Nominated for the Liebster Blog Award! Yikes!

I’m so surprised and excited to be nominated for my first ever blog award! I’m so touched that Plotting Bunnies has been visited by so many nice people in its first two months of cyberlife. Now there’s a shiny trophy to go in the sidebar, and I owe a huge thanks to Lillian at Forging Shadows for the nomination. Visit Lillian’s blog for some great writing posts!

Some research later (of other bloggers that had already done their research, haha) I learned that ‘liebster’ in German means “sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome”. Isn’t that such a warm and fuzzy thought? The award is driven by community nominations to help acknowledge awesome blogs with less than 200 followers. So let’s share the love!

The Liebstar award rules:

1. List 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Nominate 11 bloggers for the award.
3. Let them know about the nomination!
4. Ask 11 questions for the new award winners to answer.
5. Answer the 11 questions you were asked when you were nominated.

Alrighty, let’s get started!

11 random facts about me

1. The hint to my laptop password is: my automatic response to ‘favourite food?’ (Have a guess. I’ll be honest! But seriously, it’s not that hard)
2. I am in love with everything and anything related to Despicable Me. WATCH IT!!!
3. I own two adorable fantail goldfish named Spike and Cheese.
4. I’m not the girl who shrieks at bugs. I’ll let cockroaches scuttle by my foot. Just… don’t. ask. me. to. kill. them.
5. I can touch type up to 103wpm. And I just figured out I could hide my hands and keyboard under the blanket to keep warm.
6. I have the fashion sense of a boy. Hoodie, yo.
7. I share PJs with my mum. A heavenly ray of light shines down each time I get a matching top and bottom.
8. My music collection is a mongrel’s pack of what I determine is ‘good’. You can be listening to Susan Boyle one second and hardcore rock the next. There’s even a grand total of 1 Justin Bieber song.
9. I don’t know how many days are in a month without my knuckles.
10. You might call me a gamer. I’ve played GTA: Vice City, Fable, Skyrim, Tomb Raider, and far too much Left4Dead2. I’m halfway through Dragon Age: Origins and my want-to-play list is as long as my book list.
11. I live my life believing that answers will come as we get closer to the question, and that tomorrow will always come.

Introducing: the 11 awesome nominees!

1. Jennifer Ibarra is the first blogger I followed on wordpress. Since then she’s embarked on a special journey to self publish the first book of her series, The Polaris Uprising – and she’s doing a wonderful job so far. On my reading list!
2. Madeleine at The Lazy Writer reminds me so much of myself it’s side-splitting. She posts fun commentary about the challenges of writing – I especially love Oh That Writer’s Block!
3. Veronique at A Novel Journal shares frank writing experiences that often help me see common issues from a different, poetic perspective. There’s always time to wind down and read Veronique’s blog!
4. There’s a funny writing ninja over at Writer Shenanigans with the most unique WIP I’ve seen yet. Plus she posts incredible liners on her Twitter. Did I mention she’s a ninja?
5. Emily at Adventures in Fantasy is yet another writer with an awesome blog. I love her Reclaiming Fantasy series, where she tackles the fantasy stereotypes that exasperate so many of us.
6. How can you not like a pair of writing nerds? Better check out Nessa and Eric at Nerd out with our words out! I only discovered them recently but they are so amusing and honest about their writing. Who else agrees that The best part of waking up, is falling right back to sleep?
7. fheebi (who apparently likes her name spelt like that :P) over at Attention Deficient Hyperactive Geek is also up for Camp NaNoWriMo and she might be making a visual novel! Isn’t that awesome? And she likes the same games I do.
8. Erica at Rubber Ducky Copywriter is not only duck crazy but also kindly posts tips, books and inspiring words for writers. She and her duckies deserve more recognition, so pop over and look around!
9. Amanda Bumgarner is an editor who posts useful tips and resources for writers. She fishes out common grammar issues, shares insightful advice and I especially enjoyed reading her latest study of best-selling first sentences.
10. We have ourselves an up and coming comedian at Becoming Funny. She’s new to the blogosphere and following her reminds me of what it’s like to be passionate and determined about your dreams. Seeing her work hard makes me kick myself to work (and sign up for Camp NaNo!)
11. Happy Musings (don’t you love a name like that?) has good, straightforward writing advice. Simple reminders like Write as you love can keep you on track when you’re pulling your hair.

11 questions for the new award winners

1. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love chocolate?
2. Do you drive? If yes, what kind of vehicle? If no, will you ever consider it?
3. What is your favourite song?
4. What kind of blog posts do you enjoy most?
5. Have you ever loved a book so much you recommended it to someone else?
6. What do you do if you can’t fall asleep?
7. How do you like to write? Longhand, computer, typewriter, other?
8. What was the first story you ever wrote, that you can remember?
9. Do you consider yourself tall?
10. What is your favourite culture?
11. Do/did you have a favourite cartoon?

Answering the 11 questions I was asked

1. What pet would you own if you could own any pet in the world?
   Doggie! No doubt about it!
2. What was the book/piece that inspired you to start writing?
   I started reading seriously as a child because of Harry Potter, but if I think about it, what drove me to start writing actually wasn’t any piece of literature. It was my own curiosity. My first writing as a kid was a fanfiction about Digimon (still love it!) because I had a vivid dream about it and thought ‘Oh, my God. I can totally write stories about Digimon!’ I didn’t even know what fanfiction was back then. I branched into other fandoms on Fanfiction.net, and along the way I read a huge variety of books that helped nurture my writing.
3. Which published author do you think is most underrated?
   Oh dear. I’m actually really bad at remembering authors which is a shame because I naturally tend to read such underrated books. I have to admit a lot of Australian authors are traditionally lesser known. When I graduated from primary school, my teacher gave us each a novel. Mine was Making the Most of It by Lisa Forrest. I enjoyed it at twelve years old and seven years to that day, I wouldn’t mind picking it up again. I wouldn’t call it a breathtaking masterpiece but it does everything such a story should do, and quite realistically. At the very least it deserves an Amazon page and an author Wiki worth more than two sentences.
4. What’s your favorite hobby (aside from reading/writing)?
   Aww, you eliminated the favourites! I already mentioned that I like games. Sleeping isn’t bad either. If we’re talking productive, I occasionally crochet and knit presents for my friends and family. Have you seen my cute weather doll?!
5. What’s your superpower? Would you use it for good or for evil?
   The power to grant a single wish would be nice. I’d wish that my parents could enjoy each other’s company more :) Since I’m spending it on myself instead of world peace and famine, I don’t know if it’s good or evil, haha.
6. Do you prefer the country or the city?
   I can easily imagine that there would be priceless things I love about the country, like open plains and a tight community. I wouldn’t mind living there for a year or two. But I grew up in the city and I think I’ll always come back to my roots at the end of the day.
7. A man you have never seen before walks up to you, gets down on one knee, and asks you to marry him. What do you do?
   Check if he’s got a ring.
   If not, send him back for one. Escape while he’s gone.
   If yes, convince him it doesn’t fit and send him back for another. Escape while he’s gone.
   In both cases I’ll leave a note telling him I’m taken by my favourite boy in the world, with a smiley face :)
8. What’s the coolest reason that you ever skipped school?
   A burning fever. Laziness. Goody two shoes alert (though not nearly as much anymore!)
9. What has been your most disappointing experience in the world of writing so far?
   I’m not published, nor have I sought it with rejection letters to share. But my biggest disappointment in myself so far is falling out of the fanfiction world. I knew I would move onto original stories eventually, but fanfiction is different. It was my first love and I couldn’t let go of it, so I made empty promises to my readers and broke many, many of them. I had years of writer’s block. I’d think of how I started off small, then grew into a bigger readership over years of writing. I will never forget how fun those years were, how much I loved them. I’m disappointed that I keep letting those readers down without closure, and that I forgot the most fundamental moral of writing: love it. There’s little I can do to repair the former but with this blog and Camp NaNo, I really hope that I can go back to those carefree writing days.
10. What has been your most inspiring experience in the world of writing so far?
    Connecting with my readers. There’s a thrill about being noticed. It’s addictive and it’s so heartwarming. Reviews weren’t all I wrote fanfiction for but my eyes still light up when I get an email notification for a new one. It’s hard to explain what it feels like when someone else – hundreds sometimes – loves your story as much as you do… and in reference to #9 above, continue to love it even when your own affections for the story have waned. It’s profound.
11. What is your favorite dessert?
    CHOCOLATE FONDUE. JUST LOOK AT IT.

And that’s it! Pass on the love, bloggers! Thanks again for the nomination, Lillian!