Receiving the Liebster Award

I’d like to thank Trinity Grace from Transition to Victory for nominating me and my blog Your Writing Coach for the Liebster Award.

The Liebster Award is given to fellow bloggers with less than 200 followers who are forthcoming in the blogosphere.

So, this is how it works.

Rules:

1. You must link back to the person that nominated you.

2. You must answer the 11 questions given to you by your nominator.

3. You must pick 11 bloggers, each with under 200 subscribers, to be nominated for the award.

4. You must come up with 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

5. You must go to their blogs and notify your nominees.

I was asked by Trinity to answer the following questions:

1. What is your favorite drink? Sobe Lifewater

2. What is your favorite food? Mexican

3. If you could travel to any place in the world (all expenses paid), where would it be? The Greek Islands

4. If you knew you would be on a deserted island for a week, what two beauty products would you take along? Aveeno Positively Ageless Moisturizer and Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion

5. If you could spend the day doing anything you wanted to do, what would it be? Have a special “me” day with a massage, pedicure, and manicure. Then get my hair cut and styled.

6. What is your dream car? When I was younger it was a Jaguar. Now, it’s a BMW.

7. Do you prefer to go to the movies, or do you prefer to wait until the movie is on DVD? I much prefer watching movies at home, because I can pause it any time I need to for a bathroom break.

8. Do you like you water icy cold or at room temperature? Depends on whether or not I’m hot or cold. If I’m hot and sweaty, I like cold water. Otherwise, I drink it at room temperature.

9. When it's cold, do you prefer an extra blanket or thick pajamas? I actually prefer both!

10.          Hot or cold cereal? I like oatmeal for breakfast. I eat it every day. So, I guess, hot cereal.

11, Computer (online) or TV? Definitely TV.  It’s my special treat to myself after I’ve gotten my online computer work done. I watch re-runs of Friends or Grey’s Anatomy.

The nominees I’ve chosen for the Liebster Award are:

Threading the Labyrinth

Live Life Well

BeQuoted

Sheila’s Place

Another Jennifer

Memoir Writer's Journey

The Business of Being an Author

Work From Your Home 101

Writers in the Storm

No Wasted Ink

A Writer's Wings

Your Questions:

1. What is the first thing you notice about people?
2. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
3. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
4. Scary movies or happy endings?
5. What book are you reading now?
6. What is the least favorite thing about yourself?
7. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
8. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
9. Would you bungee jump?
10. What is your favorite cereal?
11. What is the farthest you have been from home?

 Thank you, Trinity and good luck to all the nominees.

Writing Tips - 6 Questions / 6 Rules

From Gotham Writers' Workshop Inc. comes some of George Orwell's writing tips from his essay Politics and the English Language.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, Orwell will ask himself at least four questions:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And, he will probably ask himself two more:

1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. Orwell thinks the following rules will cover most cases:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.