In the short time I've been blogging I've found other bloggers to be an extremely friendly, helpful bunch of people. Always going the extra mile to help out with problem or suggest an easier way to do things or an effective plug-in or widget. Sherryl Perry of http://keepupwiththeweb.com/ gave me enormous support recently when my account was hacked.I belong to Bloggers Helping Bloggers on LinkedIn and the group is fantastic – we read each other’s blogs, exchange comments as well as practical advice.
But this week I’ve been totally blown away by receiving the Versatile Blogger Award from Susan Cooper. Yeah!!! Thank you so much Susan. What an honor and so completely unexpected!You can find Susan Cooper on her award winning blog at http://findingourwaynow.comSusan herself has a great blog and is the recipient of a number of awards - the Sunshine Blog, and Versatile Blogger Awards from “searchingforthehappiness“ and recently the Readers Appreciation Award from “Little Box Of Books“.As she says on her blog, she has a passion for life, but I’d say her generosity of spirit is the key to her success.In the twenty years while I was in business, I believed competition and sharing information was a positive – in business this only hold's true up to a point. So now I’m a novelist and a blogger, I’m delighted to find it’s a world of exchanging ideas, information and camaraderie.Part of receiving the award requires telling Susan 7 things about myself. Some feel more secret than others.
- I love all things Italian – the country the culture, the food, the language. It’s been a dream of mine to live there someday – well for 6 months at least - but the older I get, the less likely it becomes. Visits are lovely though and Umbria is my favorite region.
- I enjoy playing chess on-line. I’ve always thought of chess as being the most boring, nerdy thing in the world, until I discovered playing online and having 3 days to make a move. I enjoy playing live too. Wanna play? Let me know.
- My cat likes to wake me up by purring loudly in my ear or tickling my nose with her whiskers. Since I left home at eighteen, I've never lived without a cat.
- I have an auto-immune condition which saps my energy and limits my mobility. But without it, I probably wouldn’t have had the time to explore becoming a writer. It started with a journal and went from there. Writing is something I can do in small chunks. Having been a type ‘A’ personality all my life, pacing myself is hard, but after 13 yrs I’m improving (ya think?!)
- I’m a breast cancer survivor. I was very lucky and although I had a mastectomy, I didn't have to have chemo or radiotherapy. Now I can join the Amazonian archery club! I wrote my first published story during one nerve-wracking weekend while I was waiting for test results. It was a fantastic therapeutic way of dealing with the stress. I’ve been cancer free for 7 years.
- I believe everyone is creative. We all have to find what creativity we can tap into, whether it’s gardening, metal work, sewing, sculpting or whatever. So many things stand in our way – time, inclination & the nagging self critic that sits on our shoulders saying ‘I’m no good at…' or 'I can’t…’ . We all have it at one time or another. It’s a question of taking a leap of faith in ourselves, and not worrying what others think. It’s the process that’s important not the result. Kind of like the journey not the destination.
- I’m a painter. I started going to a drawing class, 20 yrs ago as a form of relaxation away from a stressful job. Then I moved on to painting. As I said above, for me it’s the process that’s important. I find painting (like writing) very meditative. When I started to have problems with my joints and mobility, I had to change the way I worked. Recently Susan Cooper introduced me to the program iDraw that she uses for the great drawings in some of her blogs. From there, I’ve gone on to start using ‘Brushes’ which is the app. David Hockney uses. I'd been looking at the full moon one night, so this ended up being my first painting on an iphone. Thanks again Susan!
Now I need to pass the torch and nominate 15 bloggers to receive the Versatile Blogger Award. I hope you check them out. There's some great blogs in there, but it was a difficult choice. I also knew people such as Claire Capetta and Doreen Pendracs for example, that I couldn't nominate as they already had the award.1. Keepupwiththeweb2. nhwn.wordpress.com3. leftcoastvoices.wordpress.com4. 101books.net/5. rowenadunn.wordpress.com/6. catarinasworld.com/7. biz.leoraw.com/8. ohegarty.blogspot.co.uk/9. susiebright.blogs.com/10. 3chicspolitico.com/11. brainpickings.org/12. thoughtlessbeauty.tumblr.com/13. zenashapter.com/blog/14.francescacarboni.blogspot.co.uk/15. angelaejkoh.com/ If you would like to check out more information about the award go to http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com It's fantastic to see all the other nominees - and have the rules explained etc.Thanks again Susan for the award, and thanks also to everyone who has come to my blog and left comments. The discussions are the part that makes it really worth while.I'd love to hear your comments on blogging or the award. Come and join the discussion. Yeah!!! Subscribe at the top of bottom of the page.Twitter: @ artyyah
