The Liebster Award

Apparently I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by AJ Bauer who has her own blog. She nominated me because she really enjoyed the flash fiction piece "Griefstruck God"  Now, after a little bit of research this award seems more like bloggers patting each other on the back than any actual award, a little thing to make new bloggers feel good, but even if so, who cares? If it works, if it generates a good blog post, if it generates new subscribers, what's the harm? Therefore, I thank AJ Bauer for her nomination. It also forced me to find new writing blogs to nominate on my own, discovering new authors with interesting sites.

So here it is, the rules as AJ Bauer puts them: The Liebster Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers that was specifically created to highlight new blogs with less than 200 members (but I've also read it can be as high as less than 3,000 members, so pick your poison). If you are nominated, the rules are pretty simple and they are as follows:

Rules

• Link back to the blog that nominated you.
• Answer that questions they set for the blogs they nominated.
• Nominate 10 blogs of your own, and be sure to let them know with a link to your post.
• Ask 10 questions for the blogs you nominated in your post.

Onto her questions:

1) What is your favorite flash fiction that you have written?

This is a tough one and I'm going to have to pick two. The first is a story generated from an awesome website called theyfightcrime.org. It's about a werewolf from another world partnered with a tough lesbian lawyer who, you guessed it, fight crime, simply titled "THEY FIGHT CRIME." The second is a post-apocalyptic tale about a knight and his sword struggling to find the fabled Garden of Eden and what happens when he finally does, called "The Garden."

2)If you had a superpower, what would it be?

The power to not get distracted while writing. Sure seems like a superpower to me...

3) What is the number one item on your bucket list?

Travel to Europe.  

4) List 5 of your favorite books

1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

2. Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

3. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

4. Seize the Night by Dean Koontz

5. The Gunslinger by Stephen King

5) Who has inspired you most for your writing?

Probably Dean Koontz? I simply devoured his writing when I was younger and couldn't get enough. I loved the stories and the characters, especially the villains, and the surreal sometimes crazy things in his novels. I've moved on from his work for the most part, but his writing really resonated with me years ago.

6) What made you decide to start a blog?

I figured if I wanted to get serious about writing, I needed motivation to actually write, so I started one in college. I figured having to put content out there where somebody would read it would instigate me into writing more. It didn't work out that way, not at first, but slowly it's grown better and better. I've also learned it's a way to grow an audience, so I suppose that's another part of it. It's nice to have a place to write random fiction and get a few comments on it and it's also nice to have a place to vent, to write about life and shit like that, a journal of sorts. 

7) What is the best piece of advice you have ever read or received about writing?

Best advice on there? Finish your shit. 

8) What do you hope to accomplish in the year 2014 (writing or otherwise)?

Much more flash fiction, hopefully one piece a week at least. There's three or four short stories in my head and on my computer in various stages of completion that I would like to finish. There's an old novel that needs finishing and editing before I hope to turn it into a serial. I'd like to continue the story about the werewolf and the lawyer and maybe turn that into a fun little serial that I continue on my blog every month or so. There's numerous other things. I hope to be successful in grad school, hope to have enough time to be with those I care about. Lots of things in 2014. 

9) What is your favorite and least favorite book to film adaption?

Favorite: No Country For Old Men. Truly brilliant film from an amazing novel.

Least: World War Z. It is a zombie action movie that had nothing to do with the great novel by Max Brooks. Max Brooks told a story in a unique and awesome way. Movie was pure generic action flick. Blah. There could be others that are worse but that's the one I can think of off the top of my head.

10) List 5 of your favorite characters (books, movies, or otherwise)

1. Roland Deschain, The Gunslinger.
2. The Judge, from Blood Meridian
3. Too many characters to name from The Wheel of Time series
4. Omar from The Wire
5. Al Swearengen from Deadwood

Now, onto the blogs I've nominated. I had to go searching for up and coming blogs, for which I'm glad. It's nice to discover new authors/bloggers and force myself to interact with them, something I'm not good at. I chose them mostly for the great flash fiction they've written, but also because I've found their other posts to be interesting as well. Some have only just started but their flash fiction post was great, and there's one that's not even a writing blog but it's here anyways, because it's about learning and growing as a person. Here they are:

antagonistsneeded
fantasy-schmantasy
blueinkalchemy
Imagine That - Fantasies from a corner booth
On The Write Track
phillipmccollum
underastarlitsky
herravendomain
panningforclouds
BLURBLOG

And here are my questions:

1. Why blog in the first place?
2. Write a haiku, right here, right now.
3. What is your haiku about and why?
4. Who inspires you?
5. What was the last book you read and why did you read it?
6. Who is your favorite poet? (if you don't have one, discover one!)
7. What's the best blog that you follow and really enjoy reading?
8. What makes a good blogger and a bad one?
9. What's your favorite novel/movie/tv show?
10. What was your latest 'finished' creative endeavor? What did you learn after completing it?