A Lotta Liebsters

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Ok, well, due to the A-Z Challenge in April, and my break from Blogging during May, and all the Faber stuff a bit of a backlog has occurred lol….so sincere apologies to anyone who has nominated me for an Award in the last, oooooo, 6 to 8 weeks lol…I will get to them, I promise 🙂

Lin over at The Voices in My Head nominated me for the Liebster Award.

The rules for this one are:
Post the award on my blog
Thank the blogger who gave me the award and link back to their site
Post 11 random facts about myself (Sorry not doing this one, I can’t come up with that many facts about myself!)
Answer 11 questions that the presenter of the award has asked
Nominate 11 new bloggers with fewer than 200 followers to pass the award on to
Ask my nominees 11 questions of my own

And Lins questions to me are:

What’s your favourite TV program? Recently I’m loving Dexter, Da Vinci’s Demons, The Voice and Dr Who….
If you were buying a book for someone who doesn’t usually read, what would you buy? Thats a hard one and would depend on whether they were male or female. If female I’d give them a copy of Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard, if male, I’d get The Hubster to choose something.
Fiction reading or non-fiction reading? Fiction, but I do like a writing guide and the odd cookery book 😉
Do you read more than you write or write more than you read? I write far more than I read 😦
What’s for breakfast? It depends if I’m fasting or feasting 😉
Type or handwrite? Handwrite every time!
What was your favourite childhood tv or book character? I loved Bagpuss.
How do you think the world will end? With a Big Bang!
Radio/music or TV in the background? TV definitely, I can’t concentrate when I’m singing along.
Housework: love it or loathe it? LOATHE!
How good are you at doing what you know you should do? Awful lol

Then i got another Liebster from Madeline at Reincarnated As A Writer and the rules on this one are:

I have to give 11 random facts about me (I’m skipping the facts….see above! Lol)
I have to answer the 11 questions the presenter of the award has asked
I have to nominate 11 new bloggers to receive the award, they must have fewer than 200 followers
I have to ask my nominees 11 new questions of my own

The questions Madeline asked are:
1) How much do you like your steak cooked? (If you don’t eat steak, what is your favourite equivalent?) Medium rare.
2) Tea coffee or something else? Tea, but I’m very partial to a Latte 😉
3) How much was your first pay-packet for, and what was the job? £25 and it was a YTS Scheme (remember those?) lol
4) Favourite film, and why? My Fair Lady for the dresses, Audrey Hepburn and the songs and Citizen Kane for just sheer quality!
5) How long does it take you to read an average length novel? Ha ha ha, it used to be a week, but nowadays it’s more like 3 to 4 😦
6) Was your school co-educational or single sex, and do you think that was the better option? My primary school was mixed but my secondary school was girls only. I’m not really sure which is better to be honest.
7) Which emotion do you feel the most easily/most often? Do you enjoy it? oh gawd, I dunno….I’ll say happiness 🙂
8) Has anything out-of-the-ordinary wonderful ever happened to you? Can you tell us about it? Not really *thinks* no, not out of the ordinary lol
9) Left or right handed? Right
10) What’s your favourite kind of holiday? Oooooo, a bit of sightseeing and sitting on a balcony with a cup of tea and my notebook 🙂
11) Do you have a pet, what is it, or if not, why not? I have 2 cats. A moggy called Tigzz and a British Short Hair called Treacle.

Then another Liebster from Maggie at ExpatBrazil and the rules for this one are:

List 11 facts about yourself (Again, I’m skipping!)
Answer the 11 questions given to you
Ask 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award
Choose up to 11 up and coming blogs to nominate
Go to each blogger’s page and let them know about the award
Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog

My questions from Maggie are:
1. Favourite Writer and why? Hmmmm, I have a couple, but I’d have to say Anita Shreve
2. Who is your best friend and why? The Hubster
3. The genie has granted you three wishes, what are they? To own a house by the sea, to live a long and healthy life and to have a bidding war over my first novel he he he!
4. Which historical figures would you love to have dinner with? Oscar Wilde
5. What couldn’t you live without? Lattes and the people I love
6. What do you do for fun? Fine Dining, films, visiting art galleries, museums and historic houses
7. Favourite Quote? Never, Never, Never, Give Up – Winston Churchill
8. If money was no object where would you live and why? By the sea. I’d like to be able to see the beach from my desk.
9. What’s your secret pleasure? Glittery stickers lol
10. Who do you admire and why? Anyone who achieves their dream!
11. What superpower would you like to have? Teleportation 🙂

And last but not least, the final Liebster from The Write Romantics and the rules for that one are:

Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you.
Answer the 11 questions from the nominator.
List 11 random facts about yourself.
Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs (or less) who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.
Pass on the 11 questions to your nominees (or create new ones).

The Write Romantics questions are:
1. If you could be an animal for a day, what animal would you be and why? A much loved cat lazing in the sun all day 😉
2. If you could invent something, what would it be? Some sort of robot where I could feed my manuscript in and it would come out edited and polished *snigger*
3. What advice would you give to novice bloggers? Include at least 1 picture in every post, for visual interest.
4. What motivates you to write your blog? If I didn’t I’d go mad, all this stuff running round my head lol
5. What book would you take to a desert island? A dictionary!
6. Which fictional character would you most like to be? Eliza Doolittle
7. If you could have a super hero power, what would it be and why? Teleportation so I could travel wherever I wanted whenever I wanted 😉
8. How would you define your life in ten words? Now? Approaching middle age and determined to not waste what’s left!
9. What makes you cry? Anything sad about animals 😦
10. Who or what is your biggest influence/inspiration? everything around me!
11. What would you put into a time capsule for future generations? One of my notebooks he he he 😉

Phew…i think thats it! If you have nominated me for a Leibster and cant see it here please let me know incase ive missed it for some reason.
Ok, so I can’t really nominate 44 bloggers can I….sooooo, I’m going to nominate 11 and let you decide which Liebster you would like to accept….take your pic of the badges. Personally, I like the pink one! The punk and brown ones remind me of jammy dodgers lol

So, I nominate:

Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy
Florence at Fois In The City
Tessa Tangent
Joanne Phillips
Sue Howe
Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Pauline Conolly
Lord David Prosser
Alberta Ross
Patsy Collins
Anita at Food My Family And Me

Please take a few moments to check out all these WONDERFUL blogs…you never know, you might find a new one to follow 🙂

And here are my 11 Questions…
1. Whats your most embarrassing moment?
2. When’s the last time you sent or received flowers?
3. Have you ever sought revenge?
4. What’s your greatest personal strength?
5. What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done (has to be different from number 1 lol)?
6. Who’s the most famous person you’ve met?
8. What do you collect?
9. Favourite all time song?
10. Favourite ice cream flavour?
11. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

HAVE FUN! 🙂

Fun With The Liebster

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

This is a loooong post….but I did have to answer 22 questions! 😉

I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award, twice. There seems to be different versions of this floating about, so I’ll combine the two when it comes to nominating 🙂

Firstly, by Blackrooster for this version:

And then by Mandy Webster at Write on The World for this version:

Thank you soooo much, both of you! 🙂

So I’m sure most of you know the rules by now of these things, listing facts about yourself, but this one involves asking specific questions. I do like questions, and here I get to answer 22! Lol

Blackrooster asked me:
1. Your favorite book is… I have a couple. The first would be Wuthering Heights and my second would be Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

2. What bugs you the most about the times we live in? Hmmm, that’s a hard one! Probably that people don’t care about each other anymore. Everyone seems to be thinking of number one, what’s in it for me 😦

3. What do you love the most about the times we live in? The Internet! Although The Hubster will be shaking his head lol. Look at the people who are now part of my life who would never have been so 20 years ago. It’s brought people together!

4. Do you have a nickname, if yes, what it is? No, I’ve never really had one to be honest. Boring I know.

5. Do you have a pen name, if yes, what it is? Ahhhhh, well, I have this dream, that me and The Hubster will write a book together and then we’ll be Vikki Roberts *sniggers*

6. When did you start writing? Fiction, in 2010, when I joined a creative writing class in the September. But I’ve been journal writing for years.

7. Is the computer your friend? My iPad and my Mac are my friends 😉

8. What’s your most pronounced personality trait? Oh gawd, naivety? Trying to see the good in people when sometimes there really isn’t any. I’m too trusting and end up getting hurt.

9. When do you think robots will be “smart” enough to do our dirty work for us? Ha ha ha, I hope not, not ever!

10. Who’s the funniest person you know? Probably my daughter, her wit is so quick and sharp…I don’t know where she gets it from lol.

11. Horror or comedy? Comedy, definitely!

Mandy asked me:
1. What made you start blogging? I think I started blogging in 2004 on LiveJournal. I used it like a diary, all personal stuff, but then I stopped in 2008 and haven’t been back to it. There’s lots of stuff on there that isn’t for public consumption lol (it was friends only). One day i’ll go back and read it all then delete it. I started again in 2011 when I did an online writing course. It was their suggestion.

2. You have one month, unlimited funds, and zero repercussions; what do you do? Oh wow, now that’s hard! Lol. I would probably spend it on eating at the finest restaurants! I love food, especially gourmet stuff and of course, there would be no weight gain 😉

3. What is your Spirit Animal? (Hint: does not have to be a REAL animal). Not sure, but I’ve always been drawn to foxes. When I was a child and came face to face with my first one I was scared but fascinated. Then, about 2007 I killed two. It was awful 😦 I had a huge 4 wheel drive at the time and they ran out in the road. I was on my own. A woman stopped to help me, or rather comfort me as I was hyperventilating and then 2 young guys stopped and moved them out of the road. It was awful 😦 I guess I’ve been trying to make up for that ever since, I feed them when I can.

4. Remember that one thing you did that you hoped nobody would ever find out about? Go ahead and tell that story now? I’m pretty much an open book and believe that when making decisions, don’t do anything you’d be ashamed of later. I try to live by that. It’s really not worth the guilt is it? Ok, nearly beating (note I said nearly) my son over the head with a remote control because he’d got me so angry (he was about 12 at the time). But, like I said, I knew it was wrong, I knew I’d hate myself (not to mention how it would affect him), I knew how I’d feel so I stopped, and apologised. I just snapped. It had never happened before and never happened again.

5. If you could have dinner with any 3 people, living or dead, who would you choose?
I watched Midnight in Paris for the first time recently. Oh wow!!! So it would have to be Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein!

6. When was the last time you tried something new, and what did you do? Last week I started Fasting. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be lol

7. What is your favorite film of all time? My Fair Lady

8. Favorite book(s) of all time? See above 🙂

9. If you could go 10 years into the past and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Oooooo, that’s a good one. To not take things for granted, your life can change dramatically in just one day! Oh, and warn myself about things that were gunna happen.

10. I’m thinking of taking a vacation; where should I go? Anywhere in Italy!

11. Best reason you called in sick to work, when you weren’t actually sick at all? I’ve pulled sickies, occasionally, but not for any really good reason. Usually to go to job interviews for another job lol

So my nominations are (and please choose whichever logo you want):

Janet at Postcard Fiction
Catherine Johnson
Pauline Conolly
Rebecca Bradley
Cara Thereon
Sara Flower
Mel at Feather Pens Tartan Dreams
Pam at RoughWighting
Lori at Poetry Patio
Peter Germany
Marina at findingtimetowrite

And here are my 11 questions for you lovely bloggers:

1. If you could choose a new name for yourself, what would it be?
2. What is your favourite form of exercise?
3. What is your favourite smell?
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
5. What do you wish you were better at?
6. If you had a choice (but only one), would you rather have a cleaner, a personal shopper or a personal trainer?
7. What 3 things would you take to a desert island?
8. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
9. If money was no object what would be the first thing you’d buy?
10. What was the last meal you ate?
11. Milk or plain chocolate?

Can’t wait to read your answers, I’m nosey like that 😉

The nominees for the Liebster Award with love (motheroutlaw.wordpress.com)
another ‘blush’ liebster award (plaridel.wordpress.com)
Liebster award (clairelewisco.wordpress.com)
Liebster Nominee… (food4thesoul93.wordpress.com)
11/11: The Liebster Award (offgothepanties.com)

Classic Reads Blog Hop

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Today, I’m taking part in a blog hop 🙂 it’s being hosted by Molly Greene Terri G Long Christine Nolfi and Rachel Thompson

The idea is for me to share the books that i think are classic reads, and to tell you what makes a read a ‘classic’ for me. Old, new, controversial, heartwarming – what are the things that catapult a book from a great read to a must read?

The minute I saw this blog hop mentioned there was only 1 book, for me, worthy of the title 🙂 It’s a book I read back in 2006, but the memory has remained. Unfortunately, it’s no longer available in printed form, (unless you buy a pre-owned copy on Amazon) but you can get it on Kindle.

My recommendation as a Classic Read is Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

Let me share with you the blurb:
Rose Leonard is on the run from her life. Taking refuge in a remote island community, she cocoons herself in work, silence and solitude in a house by the sea. But she is haunted by her past, by memories and desires she’d hoped were long dead. Rose must decide whether she has in fact chosen a new life or just a different kind of death. Life and love are offered by new friends, her lonely daughter, and most of all Calum, a fragile younger man who has his own demons to exorcise. But does Rose, with her tenuous hold on life and sanity, have the courage to say yes to life and put her past behind her?

And now let me share with you my review:
OH WOW!!!!! I loved this book! I usually read a book a week, this one, i read in less than 24 hours!!!! When i say it was unputdownable…i am NOT joking! The setting is magical and i want to visit!!!!! No scrub that, i want to live there! I did find myself getting a little bit annoyed with Rose at one point, i mean there was Calum, dishy, kind, interested, available…and a poet….. What more could a woman want????? I’ve heard a lot of people who have read this book have been inspired to be creative…… Oh that is an understatement! I want to create something now lol

Can you tell I liked it? 😉 If you like a bit of romance with an incredible setting, you’ll love this as much as I did.

For me, a classic read is something that you fall in love with, and I definitely fell, big time for this! Even 6 years later I can remember opening the book to that first page and virtually not moving from my chair till I’d finished it. My husband went to work with me reading it and he came home just in time to see me finish lol 😉 There was just something magical about the characters and the beautiful description that touched my heart.

I have 2 spare copies of this book going begging (no, you can’t have my signed copy, that’s staying with me for life!) so if you’d like one (these are pre-read by the way so not brand new) please let me know and I’d be happy to send 🙂

So what constitutes a Classic Read in your opinion?