Small Blog Love

A few days before I left for BlogHer ’13, I got a note from Rachael which made my whole summer. It is quite something, isn’t it, to hear you’ve touched someone? Especially someone you know only through your words on a (web)page?  Rachael nominated me for the Liebster Award — which is a way for small bloggers to discover and recognize other small bloggers. “Small” is defined as 200 followers or less.

Here’s how it works:

1. Thank the Liebster Blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog. (Thank you, Rachael!)
2. Post 11 facts about yourself, answering the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for your nominees.
3. Nominate 11 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.
4. Display the Liebster Award logo.
5. No tag backs, meaning you can’t just re-nominate the person who nominated you.

Curious about the award’s origins, of course I Googled it, and found an intriguing history on the award on Sopphey Says. Thank you, Sopphey!

But here’s what most resonated with me – first said apparently by Solo the First, although I read it in Rachael’s Liebster post, “The real purpose behind these nominations are not only as an accolade from a fellow blogger and let’s face it, nothing gently strokes our little writer hearts more than someone telling you they appreciate your work. In addition to the back patting we need to receive from time to time, it also allows us to get a little more personal as we get to know our increasing blogging community. It also helps drive traffic to your site as we reference one another.”

So here are Rachael’s questions with my answers:

1. Paper Book or Electronic? Paper! How do you get that dusty smell with electronic books? How do you flip through their pages wondering whose hands have been on them before yours, marveling how words and stories are passed along from generation to generation?
2. Who would you have dinner with if you could pick anyone ever? Kelly Sue, pretty much all the time. My partner. She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Plus . . . I love her.
3. What kitchen utensil would you be? A spoon.
4. If you met the president, what would you say to him? I would thank him for this and leave the rest alone. I think it’s hard to be President. Probably. Sometimes he gets it right and sometimes he doesn’t, but I sure couldn’t do any better.
5. What’s the hardest lesson you have had to learn in your life? Do not take apart the floor boards looking for termites every time something gnaws at you. Leave your house alone. If you need a fresh perspective, step outside. Do not START by Taking. Apart. The. House.
6. What’s the best decision you ever made? Writing regularly. Opening my heart to our two beautiful, powerful girls.
7. What’s your favorite musical? “Fiddler on the Roof.” It can still make me cry. No lie. I love “Les Miserables,” too, though, especially after seeing it on the big screen with my Dad.
8. What’s your biggest pet peeve? Insincerity.
9. What’s your greatest accomplishment? Parenting with sanity. Some sanity, anyway. Sometimes.
10. Where do you see yourself in 15 minutes? Pouring more coffee. Reading? Checking Facebook? Hard to say. Finishing this post?
11. Where do hope to be in your life by the time you are retired? Somewhere with water, trees, and space for friends to visit and children to giggle in the grass and catch frogs.

Here are my nominations:

• Deepest Worth
• Piperism
• Today You are You: Understanding Truth and Gender Diversity
• Poemfish
• Home Everyday
• Tween Us
• Nina Jacinto – Think. Write. Repeat.
• World of Weeks
• Windy City Virgins
• Lucky Traveler 57
• Don’t Touch My Poodle

And here are my eleven questions for those bloggers above who choose to accept the nomination 🙂 (and for anyone reading who feels like answering below):

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
2. Train, Bus, Bicycle, Car, Skateboard, or your Own Two Feet?
3. Paper or Plastic?
4. If you could retire tomorrow comfortably, would you?
5. If you’ve ever been locked out of your house, how did you get back in?
6. What is the first book you remember reading and really, really liking?
7. What is something you say every day?
8. Have you ever jumped out of an airplane?
9. How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve?
10. What are the printed words closest to you right now?
11. How old were you when you learned to ride a bike?

Let’s hear it for discovering new ideas and making friends online!

xoxo