Thursday 7 March 2013

The Leibster Blog Award Challenge



 I've been nominated for the Leibster Blog Award Challenge by Karen Aminadra, author of Charlotte and Relative Deceit. The purpose of the challenge is to help bloggers increase their followers. I have to tell you eleven little known things about  myself, answer eleven set questions and nominate eleven other bloggers to take the challenge after me.
If you are nominated below, post on your own blog linking back here, with 11 random facts about yourself, answer my 11 questions and nominate 11 new bloggers (and think of 11 questions to ask them - can be anything!).
Here I go, fingers crossed I can think of eleven 'interesting' things about me - lol.

1. I don't write for months on end while a story is incubating in my head, then I splash it all on paper in under a month. The editing is by far the longest part of the process.

2. I still have all my dolls and teddies from when I was little :P

3. I sing all the time, it drives my family mad. If I am not singing then I am seriously unhappy ...or have a sore throat.

4. If I have to kill off one of my characters or if they are going through a trauma I cry real tears as I write the fatal lines.

5. I HATE cameras, that is why there are hardly any pictures of me.

6. As far as I know, I am not related to Kate Middleton.

7. I prefer dogs to cats, I like the way they can't live without me. Cats just tolerate me.

8. Pink is my favourite colour but I never wear it as it clashes with my eyes :)

9. I am fussy when it comes to friends and don't have many (not including Facebook friends) but once I have claimed you as such, it is for life.

10. My first crush was when I was about seven and the object of my passion was Davy Jones from The Monkees.

11. I am not very interesting :)

The Questions set for me by Karen Aminadra



1 - Do you speak another language? (Other than English?)
No. I am useless at languages. I didn't even pass C.S.E French exam :(

2 - Is there a place in the world that you've always wanted to visit?  Where/what is it? 
I'd quite like a leisurely trek around Europe in a gypsy caravan with a lovely man to take care of the horses and cook my dinner over an open fire beneath a starry sky.

3 - If you could go back in time, when would you go to and why?
Somewhere not too uncomfortable. I couldn't bear it if I couldn't have a bath. Maybe I'd be Scarlett O'Hara before the civil war broke out, pretty and pampered and courted by those lovely Tarleton Twins.
4 - If you could go back in time within your own lifetime, what would you do?  Would you change anything?
I'd work harder at my French lessons. Learn to be more self assertive but I don't think I'd change much - I like my  life as it is now and if I changed something in the past then I might alter the hear and now.
5 - Which of the characters that you've written is your favourite and why?
Oh, I love them all, apart from Vittorio in Vittorio's Virgin who is a bit of a baby. Johnathan Barberis Jones in The Greek Tycoon's Secret Daughter is dead sexy and once he has sorted his head out, rather nice. And Jezz McAlister in Where the West Wind Blows is wild and sexy and underneath his bluster, very vulnerable. He has to be my ultimate favourite, although that may change very soon - when I begin to write the next one. Funny how I just assumed you wanted to know about the male characters -lol.
6 - Is there someone whom you'd love to put into one of your novels and kill off? (I won't ask who, but can you tell us why?)
I can think of a leading politician or two who could do with a good lesson.
7 - Are you nostalgic?  What or when for?
I love those old Fred and Ginger movies and, although I doubt there was ever a time when people burst into song and dance at the drop of a hat, it would be lovely to think so. Not that I can dance but I can dream. It was my dream of being able to dance that prompted me to write Come, Dance With Me. It is so romantic to express your affection with movement.
8 - What was your favourite band/group/singer when you were growing up?
Donny Osmond! I loved him so much until I was about sixteen I had him plastered all over my bedroom walls. Looking back, I can't think what I saw in him, although he is quite dishy now he has grown up.
9 - Who was your first kiss with?
Lots of imaginary ones with Donny but my first real one would have been during a game of kiss chase with the boys at school.
10 - Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?  Which genre and why?
My latest novella Where the West Wind Blows is different to my others, that is why I branded it differently. It doesn't have the Mary Middleton Pink and Black. It is still contemporary and still a romance but it is darker and bleaker at the beginning and their trials are much more devastating than I usually subject my characters too.
11 - What is the one thing in the world that you cannot live without? 
The internet. It has changed my life totally. Without the internet, I'd not be able to work. I wouldn't be able to contact all my lovely on-line friends or interact with my readers. I wouldn't be able to write. Stop it! What a horrid thought!

Now, here are eleven questions for my nominees to answer.

1. What sort of books do you like to read?

2. If you were stuck on a desert island who would you like as your Man Friday?

3. When the coffee runs out, what do you like to drink?

4. Are you a cat or a dog person?

5. How different is your present partner to your first love?

6. Do you prefer sad or happy endings?

7. What did you do all day before the internet was invented?

8. Have you ever read a book or seen a film that has heavily influenced your life?

9. What is your ideal holiday destination?

10. Do you like wild, over grown gardens or gardens where the flowers are planted in regimented rows?
11. Do you prefer blogs that offer, factual articles, personal information or details of new book releases or giveaways?

For the Leibster Blog Award Challenge I nominate:
F.B. Clements, Sally Max, Ruchita Summer Vasudeva, Annie Seaton

I still require7 more bloggers, if you would like to join in please let me know on my facebook page