(Not the Oscars… but very, very close! Prepare for an acceptance speech!)

I stand here today, honored to receive not one, but TWO, Liebster Blog Award Nominations!

“What is this award?”, you ask?

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. “Liebster” is German for “favorite”. Hence this award is for a favorite upcoming blog.

My acceptance speech must include 11 statements about me, the answers to 11 questions posed by the nominator and end up with 11 nominations of my own.

I want to thank Beverly J. Harvey of Moggie Purrs who got in just before the Maudlin family at Mama Bear Musings!

So I get to display TWO Award logos! Here’s the second Award logo!

I also want to thank my electrician and the guy who built the desk I type at… Oh, no time for that? Okay, well moving right along…

The purpose of this exercise is to help new bloggers get the word out to the blogging world that we are here, and to celebrate the creations of other bloggers — eleven of them, to be exact.

Formal Rules for Liebster Award:

1. Post eleven facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions the blogger has set for you
3. Create eleven questions for the people you’ve nominated.
4. Choose eleven people to give this award to and link them in your post.
5. Go to their blogs and tell them.

Okay… here we go! Eleven Facts About Me:

1. Still happily married to my first wife 😉
2. Have three lovely and talented daughters – you should see their art!
3. Studied science at school, politics/administration at university
4. Was Student Union President supported by the right and the left and some in the middle
5. Worked mainly for airlines and IT companies (30 years in IT)
6. Owned my own Internet Consultancy
7. Retired early
8. Writing speculative fiction, which includes science fiction/fantasy
9. Hoping to release my first far-future trilogy during 2013 on ebook formats
10. Learning about having Alzheimers in the family
11. Wondering why the number eleven is so important to Liebster…

The Eleven Questions Beverly asked me (as she got in slightly first):

1. Why did you choose to begin blogging?
My fiction is generally serious, even a little dark at times, and I wanted an outlet for my more positive/cheerful creative side.

2. Is this your first blog award?
So far, yes 😉

3. What is the latest book you read?
I just re-read Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, it’s still among the best SF

4. Are you a Dog Person or a Cat Person (truly, there is no right or wrong answer here, said the Cat Person)
It was “Cat” even before you hinted. (Mine’s an elderly black ex-male called Oscar.)

5. What country would you like to visit? 
Australia – so much to offer and yet so far away, I plan to get there in a few years.

6. Which is your favorite Olympics? Winter Olympics or Summer Olympics and why? 
I am not a sporty person, so I must say the Winter Olympics as there’s slightly less blanket media coverage. Oops! Wrong reason?

7. Why did you choose WordPress as the platform for your blog? 
I had already encountered WordPress when I ran my web consultancy, before retiring. I stayed with what I knew.

8. What is the theme or topic of your blog posts?
Whimsy and musings, related to writing and occasional acting and whatever I think might amuse and or entertain a reader.

9. How has blogging changed or influenced your life? 
Recent events have disrupted my routine, but blogging had begun to force me into a more structured way of working – being retired removes most external timetabling pressures. I have also made some new friends – thanks for the Comments and Likes and Follows, everyone! 

10. What is your favorite social media site? 
I started with LinkedIn, I have some good friends there.

11. Do you like answering comments that people leave on your blog site about your posts? 
I do enjoy it as I see replies as a continuation of the urge to entertain and to support budding friendships, not just to deliver factual responses. Comments welcomed !

My Eleven Questions to my Nominees..

1. Why did you choose to begin blogging?
2. What is the theme/content of your blog?
3. Do you find blogging satisfying?
4. Why did you choose the blogging system you use (WordPress, Blogger…)?
5. Which social networking platform(s) are you a member of?
6. How do you schedule your blogging/networking/writing time?
7. What is your favorite movie and why?
8. What is your favorite novel and why?
9. What is your ambition?
10. What is your greatest success (to date)?
11. If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you move, and why?

My Nominees for Liebster Blogger Award (a wide spread of topics and styles and in no particular order):

Note: It is not always obvious how many followers a site has – apologies for underestimating any of those below

1. James Osborne Novels
2. The Shadow of Xeno’s Eye
3. Do You Look Like Me
4. Pixel for All
5. Cynthia Luhrs
6. The Lunatic Assylum (blogger’s spelling)
7. Set to Fire
8. ScifiBook Review
9. Safety Harbor Woman
10. Charles Fudge Muffin
11. The Primortus Zone

Please drop in on my nominees, maybe leave a comment and maybe you’ll get nominated, too!

And a big thank you to Beverley and the Maudlins.

Finally, thank you to everyone who reads and responds to my blog posts.