s given by bloggers to other bloggers who are writing things they like and find interesting.

Why It’s Special
You don’t always know people appreciate and enjoy what you do, particularly when it’s something you’re going to do anyway, with or without encouragement.

But it’s both exciting and humbling to be told someone does.

I want to thank Marny for thinking my constant drivel is worthwhile. I try to make it interesting, but I’m not always certain I succeed. I know there are a lot of other indie authors out there, and some of them are writing pretty exciting things.

I want to encourage and help all that, if I can. I’ve even thought about offering to do reciprocal interviews, if anyone was interested.

The Aha! Moment
Of course, there’s a bit of self-serving hope in all of it, too. I’d like to think some few of you might someday take a chance on one of my books after you’ve visited here.

I don’t ever plan to get rich off them, and will continue to write them even if my friends and relatives also quit buying them. Still, a guy can always dream, and I thank you for visiting.

If you get a chance, I recommend you also visit Marny’s blog, too. There’s a lot of interesting stuff there.

Requirement No.1
One of the requirements for accepting this accolade is nominating other bloggers you regularly follow, whom you think are doing an excellent job talking about their chosen subject (you’re supposed to tell them about their nomination, too).

So, to satisfy that requirement, here are my choices, in a completely random order (you’ll notice they all have something to do with writing) and you may also notice there are far fewer than the fifteen that are usually recommended:

The Creative Penn
Seumas Gallacher
K.M. Weiland’s WordPlay
Jeff Goins, Writer
T.W. Ditmer
M.S. Fowle
Cindy LaFerle
C.S. Lakin
Tom Rydder

I’m certain I’ve left someone off the list that should be there, and I’m going to apologize profusely right now for the omissions. I’ll blame it on age and lack of sleep (and hope that works).

Finally, I’m supposed to tell the person who nominated me (and all of you, presumably) seven things about myself you might not know.

Requirement No.2
So to finish my acceptance, here goes:

• My first direct male ancestor to arrive in the New World sailed from Ireland to the colony of Virginia in 1635

at the age of 18.

• I met my soul mate when she was fifteen (we were married a little more than five years later).

• She’s still my best friend.

• A voracious reader with a reasonably good memory, I was a National Merit Scholar in high school.

• I write at least 1,000 words a day (and that doesn’t include email or blogging).

• I gave my six-year-old grandson a duplicate of the Gold Medal I won for my debut novel, ribbon and everything.

• He wants to wear it into the shower in the morning.

That’s it. Now you know more about me than I often intend to tell.

Thanks again, Marny. I’m delighted to know there’s someone out there that actually likes this stuff I ramble about. I can hardly wait to find out what, if anything, those nominees above have to say.

Oh yes … for all of you celebrating one of the big holidays at this time of year, whatever it may be, take the time to look around you and appreciate your family.

Time doesn’t wait for any of us, and wonderful memories were meant to be created now.

Tags: award-winning author, book marketing, indie writers, self-publishing, using social media

This entry was posted on March 31, 2013 at 11:17 am and is filed under Awards, Book Promotion, Book Trailer, Market Your Book, Versatile Blogger Award. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.