Thursday 19 January 2012

Versatile Blogger Award

Don't normally post on a Thursday, but I just wanted to say thanks to Sara Bulla at the excellent Live to Write...Edit when Necessary for passing on this award. I'm surprised and honoured! Thank you for thinking of little me, Sara.


There's a few rules going along with the award, as follows:

1. In a post on your blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.(or 5 like me - you will not be smited.)
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.


So without further ado, here's seven things about me you'll wish you'd never known...

1. At age two, I almost died due to severe asthma.

2. In the early to mid nineties, I was a member of the official Red Dwarf Fan Club and had several letters printed in their magazine. If you're not familiar with the genius of the Dwarf, check out the link. Yes, I was proud to be a smeghead... after all, better smeg than dead.

3. When I was about eight, my parents called the police because I went missing. I'd wandered far from home in search of a copy of the Beano, which wasn't at my local newsagents or any other shop I tried. Turned out, it was a day late that week.

4. I was quite into drama when I was younger, starting to write plays at age ten. At High School, I was in the Drama Club and we put on shows every Christmas, Easter and summer, which we wrote, directed, performed in and made costumes for. I also formed a comedy duo with a friend and we devised a sketch show.

5. When I was six, a stag beetle landed on my neck. Might not sound dramatic, but these mothers are gigantic, especially to a small child, with very intimidating horns (hence the name). I thought an alien was trying to eat me, and just stood and screamed until my dad got rid of it. (I don't know what he did with it).

6. In Australia, when I was 21, I was spending the night on a beach (don't remember where) when I was propositioned by a man. I managed to politely rebuff his advances before things went any further. Possibly slightly more scary than the stag beetle.

7. My Grandpa played the flute on the soundtrack to the hit musical Oliver!, among many other movies.

Now that I've got those out there, it's time to nominate some other cool bloggers to receive the award. Some of these will already have it, but it seems to be commonplace for people to get the award more than once, so I'm just going to nominate those I think deserve a shout.

1. Nicola Morgan @ Help! I Need a Publisher!

2. Trisha @ WORD + STUFF

3. DRC @ WTF's Writing Thrilling Fiction

4. Martin Willoughby @ From Sand to Glass

5. Lynda R Young @ W.I.P. It

6. Amanda Borenstadt @ A Fortnight of Mustard

7. Chantele Sedgwick @ My Writing Bug

8. Ro Goodman @ Ro-alwaysinspired

9. Justine Dell

10. Laura Louise Cox @ In This Box of Goodies

11. Nancy S Thompson

12. Mark Noce @ Mark Noce Stories

13. Elizabeth Poole @ Myself, Without the Shell

14. Jayne Ferst @ A Novice Novelist

15. Melissa Ann Goodwin @ Writer on the Road

So there you go! Congrats to all. I'll be round to comment on all your blogs as soon as. Cheers! :o)

29 comments:

DRC said...

Ahh thank you!!! (got to your blog before you got to me...lol) Tuesday will definitely see an award accepting post :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Number six made me laugh! Not sure how I would've handled it. Although the giant beetle might've caused a meltdown. (When I was six, of course.)
Congratulations on the award!

Mark said...

Congrats and thanks for the shout-out!

Martin Willoughby said...

Thankyou for the nomination. My acceptance speech will follow in due course, though not in 'Oscar' style.

I, too, am a smeghead. Have you heard they're recording another series?

Nick Wilford said...

DRC - You're welcome. Always enjoy your blog.

Alex - TBH, I'm not sure how I did handle it... it's kind of a blur of terror in my memory. It could have been a lot worse. I might not be here to tell the tale!

Mark - Thanks! No prob.

Martin - You're welcome. Yes I've heard about the new series, and seen bits and pieces on the website, but I'm not really holding my breath after the debacle of the last attempt... sometimes things should be left alone!

Sara Bulla said...

I thought it sounded familiar! A guy I dated in High school loved Red Dwarf. We'd watch it at like 2 or 3 in the morning, which only improved it! ;)Good memories! It sounds like you planted your writing seeds quite early, writing at a very young age. That's awesome.That Stag Beetle does look fierce. :)

I was very happy to pass the award onto you. I know it's a bit like jumping through hoops just to pass it on ... but I think it's a good thing. :) I really have enjoyed your posts and I wish you all the best! I'm going to be taking a break from blogging - just have a few demands that need all my attention at the moment, but I'm sure I'll be popping in here and there to read your gems of wisdom. Best regards - Sara

Trisha said...

Nice facts about yourself, Nick - thanks for sharing! hehe. I had asthma as a kid too, but not severe. I think I still have it a bit as an adult, actually.

Thank you for the award!!

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

You are sweet to nominate me - thanks. I am glad the aliens did not eat you. I think that would haunt me for life - that beetle.

Nick Wilford said...

Sara - I'm glad you've seen it, I didn't think it was ever big in the States. Probably why it was on at 2 or 3 am!

Good luck doing what you need to do, I'm sure Angie will hold the fort well!

Trisha - No problem! I haven't suffered with asthma at all since I was about 13, thankfully. My stepdaughter has an inhaler now though...

Melissa - That's OK. It was quite a traumatising experience, but my 3-year-old thinks it's the funniest story she's ever heard!

Elizabeth Poole said...

Thanks Nick! For some reason Blogger doesn't tell me when you update your blog...hmmm, going to have to check that out. I'll be posting about it soon!

That stag beetle is very scary. I am not sure I wouldn't react exactly the same way if that happened to me now.

Amanda Borenstadt said...

Thanks! :)

I love Red Dwarf! My old car had a bumpersticker saying, "My other car is the Starbug."

Wow, that stag beetle is scary looking. It does look alien. But kind of cool looking too.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Nick :) I'm honored to receive this award again! Must mean I'm doing something right! That's quite an interesting list you have there! Can't say I've ever seen a stag beetle and from your description, I don't want to!!

JE said...

HA! All these facts are wonderful (and most of them made me laugh out loud!). Thanks for the award!

~JD

Nicola Morgan said...

Thanks, Nick. And nice to see lots of other bloggers I didn't know of! Good luck with your writing and many thanks for nominating me. Honoured!

Jayne said...

Thank you! I love those facts about yourself - although I think if a stag beetle landed on me right now I'd go into a complete tizzy, let alone when I was little. And hooray for Red Dwarf!

Golden Eagle said...

Congratulations on the award! :)

I would have completely freaked out if a bug like that landed on me. LOL.

Thank you for following my blog!

Aguilar Elliot said...

"better smeg than dead" - haha... i'm gonna have to check out this red dwarf.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Thank you so much for passing on the award!!

And yes!! I love Red Dwarf!! I should watch the whole series again--it's been a while ;)

Laura Louise Cox said...

Thanks for my nomination :)

Lovely surprise to cheer me up when I'm bed bound with flu

x

David P. King said...

Congrats on the award! I wasn't a member of the fan club, but I'm well aware of the "Dwarf."

I gave you a shout-out on my blog today! :)

Shelley Sly said...

Hi, new follower here. :) These facts were so interesting. That beetle looks frightening, though! :/

Nancy Thompson said...

I think you, by far, have some of the most interesting facts than anyone else I've seen! Yikes, that bug looks like a prehistoric monster!!

Anyway, Nick, thank you so very much for the nomination. I appreciate the nod!

Nick Wilford said...

Wow, didn't think this would get so many comments! Thanks everyone!

Here we go...

Elizabeth - My Google Reader is erratic too. It's missing a few blogs. I'm using my list on the blog and having it in order of most recently updated, but that's getting a bit unwieldy!

I'd like to think I could take it on man to beetle now. Grudge match...

Amanda - It's nice to see Red Dwarf had at least a few fans stateside! Did you know they actually made a US version? Just a pilot, it was never screened. Of course it was butchered beyond belief - they basically made Lister into a marine!

Ro - No problem. :) No, you don't want to - except in a zoo, maybe.

Justine - You're welcome! Hopefully the first one didn't make you laugh!

Nicola - No problem! With your wealth of advice, your blog is more than worthy.

Jayne - They are pretty fearsome.

Golden Eagle - Thanks! I followed after seeing your interview on Laura B's blog.

Aguilar - You won't regret it! As a youngster, I had that slogan proudly emblazoned on the back of a t-shirt.

Lynda - You're welcome! Great idea, although I'd stick with series 1-6 - it was downhill after that.

Laura - Aww, hope you're feeling better soon!

David - Thanks for the shout out! Going to email you as I wanted to comment to enter your giveaway, but couldn't because of that "reply" feature. I forgot to email before, now it's too late - d'oh.

Shelley - Nice to meet you! It was certainly scary as a small child.

Nancy - You're welcome. I just hope I don't get any more awards, though, because I think I've already exhausted all the interesting things about myself!

Nick said...

Congrats on your award! That's so cool that your Grandpa played in the soundtrack to Oliver! - I love that show!

I'm a new follower :)

Nick Wilford said...

Nick - Nice to meet you! I saw it loads of times as a kid. We would always wait for the bit where there's a close up of a tramp playing a piccolo - because it was actually Grandpa and his flute!

Peggy Eddleman said...

Congrats Congrats on the award! And for the record, my parents called the police because I went missing, too. :)

And that beetle is freaky. He looks like he is made of metal.

Nick Wilford said...

Peggy - Thank you. Pfft, pesky parents worrying so much... I know I wouldn't do that. Well, possibly.

Yes, they are fearsome. But I do think they're quite cool now.

mimi torchia boothby watercolors said...

Hi, I'm participating in the Blogging from A to Z and have subscribed to your blog. I am a visual artist but i love to read and write. One paragraph into your blog and I liked your vocabulary, so I'm in.

Nick Wilford said...

Mimi - That's very kind of you to say so! I try my best. Look forward to seeing your posts in April - will they be visually themed?