The One Lovely Blog Award

I’ve been tagged in another blog hop given an award. It’s one that we writers give to each other. Don’t tell Amazon!

Here is my award, which I received from Rhiann. It is very pretty.

My award is a 300×300 jpg.

I also did up a bronzed version of it, because I have this preconceived notion that awards should be metallic. And possibly have a ribbon. This one doesn’t have a ribbon. (I hope that playing with the award picture doesn’t make me ineligible for the award.)

Ribbonless bronzed version of award.

Anyway, on to the blog hop award details. The rules state that I must share seven things about myself and pass the award on to seven other bloggers. I’ve added a rule too: that I may not say anything I’ve previously revealed on the blog (lucky I haven’t been writing it long). So here are my seven things:

1. I’ve only ever been on one overseas holiday, which was almost twelve months ago. We went to Scotland and stayed in a CASTLE, and to Spain. We’d planned to go to Italy too, but …
2. … in Valencia I fell off a hat and sprained my ankle so severely I ended up in a cast and we had to come home. (Yes, a hat. That’s not a typo. In my defence it was a giant fibreglass hat. Google “Gulliver Valencia” and you’ll see what I mean.)
3. When I got to high school I didn’t try very hard in year seven English. I wasn’t lazy; I just didn’t quite realise what was expected of me in the homework department. So in year eight I got bumped down from Advanced English to the regular kind. The teacher took us to the library one lesson and just got us to choose books to take back to class and read. That was when I discovered adult fantasy novels. It was totally worth having to sit next to the bitchy girl who copied off my work.
4. In year eleven and twelve I had an inspirational teacher (well, several, but this one is relevant to my story). He used to come into class late and practicing his golf swing. I remember arguing with him about the lyrics to Salt Water by Julian Lennon. But he also really encouraged me to write. I loved that class to the point where, when the guidance counsellor asked me what I wanted to study at university and I had no idea, I said maybe English just because I loved it. That’s how I ended up with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
5. My first crush was on the Goblin King in Labyrinth. It’s also the first movie I remember seeing in the cinema. (Between this and the reference to Salt Water you can guess roughly how old I am. I really ought to stop being so obvious!)
6. I slowed down in my writing for a while (never play World of Warcraft if you want any kind of life) and then stopped altogether for about 18 months when I had my son. Having a baby also broke my WoW addiction, so there was an upside. It was after that—maybe due to withdrawals, although there were other things going on at the time—that I picked up the old novel fragment that eventually turned into Isla’s Inheritance.
7. In the last month or so I started going to the gym. Not to be a wanker about it or anything, but my son is three now and getting fast—soon he’ll be able to outrun me. Not cool!

The seven people I tag are:

Amber Bardan – http://amberabardan.blogspot.com.au/

Carey Torgesen – http://seattletfiles.blogspot.com.au/

Chynna-Blue Scott – http://chynnablueink.wordpress.com/

Julie Israel – http://julieisrael.wordpress.com/

Kristen Jett – http://kristenjett.com/blog/

Pippa Jay – http://pippajay.blogspot.co.uk/

Veronica Bartles – http://i-am-so-grateful.blogspot.com.au/