I am delighted to accept Charles French’s nomination for the wonderfully named Dragon’s Loyalty Award. Charles French’s Words Reading and Writing blog is subtitled ‘And exploration of writing and reading’ which nicely sums up his whole approach, so it’s not a surprise that he is rapidly growing in popularity with his series of readable and informative articles that he publishes. He is also has a delightfully friendly, inclusive approach which guarantees a 
warm welcome to any passing visitor. If you haven’t already dropped in, I recommend you do so.
Meanwhile I have this Dragon Loyalty Award, thanks to Charles. The rules are:-
* Display the award certificate on your website.
* Announce your win with a post, and link to whomever presented your award.
* Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
* Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post.
* Post 7 interesting things about yourself.
So, my 15 nominees are:-
– Mhairi Simpson – Crazy Creative
– Lizzie Baldwin – My Little Book Blog
– Sara Letourneau’s Official Website & Blog
– Michael D. Griffiths – Yig Prime
– Joanna Maciejewska – Melfka
– Leiah Cooper – So I Read This Book Today
– Anastasia – Read and Survive
– Zeke Teflon – Rip-roaring reviews
– D. Parker – yadadarcyyada
– Ionia Martin – Readful Things Blog
– Siamese Mayhem – Musings on YA novels and pop culture
– Humanity’s Darker Side – A book review blog
Seven Interesting Things About Me – hm… it’s debatable whether the facts below are remotely interesting, but I tried to dredge up details many of my online friends wouldn’t necessarily know about me.
1. I spent a chunk of my childhood in Zambia, and when living with my grandparents I first flew unaccompanied from England to visit my parents in Africa when I was 8.
2. As a left-hander, I turn the paper sideways and write from top to bottom, a strategy I adopted at school to avoid smudging my writing.
3. I’m a writing addict and if I go more than 3 days without putting keyboard to paper, I turn a tad unreasonable.
4. I was born on a Wednesday and so were both of my children and my granddaughter.
5. I am the ultimate monotasker – the multi-tasking skill women are supposed to be endowed with has completely by-passed me.
6. I’m an insomniac.
7. I visualise each of my books as colours when I’m writing them.
Brainfluff 
Thank you for the nomination (though not sure if I’ll find 15 people to tag), and I really like the facts you posted!
When I was 8 the peak of my adventure was my dad sending me to school on the public transport bus alone, not flying over two continents! Do you remember how it felt back then?
And I’m a left-hander too! Though I tend to keep my arm a bit “twisted”, so that my hand is actually above the line I’m writing. I also grew up in times when ball-point pens were available, but I hated them. I still use an ink catridge pen whenever I write.
I don’t think the dragon will be too upset if you nominate a few less folk:). Ah, is that the ‘leftie hook’? My brother in law used to write like that, though I always thought it looked very tough on the wrist – do you find it aches, at all? Do you draw like that as well?
Yes… that first journey out to Zambia on my own is one of my most vivid memories – I was so very terrified and excited. But also deeply uncomfortable… the journey took around 11 hours with a stopover at Entebbe for refuelling and I refused to use the loos on the plane in case I got sucked out… Looking back, it was shocking how much I had to fend for myself.
I guess it could be called “leftie hook”, I never saw anyone doing so when I was young (those few left-handed people simply used ball-point pens). It doesn’t really ache, but I think it’s because I use my whole forearm-elbow-arm to make it into more of on arc. But it doesn’t help the back posture for sure ;). And when I draw I do it sometimes, but I also tend to keep the hold pencil at an angle, so sometimes my hand is “below” the line.
I can relate to the loo thing. I flew from London to Texas (and back) several times (11h and 10h respectively), and I’d rather go before and after the flight than to use the airplane one… And it might be “shocking” now, how much of a challenge it was, but I’m sure it also had a great impact on your life, confidence and being able to take care of yourself.
I always think it is fascinating that the average percentage of lefties holds steady throughout the population – 10%. Though there are pockets where the left-handed gene prevails. The stronghold of the Kerr clan in Scotland, Ferniehirst Castle, was designed with staircases spiralling in the opposite direction, which favoured us lefties:).
Yes… it’s the Granny in my that feels a tad uncomfortable that such a young child was pretty much left to get on with it – but you’re right. It certainly taught me to face up to my fears and face them headon. Which has probably stood me in good stead during the many periods in my life when the going got tough…:).
Thank you for the nomination, Sarah! I still have a slew of tags and awards to catch up on (including your Freewriting Challenge from a couple weeks ago), but I will definitely follow up and pass it on. And ooooh, DRAGONS. 😀
#2 – My mother is the only left-handed person in my family. Everyone else, including me, is a rightie.
#3 – I completely relate. I have to bring either my laptop or paper with me wherever I go, because I can’t NOT write.
#7 – That’s really neat! What color(s) did you visualize for Running Out of Space?
No problem, Sara – I just thought the Badge looked awesome and besides, it was very kind of Charles to nominate me:). The business of left/right is fascinating – I’m the only southpaw in my generation, and none of the children or grandchildren are, either – which is a relief. It really is a right-handed world…
Yes, I found myself warning my students on Friday that writing is highly addictive!
Running Out of Space was a very dark purple with splashes of teal. Do you visualise your writing in any particular way, Sara?
I agree, it’s an awesome awards badge! It’s amazing what graphic artists can do, isn’t it?
You’re the only leftie in your family’s generation? That’s strange. I don’t think Mom’s sister is also a leftie, so she’s not alone in hers…
Hmmmm… In terms of visualization… I don’t know, I tend to visualize the characters, their actions, and the scenes in the book. I’m not sure if that’s what you mean, though… But if I had to pick specific colors that might look neat on TKC’s cover and are relevant to the story, I’d go with a dark indigo background and then splashes of pink, green, amber / orange, black, and white.
I inherited my left-handedness from my father, while everyone in my mother’s family are right-handed, so that’s where it came from.
As regards visualisation, I was considering when you think about your book, what jumps into your head? I have the pics of my main protagonists – along with the colours that sum up the feel and sense of the book as I am writing it. Dying for Space is a crimson, almost blood-red with swirls of black running through it. ‘Mantivore Dreams’ is a terracotta, splashed with orange. I used to think everyone had the same kind of colour-sense about their writing, but I’ve come to realise that isn’t the case. So if you don’t, what does jump into your head when you think of your books?
Ahhhh, OK. I tend to see snippets from specific scenes rather than colors. There’s something cool that Eva does with her bow and (instead of an arrow) magic in the story, and I always think of that when I picture a snapshot / movie poster / cover image of TKC. I can’t be more specific than that without going into spoiler territory… But once you beta-read it, it should make more sense. 😉
I know other writers who use pictures for their characters, but I don’t. Nothing I find online matches my mental images well enough. It’s… weird. I don’t know how else to explain it, other than I can close my eyes and see the characters that way. *looks around sheepishly*
Oh no I wouldn’t dream of making any judgment about how authors regard their work. I find it fascinating how much that varies. I sense you feel very strongly about Eva and that she encapsulates the novel for you.
Thank you SO much for nominating me sweetie, so so kind of you. Lol and so perfect for it to be dragons as I’m such a dragon lover! I will definitely do this and pass on the goodness to 15 other bloggers, but it will have to be in a couple of months time as I’ve scheduled my blog posts (interviews) until Oct! Thank you Sarah!!! 😀
No problem:) I don’t think the dragon will turn nasty if he isn’t uploaded within a certain time. I’m impressed with your organisation – I don’t know what I’ll be blogging next week!
Lol, oh don’t worry, I’m never normally organised and never know what I’m going to blog about except for at the moment! My publisher’s doing a big summer promotion so I’ve been scheduling Grimbold authors for my Distant World interview strands all through the summer, posting one a week (7 days of exposure for them – ooer!). Lol, I’ve been quite impressed with myself, normally I can’t organise anything! 😀 xx
It’s a nifty way of doing it, though…
Lol, yes, actually forces me to book people for each week and organise my arse! 😀 xx
Oh, and thank you so much for posting your review on Amazon honey, just seen it, what a lovely surprise. Thank you!!! 😀 xx
You’re very welcome. I’m just sorry that I hadn’t done it before.
Oh sweetie, I’m very grateful, getting reviews nowadays is so difficult, so every one means so much! Thank you! 😀 xx
Pingback: Dragon Loyalty Award | Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill - finding fiction
I’ve cheated – are you surprised? http://conboyhillfiction.com/2015/07/28/dragon-loyalty-award/
Ha ha! I think this is great fun – and displayed great creative thinking:). The dragon would approve!
Had my ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ DVD to hand just in case …
Oh the books are SO much better than the films… While children’s books may not do it for you, if you ever do have to entertain a small person, I strongly recommend them for their sheer exuberance and subversive humour.
Congrats on your award, you are a true dragon, it’s well deserved!!!
Thank you so much for thinking of me. I sort of stopped accepting awards because I just didn’t feel I had the time and energy to post, share, like, comment and all, but I get a thrill when people think of me.
As for the 7 interesting things, not sure I could come up with that many, but I sure enjoyed yours. 🙂
Thank you kindly and hope this day is treating you well. 🙂
I fully understand and I’d hate to think that anyone would feel obliged to respond if they don’t feel able – but I’m glad I nominated you as I enjoy your blog and your community ethos.
Pingback: Dragon’s Loyalty Award | Sara Letourneau's Official Website & Blog