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Sunshine Blogger Award

I’d like to thank the little furry muse, chocolate, tea – wait. Sorry, no. Not that sort…

Shiny!

I won, I won!

I’d like to thank the little furry muse, chocolate, tea – wait. Sorry, no. Not that sort of award.

Although I’m pretty chuffed anyway.

The lovely A.S.Akkalon nominated me for a Sunshine Blogger Award (isn’t it cool? And shiny??), and I’m both enormously flattered and a little intimidated, because I feel that this means I have to, you know, live up to this award, which sounds kind of grown-up and responsible. I’ve survived almost 40 years managing not to be grown-up (I couldn’t avoid the responsibility bit), so I’m not sure I’m ready for such big things.

However – I’m immensely flattered because I love A.S.Akkalon’s blog. She’s funny, prolific, smart, has inspired at least one of my own blog posts, and is fully prepared to survive the zombie apocalypse. These are big things. Plus she’s from NZ, which obviously makes her even cooler. If you haven’t checked out her blog, head over there and do so – it’s well worth the read.

So, there were conditions associated with this award (is that fair? Shouldn’t you just get to thank the cat and keep it?), so let’s see…

  • Post the award on your blog. Done!
  • Thank the person who nominated you. Thank you!
  • Answer the 11 questions they set you. Coming up next – you lucky readers, you get to find out the most intimate details about me, such as if I fear the kraken or the black death the most!
  • Pick another 11 bloggers. Okay, this figure is flexible, apparently. So I didn’t pick 11, but I picked some wonderful bloggers who are at the bottom of the post – go say hi when you’ve finished reading!
  • Give them 11 questions. A.S.Akkalon set the bar rather high on these, but yes, done.

Right, so – let’s get started on these questions…

  • What do you most wish people thought about you? She’s an amazing writer? No, I wish more people knew that although I’m really socially awkward, I’m actually quite nice and am not deliberately being rude. I’m just not very good at small talk, and get especially awkward in big groups. Plus I’m easily distracted by cats, or the idea that there may be small sentient beings living under your couch and stock-piling potato chips.
  • I don’t JUST sit inside writing stories.

  • What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? Such a big question. So big. So many things. Sometimes I think my life is a succession of stupid things I’ve done. Most recently, I bought a cat tree for the little furry muse, who scorns all things cat-related, never uses cat beds or scratching posts, and I’ve known this for the 7 years she’d deigned to live with me. She climbed on it once, when I put cat treats inside the little hidey-holes. It’s currently functioning as bulky, expensive shelving for keys and bags.
  • If you were a game show host, what kind of game would it be? Something involving kittens. Kitten agility?
  • Are you more scared of krakens or black death? Definitely the black death. At least you can see the krakens coming for you, and presumably if you get out of the water you’ll be okay. Unless these are a new breed of perambulating kraken, adapted to life above the waves and determined to enslave humanity in underwater factories and conquer the world. In which case I’d have to re-think.
  • What do you wish there was more of in books? Friendship – as in, main characters that aren’t intensely/reluctantly/eventually attracted to each other, but are actually friends. It does happen!
  • Where is your favourite place to read a book? Anywhere? Curled up on the couch with the cat and a blanket on stormy days, listening to the rain. On the beach in the sun in the summer, swimming in between chapters. In sunny spots in quiet places. Anywhere no one’s going to disturb me, really.
  • What is the most “you” thing ever? Hmm. I’m not sure. I feel like a contradiction in parts, sometimes. Sea and sun, especially as it relates to either sailing or diving, is very, very me, but so too is losing hours in a good secondhand bookshop, or getting over-excited because I found an awesome book on a market stall. Talking to cats and being scared of talking to people. Falling down a red run snowboarding (as in, falling down the entire run because I got cocky) and ending up looking like the abominable snowman, giggling the whole way down and going back to try it again. Sleeping with a stuffed toy. Hating being the centre of attention. Tea and cake. Hiking in quiet places. All of these.
  • Cats eating birds: more proud of the cat or sorry for the bird? Sorry for the bird. I love my cat, and I never shout at her for catching things, because I know it’s part of being a cat (plus she’s fat and it’s good exercise). But I always feel awful about it. Even a bell on her collar doesn’t seem to help.
  • What did high school English do for your love of writing? I was really, really lucky, as I had two brilliant English teachers in high school. They always encouraged my writing and were hugely supportive, even getting me into a national writing workshop, and never insisted that I follow any sort of ‘form’, but that I should experiment as much as possible. Thank you Mr Brady and Ms Aldridge!
  • If you could have a mythical creature as a pet, what would it be, and what trick would you teach it? Ooh. A dragon. A small one, so it could live in the apartment. I’d teach it to roar at people that try to talk to me when I’m reading or writing.
  • If you could have a superpower, what power would you choose? Breathing underwater. I’ve always wanted to be able to do that. And not get cold when I was in the water, either. Basically, I want to be Percy Jackson. I was so jealous when I read those books.
  • The little furry muse on the hunt.

    Now to nominate some of the lovely bloggers I follow. This was trickier than anticipated, as I wasn’t quite sure who would appreciate the nomination, and who would maybe not be entirely enthralled by the idea. But, either way, here are the people who I believe deserve the award for being entertaining, inspiring, informative, educational, or any combination thereof, as well as just being all-round lovely.

  • Lisa Sell
  • Anna Adler
  • A J Watt
  • Hannah Mines – check out her answers here (also find out more about being a Library Warrior!)

And finally, my questions for the nominees!

  1. What book made you want to start writing?
  2. If you could co-write with any author, who would it be? (Or would you want to? Why/why not?)
  3. What’s your writing super-fuel?
  4. What’s your spirit animal?
  5. If you could be a character in your favourite book, who would it be and why?
  6. What’s the last book you read that really stayed with you?
  7. What’s your writing uniform?
  8. What was your funniest moment in life?
  9. If you could plant magic seeds, what would grow?
  10. What does your monster under the bed look like?
  11. What’s your most irrational fear? (Is it that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you?)

Thanks again to A.S. Akkalon – don’t forget to check out her blog if you haven’t already.

And since we’re here – any questions you’d like to ask? Questions for the little furry muse are also accepted.

Another happy place.

adulting, creativity, fear, happiness, health, humour, ideas, imagination, introverts, writer's life

  1. A.S. Akkalon says:

    Haha, those are great answers! I confess to buying cat furniture that I knew would never be used too. Now it’s more of a door stop.

    I hope they don’t come up with a perambulating kraken, because that would be terrifying.

    Funny you mention the friendship thing in books. My two main characters are very good friends, and I’ve gone back and forth as to whether their relationship has anything romantic in it or not. A romantic subplot feels almost obligatory, but I’m still trying to decide what’s best for the story.

    Can I come and visit your small dragon who roars at people who disturb you when you’re reading or writing? That sounds like the coolest pet, and people really need to learn better!

    I’ve linked to your post from mine. Thank you for all the lovely things you said about me and my blog. I’ve never been called prolific before! Which reminds me I’d almost forgotten I have a blog post to write for tomorrow (I got distracted by a zipper emergency), so I’d better get to it before I drink too much wine. 🙂

    1. kimwatt says:

      Ha, yes, that could be quite a different blog post! Thank you for linking to my post – and thanks again for the nomination!

      The friendship thing is such an odd one – a French friend asked me if there was love in my book, and I said it was more about friendship (after some thought I’ve taken it clearly that way, because it feels more right to me, even though I agree that romance seems obligatory!). She just gave me a puzzled look and said, that’s love, too. Which I thought was beautiful.

      You’re most welcome to come and visit my mini-dragon. He shall be our writing/reading time guardian.

      Glad to hear you resolved your zipper emergency – happy blogging!

      1. A.S. Akkalon says:

        Ooh, friendship = love is a beautiful way of thinking about it, and it’s true. I love my friends. (Both of them 😉 ) Now if I can just figure out how my characters love each other…

        1. kimwatt says:

          Yes! More friend love! ?

  2. Anna Adler says:

    Yay, congratulations Kim! 😀 You brighten up the blogging world and Twitter so much that you definitely deserve a big, shiny medal. Thumbs up to Alecia for nominating you! And thank you, I’m honored and want to hug you. *Hugs*

    Great answers! I’m totally with you on #1: I also hope all the time that people won’t consider me rude just because I’m shy and tend to freeze in social situations. It’s not because I wouldn’t like the people, it’s just unfortunately how I am.

    Also, #5: Friendship! I agree, me too, I want to read more books with friendship or teamwork in them. Maybe that sounds funny, considering that I put a romance in everything in my own writing, but I actually love reading about friendship that doesn’t entail romantic attachment. It’s so uplifting. Makes me happy. 🙂

    1. kimwatt says:

      Aw, thank you so much! *Hugs* right back atcha! (Across the interwebs, of course, as it sounds like we’d both be too awkward in person to even talk to each other, let alone hug. Yay for the interwebs, where socially awkward people can interact quite naturally…)

      That is interesting that you agree on the friendship too, but now I think about it, we all like to read things other than what we write. Contrary to appearances, I do actually read the odd book that doesn’t involve dragons or cats, and sometimes they’re even for adult audiences! It would be a bit boring if we only read the same things we write.

      Thank you for being so lovely and supportive and fun to chat to on twitter, as well as for your fab blogs. I always find something interesting there!

      1. Anna Adler says:

        Exactly, yay for the web! XD Enough distance to make us, the socially awkward, feel relatively normal.

        Great that you also read outside your own genre sometimes. I feel that a bit of variety in reading gives me new ideas. And I just like the friendship theme…

        Aw, thanks for all your praise, you’re too nice. 😀 I’ll let you know once I post the answers to your questions!

  3. Lisa Sell says:

    Aw thanks so much for nominating me and giving me something to blog about, ha ha! I’m genuinely touched that you think my blog is good enough to be nominated. I love reading yours too. There’s a lot of blog love right here!

    1. kimwatt says:

      I was almost a little scared to nominate you, as you write so beautifully about quite big and scary things, which are rather outside the scope of my natterings, so I’d hate you to think this was all a bit flippant! But there remains the fact that you definitely deserve to be recognised for tackling the subjects that you do with such grace and humour.

      Plus you’re always lovely and fun to chat to, and you understand the importance of cats and chocolate to the creative life, so I decided to go ahead anyway.

      Enormous respect and much blog love to you!

  4. Carolyn says:

    Great award and a hilarious blog. I bought my cat a nice cosy bed but her favourite spot was on top of the boiler on old jersey of mine. Now, a question: Do you have views on the colour of dragons (asking for a friend)?

    1. Kim Watt says:

      Cats always know. If you’d bought it for someone else’s cat, it’d be a whole other thing!

      And as far as dragons go – it depends on the dragon. Medium swamp-dwelling rock dragons tend toward a slightly grimy green shade, while the alpine ladybird dragon are, for reasons best known to themselves (and possibly some accidents of evolution), bright pink with bioluminescent spirals on their ears. So it’s very variable!

      1. Carolyn says:

        Himself opines that dragons are red, blue, green or black. I would add gold for show-offs. I worry about the alpine dragon but I guess you would at least see them in the snow

        1. Kim Watt says:

          There is always the possibility that dragons, having some chameleon-like qualities, present themselves to those that see them just as they expect to be seen… 😉

          1. Carolyn says:

            Agreed. Especially with the ability to blend with rocks and mountainsides so that unbelievers will never see them

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