Awards and Tags Round-Up

I've been lucky enough to receive a few honours from some excellent bloggers over the last week or so, so I thought I'd round them up in one handy post. Next week, back to some crafty writerly concerns, for those who enjoy such things. First up, C.M. Brown gave me the Sunshine Award, for my "positive nice thoughts" in comments. Aw shucks! Thanks, C.M.

Rules here:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and provide a link.
• Write a post about it
• Answer the questions below.
• Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and let them know
• Answer 10 Questions:

Favourite colour: Blue

Favourite animal: Elephant

Favourite number: 21 (lots of reasons for this)

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Coke

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook (hardly on it but not on Twitter at all)

My passion: Writing, then reading

Getting or giving presents: I like both

Favourite pattern: Paisley

Favourite day of the week: Sunday, because I get to laze around (mostly)

Favourite flower: Purple Heather (my wife's name (not the purple bit) - sorry, soppy again!)

I will pass this award on to the following:

Caitlin
Lynda R. Young
Sarah Pearson
T.D. McFrost
Peggy Eddleman
A.E. Martin
Mark Koopmans
Siv Maria
Emily R. King
Kamille Elahi

Next, Martin Willoughby and Julia King tagged me in the Lucky 7 Meme, and Martin also passed on some tag questions. Thanks, both of you! If you don't know, here are the rules for the Lucky 7:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines-sentences or paragraphs--and post them as they're written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

I like being referred to as an author! Like Martin, I don't have a page 77 yet, so I've gone for 47. Here is my excerpt, lifted straight from my Word Document:

“Yes.” Silence again. Helen felt incredibly tired, but kept watching him with an expression of patience.

“I don’t really remember anything else about here. Can I talk about my mum?”

“Of course. Where will we start?”

“I don’t know. It’s funny. I can’t remember when I stopped living with my mum and started living here, but it must have been ages ago. I still remember my mum like I saw her... yesterday. And Darryl, too.”

Make of that what you will...

Finally, here are the questions from Martin.

What is the title of your current WIP. Tell us about it?

This might illuminate the excerpt above a bit. No title yet - I'm absolutely terrible at them! I started writing this in a synopsis style, but deleted this and went for more of a blurb as I think I'd still like to keep you guessing. Helen, a 26-year-old estate agent who is driven by her career, is forced to take time off work to care for her husband who is suffering from amnesia after a serious car crash. Though at first he does not remember her, they seem to grow closer than before as they reconstruct his memory. But is everything as it seems?

When did you start blogging and why?

I started my blog on October 11th 2011, after my sister said as a writer I had to blog (and Tweet - though I haven't ventured into that yet). I thought it might be a way of getting my name a bit more known, though there is much more to it that I have since discovered. I actually thought at first it would be a good thing to do on a Sunday when I was bored - little did I know how much time was actually involved!

If you could do anything tomorrow, what would you do?

Have all day to do nothing but write and do a chunk of at least 5000 words on my WIP (with breaks). I feel like I've fallen somewhat behind on schedule, due to illness (ie kids being off school), appointments, and sometimes plain old procrastination... *slaps wrist*

Describe your happy place.

A walk around Lanark Loch, near where I live, is good for clearing the head, especially with the sun setting and making golden ripples on the water. There are playgrounds for the kids too.

What was your first happy memory?

Running toy trains over a big pile of sand with my brother, in the driveway of our old house when I was three. We'd just moved into the house which was a bit of a shell, and my dad was doing it up. The sand was going to be used to make cement.

What was the scariest thing you've ever done?

Jumping off a bridge in New Zealand with an elastic band round my ankles.

What is the funniest thing you did today?

Slept in for three extra hours, meaning it was a bit of a panic getting the kids to school. Wasn't really "funny" at the time.

What is the strangest place you've ever got an idea for a story?

In a swanky London restaurant. Not that strange, but the best I can remember right now.

Where do you write?

At the kitchen table.

If you just won a ticket to anywhere in the world and you had to take me, where would you take me and why?

Well Martin, I think we could just go for a nice walk in the Lake District and discuss life, the universe and everything. I don't know if you're a rambler, but I like to and can certainly ramble verbally too.

I'll nominate these seven for the Lucky 7 meme and the tag questions:

Jayne Ferst
Abhishek Boinapalli
Kelley Lynn
Kevin Hiatt
Kathy McKendry
Sorcha
Stu Ayris

Enjoy everyone!