The wonderful author of Think Ink and co-founder of Sprink Shack, Skye Fairwin has nominated me for The Sunshine Award.
This is an award for bloggers who “positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere,” so thank you Skye for nominating this blog!
As per award instructions, here are ten facts about me:
1. Although I’ve left home, my cat is still very my cat.
And she’s wonderful.
2. I’ve taken part in and won NaNoWriMo five times now;
however, I had to use some of the “allowable cheats” for four of those…
3. I game.
Which I find has a different meaning from “I play games.” For me, it’s like writing. Here is a character, and I have to help them make choices to get to an end goal, over-coming obstacles. This includes being: Death trying to redeem his brother War, Ezio trying to make sense of Italian politics and follow his families’ legacy, a character trying to slay dragons and gain their shouts, and then levelling up my Assassin-Cross to beat higher level monsters and collect more valuable loot and complete quests. It’s writing in the visual form.
4. I don’t like snow.
It’s gorgeous, but I’ve yet to experience a time when I just get to look at it from a warm place and never have to go near it.
5. I grew up with badgers and foxes in the back garden;
but never saw a squirrel there. If you’ve ever seen anyone get excited about badgers; that’s how excited I get about squirrels (which are much more common really).
6. I have two degrees.
The one which sounds less useful is the one I use the most.
7. Since it’s a common writer stereotype, I should probably comment on drugs.
I don’t really drink coffee. I probably have one cup of it a month if I’m really struggling to wake one day or need to do something like drive a long distance and feel tired. Otherwise I don’t. Same goes for normal tea really; I just don’t do liquid caffeine. I Having said that, I probably have a drink of alcohol every 2 weeks or so, just because I enjoy it.
(Since I brought the topic up and then didn’t mention other types of drug, I should also state I’ve never tried any drugs other than painkillers and antibiotics; and that includes cigarettes.)
8. I’m quite…. annoying about language.
I notice how things are worded at work and endlessly pick up on people saying things. The most common is: “I know it’s just an excuse…” which gets my response of “an excuse is a reason to be excused. There’s nothing about it being a negative thing. An excuse is neutral. That reason can be valid and still be an excuse.” Yeah… Annoying for them.
9. There are only three places I really want to travel to:
Scotland (since I’ve done Wales and Ireland, and live in England); Norway for the metal music, gorgeous views and northern lights; and New Zealand for it’s beauty and to see my Australian friend (because NZ has less dangerous animals).
10. I hope I’ve finished making all the major mistakes with my first editing project.
It’s frustrating to line edit a story for the final check of word choice and then realise there’s a gaping plot issue that then takes about four months to truly ensure it’s fixed; as plugging that hole only sprung new leaks. Finger’s crossed I’ve learned that lesson now and the next line edit will go smoothly.
The award asks me nominate other people, so here’s my list: