I’m Collecting Stars! Blog of the Year 2012

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Holly Michael has awarded me a newly created award called The Blog of the Year Award 2012. Check out the Blog Of The Year page for more info 🙂

As you can see there is one gold star with the possibility of six in total (because this is my first nomination).

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen — there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required — and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award — http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.

5 You can now also join the Facebook group — click ‘like’ on the page above ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.

6 As a winner of the award — please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award — and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Yes — that’s right — there are stars to collect!

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once — this award is different!

When you begin you will receive the ’1 star’ award — and every time you are given the award by another blog — you can add another star!

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs — and even if they have already been given the award by someone else — you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

So a HUGE thank you to Holly 🙂

Now….who fancies collecting some stars? 😉

I am nominating, for Blog Of The Year 2012…… Because you are all very inspiring 🙂

Bridget Whelan
Kim Cox
Robin Coyle
Bridget Straub
Jennifer M Eaton
Paula Acton
Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy
C B Wentworth
CC at One Honest Writer
Joanne Phillips
Ava at Jordanna East
Dianne Gray
Florence at Ramblings From The Left
Patsy Collins
Morgen Bailey

Awwwww, I wanted to give it to ALL of you 😦

Have fun people!

A very special post coming up tomorrow…. Catch Della Galton giving us her editing tips 🙂

2012 Blog of the Year Award! (wholeness4all.wordpress.com)
2012 Blog of the Year Award (maggiemendus.wordpress.com)
Blog of Year 2012 Award! (soumyav.wordpress.com)
Blog of The Year Award 2012 (thedepressedmoose.com)
Blog of the Year 2012 award, thanks Miss Marzipan! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Friday Extra! – Blog of the Year Award! (myblogexactly.wordpress.com)
Blog of the Year 2012 (myownheart.me)
It’s your TIME to SHINE! ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award (nackynice.wordpress.com)
Blog of The Year Award 2012 (ramblingsfromamum.wordpress.com)

Sharing The Love :o)

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Thank you so much, everyone, for your kind words yesterday.

The lovely LindaC over at Excuse Me While I Note That Down has nominated me for the Top Commentors Award. Thank you so much Linda! 🙂

As this is the second time I’ve received this award recently, my top commenters haven’t changed. Is that good or bad? 😉

So I won’t be able to nominate anyone specifically for this award, and will just say, if you haven’t had this award already, yourself, please feel free to pass it on to your own top commenters. It really makes the people who consistently comment feel appreciated.

Give a little love today guys, say thank you to your top commenters 🙂

Tell me who your top commenter is and give me a link in the comments so we can all go and pay them a visit. 🙂

Top Commentors Award (the-view-outside.com)

Beautiful Blogger = Beautiful Books

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Happy Halloween by the way 🙂

I’ve been nominated by Pat Wood and by Marina at Writing is Hard Work for the Beautiful Blogger Award 🙂 Thank you both, so much! 🙂

So the rules are that I share 7 things about myself and then pass this award on…. Ok, well, you know me, I do like to break the rules, so, I’m going to recommend 7 books that I think should be on every writers book shelf 🙂

I apologise now that all these links are for the UK.

The Artists Way by Julia Cameron is the book that started me on my writing journey.

The Writers Book of Days has been brilliant. I can’t tell you how much I’ve loved this book! It’s been my bible and constant companion since the 1st January of this year. It has encouraged me to write every single day and I will feel bereft without it come the 1st January 2013

The 5 Minute Writer by Margaret Geraghty was the first ever “writing” book I used. I loved all the exercises, and the concept that you only need 5 minutes.

The Writers Treasury of Ideas by Linda Lewis is fabulous for generating story ideas. Trust me, if you have this book, you will never be stumped for a story idea, ever again!

Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I’m reading it now and loving it! Actually, any Natalie Goldberg you can get your hands on is a great investment.

If you’re into writing romance you can’t go far wrong with Mary Wibberly’s To Writers With Love which, unfortunately is out of print now. It’s a little bit dated, but still very valuable. I love it! We said to Mary at Swanwick in August that she should urge the publishers to republish it. We’ll work on her next year 😉

Last, but by no means least (and for all you Kindle lovers) The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi. What can I say about this book….BRILLIANT! I am almost tempted to tell you to buy a Kindle for this book alone! But it’s fine on an iPad, or PC/Laptop. An invaluable guide for all fiction writers 🙂

So there we have it. My top 7 writing books 🙂 I’m sure there are many other great books out there, but these are the ones I own and love 🙂 If you have a favourite writing book that’s not on my list please let me know, I’m always open to recommendations. *whispers* I can hear hubby grinding his teeth and thinking more books…more money he he he 😉

Now, onto the nominations! 🙂

I’m going to nominate…..
Heather James
Marina at Finding Time To Write
Bridget Whelan
Bel Anderson
Debbie at The Wicked Queens Mirror
Katherine at The Intrinsic Writer
Lanise at The Timekeepers Journal

Please check out all these lovely bloggers 🙂

Sooooo, tomorrow is the 1st of November *gulp* and the start of Nano!!!!! Good luck to everyone who’s participating! 🙂

Recommendations For Books On Writing Generally (ask.metafilter.com)
9 Writing Books that Will Inspire You to Write – Today (dailyblogtips.com)

Super Sweet Blogger!

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Yep, that’s me, or so says the lovely Patsy Collins whos nominated me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award! Thank you so much Patsy 🙂

I get to answer some nice questions (my mouth is watering) and then pass it on, so here goes:

1. Cookies or cake? Cake, definitely!

2. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla

3. What is your favourite sweet treat? Ooooo, Curly Wurly’s or chocolate coated peanuts lol

4. When do you crave sweet things most? In the evening after dinner 😉

5. If you had a sweet nickname what would it be? That’s a hard one….It has to be “Plum” because I use to have my hair that colour and I love Christmas Pudding. Of course, there is the Victoria Plum connection too 😉

So now I’m going to tag 5 sweet bloggers 🙂

LouAnn at On The Homefront
Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy
Bridget Straub
Ava at Journey of Jordanna East
Sara Flower

Super Sweet Blogging Award ! (andlifesmile.wordpress.com)
Nominated For The Super Sweet Blogging Award !!! (ravenswitch.wordpress.com)
The Super Sweet Blogging Award! (homedesirable.wordpress.com)

Top Commentors Award

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve been nominated by Paula Acton for the Top Commentors Award 🙂 Thank you so much honey!

I’ve noticed recently that my top commenters change on a regular basis, at the moment, this is how it stands 🙂

LouAnn at On The Homefront And Beyond (I know you no longer accept awards honey but thank you for being on my list!)
CB at C B Wentworth
Sara atSara Flower
Sam at Him, Her and Us
Patsy Collins
Dianne Gray

So you guys must be my biggest fans? Lol 😉 Does that mean you’ll all buy my book? *flutters eyelashes and adopts puppy dog look*

Who are your biggest fans? Let me know and I’ll check them out 🙂

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Award by Cheryl at Creative Muse 365 and by Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy 🙂

By Mandy Eve Barnett for the Inspiring Blogger Award 🙂

And by Sabrina again at Creativity or Crazy for the One Lovely Blog Award 🙂

And by Whitney at A Serendipitous Happenstance for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award 🙂

Thank you thank you thank you! 🙂

I know you’re probably all getting bored to death with my award posts, and it’s becoming increasingly more and more difficult to find people to nominate who i haven’t already given one to.

Sooooo, what to do? *thinks*

Ok, breaking the rules, as ever lol, I’m just going to nominate and then you can pick the award you want, is that ok? 🙂

Please do check out these lovely bloggers who nominated me though, you won’t be disappointed 🙂

My nominees are…..

Sue Healy
Virginia at Poetaofficium
Michael at My Glass House
Paula Acton
Sara Flower
Jenny Keller Ford
Rebecca T Dickinson
Sydney Aaliyah
Joanne Phillips
Madalyn Morgan

Have fun people!

What is a Liebster Anyway?

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

No picture prompt today as next Tuesday I’m taking part in a blog hop 🙂 I’m so conscious of avoiding doing more than one post a day. I know how hard it is for most of us to keep up as it is lol 😉

I’ve been nominated by the lovely Sara Flower for The Liebster Award 🙂

Thank you soooo much honey!🙂 Please go and check out Sara’s blog, you won’t be dissapointed!

Now, I’ve seen this award floating about, can anyone actually tell me what it means? Lol

I think I’ve been nominated for it by someone else recently, so if that was you, shout so I can link back to your blog and do a thank you (I’ve been so lapse recently with keeping track of things) 😦

Anyway…..onto…

The Rules:

Answer the eleven questions your nominator posed to her/his nominees.
Pass the award on to eleven others.

Ok, ok, so I’m going to play by the rules this time 😉

photo courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti/freedigitalphotos.net

What keeps you writing when you have writer’s block?
Well, I don’t really suffer from writers block, I have the complete opposite, too many ideas floating around in my head. I can always find something to write about, always.

Most writers have a literary counterpart—a character from their stories who reflects themselves. Tell us about yours.
There is always an element of myself in all my female characters. Some, much more than others, but I don’t have a specific counterpart.

What are your passions?
Family, people (I find everyone interesting), learning, love and writing 🙂

You’ve had a fight with your significant other and you want to fix things.
Ha ha ha…..are you reading this dear? Lol….. A cuddle is a good place to start 😉

What’s one injustice you see in the world that you would fix in a story?
Wow, that’s a difficult one! I’m not sure to be honest. I tend to write about loneliness and depression a lot, so I guess it would be the injustice of life.

If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?
Only one? Wow, that’s hard lol. Ok, I’d love to have my own writing room 🙂

What’s important to you at this point in time?
Being the best writer that I can be.

Who is your hero/heroine?
From a writing point of view, or in general? In general it would have to be Princess Diana….now don’t laugh 😉 Seriously! I think she was a fantastic woman, she wasn’t scared of hugging people with AIDS, she shook our royal family up big time and she had a huge effect on the British people. When she died, things changed, it was like a lightbulb moment for the UK.

Do you make it a habit of telling others what you thought of their work, even if your experience wasn’t good?
I try to be gentle, I hate being too critical. So, I try to give a positive to every negative if I can.

What is good will?
Hmmmmm, don’t they say “Good will to all men” or something? I guess it’s about being nice to everyone, treating others how you would wish to be treated yourself.

What would it take for you to make friends with an old enemy?
I only have a couple of people I would actually consider enemies and there is no way in this world (or the next) that I would ever make friends with them again. There are certain things that are unforgivable in my opinion. Some hurts can never heal 😦

And now, here are my nominees. Looking forward to your answers 😉

Mandy Eve Barnett
Sandra Madeira
Kitty Hietala
Bridget Straub
CC at Honesty
Brigitte at Brigittes Banter
Zoe at Ozonenut
Dianne Gray
Ms Nine at 2bnine
Robin Coyle
Amber Dane

please take a moment to go visit these great bloggers 🙂

I’m A Very Inspiring Blogger

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Firstly, before I go on to the award…. guess what? Go on, guess, I bet you can’t *snigger* You are now looking at (well, ok, perhaps not literally but you get my drift) an official Nano ML for the Kent UK region!!!! I got my e mail yesterday. So I’ll be Co-ML’ing with Elizabeth Haynes who did such a wonderful job last year. EXCITING OR WHAT!!!!!

According to Teresa at Floating With The Breeze and Paula Acton so it must be true, yeah? 😉

Seriously, thank you so much ladies, I am honoured to be thought of 🙂

We all know the rules for these things, nominate other bloggers and share random facts. Ok, so as I’m a rule breaker I’m going to do what I did last time….point you in the direction of some very “inspiring” blogs 🙂

Evan who blogs at The Better Man Project has embarked on a challenge, to be a “better man” 🙂 I think we could all learn something from this blog.

Ali who blogs at Heavenali can always be relied upon to post interesting book reviews 🙂

Debs Answers always has something fascinating to post. Very useful for us bloggers.

Stu at the Change Your Life Blog has recently just published the book to accompany the blog. So if you want to change your life, here’s where to start!

Liz at Libro Editing is a freelance proofreader, copyeditor and copy writer. It’s fascinating to read her blog 🙂

Please go and check out these links if you have time.

And if you’ve stumbled across an inspiring blog recently, post the link here so that I can go and have a look! 🙂

Inspiring? Moi?

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve been nominated for the Inspiring Blog Award by Amber Dane and by Wendy Steele so I’m feeling pretty smug this morning 🙂

Thank you soooo much Amber and Wendy 🙂 I don’t actually see myself as inspiring (lack of self confidence, self esteem issues lol) but its lovely to hear that someone actually does lol 🙂

As I’ve already received this award, I’m going to break the rules and just highlight a few blog posts I’ve read recently which I’ve found inspiring 🙂

Erica at Write by Waples has written a post entitled Writing Tip #3 which is something I wholeheartedly agree with. Sometimes, I just wish there was someone nagging me lol

Dory’s World is full of everyday observations. I would soooo LOVE to use that photo of the elderly couple on the bus as a prompt 🙂

Dan Bracewell is contemplating the fact that he’s bitten off more than he can chew. Oh yes, I think we all know that feeling. I’m already thinking that about my Louisa Gould story and I haven’t even started it *snigger*

Clearskies Bluewater is talking about the fears and concerns that I think we all have about our capabilities as a writer. It definitely resonated with me.

JeanNicole Rivers post about writing myths was/is interesting, because of point number two. Remember my post about what I’d learnt from the agent? Yes, concept concept concept!!!! And that’s exactly how you get it 🙂

Kimberly at Unnecessary Poetry posted a great post giving so many useful links that it just made me realise that I’m not the only one who spends hours online every day. Me thinks I’ll have to set aside a whole day to benefit from this post 🙂

Please do go and visit these blogs, yeah yeah, I know you’re busy and you already follow 389 blogs as it is, but, you never know, you might just find something inspiring 🙂

What’s inspired you recently?

Reader Appreciation Award

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve been nominated by the lovely Michael over at My Glass House for The Reader Appreciation Award 🙂

I love receiving all these awards, it’s so nice to be thought of, to know that people enjoy what I have to say *grins stupidly* lol

So thank you Michael, I will be playing by the rules with this one as I really like the questions 🙂

What is my favourite colour?
It’s a toss up between red and purple lol. I wear a lot of red, and love writing with purple ink.

What is my favourite animal?
Hmmmm, I love cats and dogs, oh and foxes.

What is my favourite non-alcoholic beverage?
A Costa Latte….mmmmmm.

Facebook or Twitter?
FaceBook, I’m not on Twitter, yet. Although I’m getting really peeved by all the crappy things FaceBook are getting up to recently 😦

Favourite pattern?
Anything black and white, but I’m a bit partial to hearts 🙂

Do you prefer getting or giving presents?
Giving, definitely!

Favourite number?
Can’t decide between 15 (my birthday, hubbys birthday and my eldest sons birthday) or 5 (the month I was born and the number of people in my family).

Favorite day of the week?
Probably Sundays as I get to lay in and snuggle with hubby lol.

Favourite flower?
White roses, no contest. But I love the smell of Lavender.

What is my passion?
Hmmmm, that’s tricky, I’m passionate about a lot of things….my family, love, helping and caring about other people, volunteering, animals….but, come on, you know the real answer don’t you? WRITING 🙂

I’m going to nominate the following Bloggers for this award. You know the rules guys, answer the questions and pass it on….nominate as many fellow Bloggers as you like, make someone smile today 🙂 I know some of you have already had this award, so my apologies…. Is there such a thing as too many? Lol

Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy
Laura at Quill Wielder
Kathryn at 4am Writer
Clar at Clarbojahn
Lightning Pen