Friday, March 29, 2013

Blog Award

I'm doing something different this Friday. My friend Nancy Cohen honored me with this lovely blog award recently, and I want to thank her for considering my blog worthy of an award. Nancy is the author of a cozy mystery series that feature a sleuth who is a hairdresser. I have read Shear Murder and enjoyed it a lot.

 The rules for this award are:
  1. Link back to and thank the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Post the badge on your blog.
  3. Answer the questions posed to you.
  4. Nominate five bloggers who shine a little light in your day and notify them.
  5. Ask five questions for your nominees.
Since I always hesitate to impose rules on my blogger friends, I encourage those that I nominate to think in terms of guidelines, not rules. And now to answer some of Nancy's questions.

1. What genre do you read for fun? I read primarily mystery for fun.

2. Do you revise as you go along or wait until your first draft is done? I do some revising as I go along. Often my writing session begins with reading through the last chapter or scene to jump-start the next action in the book, so I will tweak some as I am doing that. Still, I will also end up doing one or two revisions when the whole story is complete.

3. What advice would you give aspiring authors? I would encouring aspiring authors to learn perseverance and develop a thick skin. Those that succeed are those who keep writing, and those who improve their craft are those who are willing to take constructive criticism and editorial input. I would also tell them to read as much as possible in all genres, as we absorb good writing techniques as we read.

4. Do you have beta readers and who are they? For my latest release my beta readers were Dani Greer and Cathy Richmond. Dani is the acqusitions editor for Little Pickle Press, and Cathy is the author of best-selling Christian fiction. Both are writers for whom I have a great deal of respect.

Now I would like to pass the award on to:

Helen Ginger, who has a terrific blog where she shares information on writing and the publishing business, as well as some great book reviews.

LD Masterson, who always has something fun and interesting on her blog. Love her Hump Day

Susan Swiderski, who does fun posts with lots of pictures and clever captions. It's always fun to visit her blog.

Marilyn Meredith, who is an amazing woman and my idol. She is not afraid to admit her age, 87, nor how many books she has written and published, 35. 

Joan Reeves, who is always promoting fellow authors, as well as offering all kinds of helpful posts from editing to setting up an office.

And my questions for my friends - should you choose to answer:

1. How long do you spend putting together a blog?

2. What other writing do you do?

3. Do you blog because you like to, or because you were told you have to by a publisher?

4. What is a story your family likes to tell about you?

5. When you visit another blog, do you promote it on social media?

10 comments:

Nancy J. Cohen said...

I'd agree with perseverance being the most important advice to wannabe writers. If you give up, you'll never get published. And a thick skin is totally necessary in this biz. Good answers!

Maryannwrites said...

Thanks, Nancy. Both of those were hard lessons for me early on. If I got a rejection letter I would decide that I must be the most terrible writer and would not submit for months. Finally a kind friend kicked me in the butt and told me that was no way to succeed. (smile)

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Congratulations on the award! Good answers.

Thank you so much for considering me for this award. I'd be happy to accept... if it'd be okay to wait until May to do so. I'm backing off from Blogger for a while so I can finish up some "real" writing.

Happy Easter!

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

Thank you, Maryann--though I am a tad younger than you stated. I'm 79.

I enjoyed your blog.

Maryannwrites said...

So sorry I mis-stated your age, Marilyn. I may have confused you with another lady I greatly admire who is 87 and a busy lady here in my town.

Maryannwrites said...

Susan, you can absolutely wait until May to respond. I know how these things can sometimes be a challenge to fit into a busy schedule. I often hesitate to send the awards on because of that intrusion, but this one was so nice, I did want to share it with some special blogger/writer friends.

LD Masterson said...

Congratulations and thank you. It was so nice of you to think of me.

Should we explain that my Hump Day posts are about getting over the mid-week hump on Wednesday? *grin*

I have a guest on Monday so I'll be back to pick up this love award next Friday.

Helen Ginger said...

Thank you for nominating me. I will ponder your questions and, hopefully, post my answers next week.

Maryannwrites said...

Look forward to your posts next week, Helen and LD.

Maryannwrites said...

Look forward to your posts next week, Helen and LD.