Liebster Award

I was nominated for the Liebster Award by two bloggers: Paola Crespo from ‘Writing and Rewriting’ and Joanna Meyer from ‘Just a Lyric in a Children’s Rhyme’. And as such I’ll answer both lots of questions (as briefly as possible) in this one post rather than do two separate posts of pretty much the same thing. Here it goes!

First off, the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Answer 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate other bloggers.
4. Give those bloggers 11 questions to answer and let them know they’ve been nominated.

Now to begin; Joanna Meyer’s  questions:

1. How would you spend a million dollars? 
   I don’t think I’d spend it, at least not straight away, I’d probably pay for my university fees and livings costs (so I wouldn’t have to be dependent on the Government and my parents) and invest the rest. Perhaps I’d put some aside to fuel my writing—some money for competitions, this blog and (if I choose to) self-publishing. Also books, I’d buy some of the books I’ve been meaning to buy like William S. Burroughs’ Junky.
2. What time period in history would you like to spend a week in? 
   I had to give this a lot of thought; realistically the past has been, through both fiction and non-fiction, romanticised by historians and idealists. Regardless, I would love to spend a week in The Renaissance or perhaps the Industrial Revolution.
3. Soup or salad?
   Depends on the season; in winter and autumn soup beats salad, however in summer and spring salad beats soup.
4. I can’t write haikus (that I’m willing to put up here, at least) so I’m skipping question/statement four.
5. Have you visited any foreign countries?
   I’m extremely lucky in that I’ve travelled quite a bit with my parents.
6. If you had to trade in your car, would you choose an elephant, a camel, or an ostrich as alternate transportation?
   I’d definitely choose a camel!
7. What’s your favourite word?
   It changes all the time but at the moment it’s ‘irrevocable’.
8. Cats or dogs?
   Can I say both? I love both cats and dogs! If I had to choose I’d go with dogs, specifically French Bulldogs and Pugs – I adore them.
9. Who was your first fictional crush? 
   It must have been Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, I completely fell in love with his, somewhat dark, character. I was quite jealous of Jane!
10. What three authors would you want to have with you in the event you’re marooned on a desert island?
    What a difficult question! I guess I’d have to go with J.K.Rowling, Margaret Atwood and Christopher Hitchens (given that he counts).
11. What’s the title of your current WiP (if you have one)?
    I have no idea (that’s not the title either) but as soon as I have one, even if it’s a temporary one, I’ll let you all know.

Paola Crespo’s questions:

1. What was the last book that made you cry?
   I don’t tend to read books that make me cry (or perhaps I’m (to some extent) just coldhearted), so I actually can’t remember the last one! It might have been during Cassandra Clare’s Shadow Hunter series, when (spoiler alert!) Alec and Magnus broke up — I love them so much!
2. What is a really underrated book that you would love to see on the big screen? Why? 
   I’d love to see ‘Winter of Fire’ by Sherryl Jordan on the big screen. It’s one of my absolute favourite books (one I almost always return to when struggling to write/read) and one I can very vividly see in my mind.
3. What is something in a book that has to be well-done for you to like it? 
   The writing has to be ‘good’ for me to like a book, it has to be easy to follow and smooth (not jittery, I need to be able to melt into the story). Characterisation is definitely second though; I love reading well-defined characters that have motives, thoughts and feelings, and are ‘alive’ in my mind (feel human).
4. Is there a book that you consider your guilty pleasure? If so, why? 
   Not really, I do, however, consider any book I like to read more than once a guilty pleasure. There are so many books out there so I feel somewhat guilty reading something I’ve already read half a dozen times.
5. What is your favourite book setting? 
   I love a good forest setting. I’m not too sure what it is about forests, perhaps it’s the darkness or their familiarity… I think it’s their atmosphere and the many different things that could happen. Forests are rather eternal too, their idea, they exist in the past, present and hopefully the future too.
6. What is a book that you want to read purely for the cover? 
   As discussed in my previous post (see here), I’m not too fond of judging books by their covers and I try not to. Regardless, The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean is a book I wanted to read purely for the cover. I still haven’t gotten around to reading it, but I do own a paperback of it.
7. Is there a book that you’ve tried to read unnumerable times but have never been able to finish? What is it?
   A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I know, I know, but I have honestly tried to read it several million times! What’s worse is that it’s the type of book I know I’d enjoy (if I could just get past the first 50 pages) and one I’ve been told (by a lot of people) I’d love.
8. What is your OTP?
   As Paola said, ‘there are too many (not just books but also TV shows etc.) for me to choose from’.  
9. Why and when did you start your book blog?
   I don’t really have a ‘book blog’, I don’t think. I started this blog earlier this year in January though, as a place to think about the visual side of the written word and more.
10. If you estimate, what is the most books you’ve ever checked out from your library?
    About 22 is my estimate, over the school holidays. It was a lot of reading! I don’t think the librarian knew it was all for me either, I might have borrowed half of them on my sister’s card or perhaps my Mum’s…
11. What is your favourite type of post to write for your blog?
    I don’t really know yet, I love exploring things like poems (The Haunted House for example) and issues (Are Book Covers Necessary?)… Other than that, I guess we’ll see.

My nominees:

1. Kara at Diary of a Teen Writer
2. Cassie at The Magical Adventures of Cassie the Weird
3. Hannah at Sprinkled With Words
4. Julia at Julia the Writer Girl
5. Maximilian at Storyteller 
6. Cassandra at Tears Meet Paper
7. Joanna at melfka.com
8. Dragonfly Lady at Dragonfly Lady’s Writey Ramblings

My questions:

1. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
2. If your life was a book what would it be called?
3. Who was your first fictional crush?
4. Traditional publishing vs self publishing – which would you choose if you had the choice? And why?
5. Ebooks vs real books? Which wins?
6. Do you read picture books or graphic novels? Why/why not?
7. What are your thoughts on NA (new adult) fiction?
8. What is a book you’ve read purely because of the cover?
9. What must a book have in it for you to fall in love with it?
10. Are there any movies/TV series out there that you think are better than the books from which they originated?
11. Where is your favourite place to read/write?

Have fun! 

Thank you for the nominations! And for the read (if you’re still here that is!). I apologise for the mammoth post, I tried hard keep it as short as possible!

Janna