A Liebster Award to Start an Awesome Week

The amazing Yolanda Renee at DEFENDING THE PEN just nominated this humble blog for a new Inspirational Liebster Blog Award and that's awesome. The best way to start a week, even if you are an extremely tired, overwhelmed writer like me. It made me smile and think that I'm moving in the right direction with this blog, and my writing life.

Yolanda is a great blogger with tons of amazing book suggestions and interesting context for everyone who likes to read. She also happens to be about to release not one, but two of her own books: MURDER, MADNESS, AND LOVE in August, and MEMORIES OF MURDER in September. You can learn all about them here.

So, the rules for this award are:

1. Display logo in your blog to show you've been nominated!

2. Link back to your nominator.

3. Share 7 things about yourself. 

4. Nominate 7 other bloggers for the award. 

5. Notify your nominees. 

I also have to answer to 11 questions. So, without further ado, here are my answers...

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
           Mexico City
WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?
           Connecticut
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
           Orange
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
           Warm Bodies
WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
           THREE MILES PAST by Stephen Graham Jones
THE POWER GOES OUT.  IT WILL BE OUT FOR SEVERAL HOURS. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOURSELF?
           Grab a book and read, while the girls are happy and self-entertained. If the hubby is close by, we'll just talk our heads off until we're sleepy, or the girls need us
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
           La Oreja de VanGogh (Spanish pop group)
GREATEST STRUGGLE AS A WRITER?
          When to stop tweaking a story. It can always be better, right?
WHAT IS THE ONE BOOK YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ?
           If you like horror, you need to read Algernon Blackwood and Dracula. If you like fantasy, read Jules Verne. Whatever your genre, read the classics. They were the innovators, theirs were the original stories. The rest of us are just trying to not mess things up.
IF YOU COULD BE ONE OF THE GREEK GODS WHO WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?
           I don't know much about Greek Gods, but how about Isis of the Egyptian pantheon? I like a strong matriarch who's not beneath cutting the balls off a jerk. And now you know why I write horror...
WEIRDEST THING YOU'VE EVER BEEN TOLD BY A FORTUNE COOKIE?
           Don't remember a single one of 'em. I don't put much stock in fortune, though

SEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

1. I lack the span of attention necessary to knit. I started several scarfs through my youth. Never once did I finish.
2. Egypt was the first place I went on vacation with my own money, which I earned working at a Starbucks for a year, and selling my car.
3. I love horror everything and that's mostly what I read, yet the first novel I outlined was a Romance/Family Saga. I'm still working on it.
4. I'm a Libra and my husband is a Libra. Making decisions in this family takes a long time, but we have plenty 'artistic outbursts' (read tantrums).
5. I played with Barbies until I was fourteen years old.
6. I'm in love with Vincent Price's voice. I mean, c'mon! Thriller, anyone?
7. I used to read Tarot Cards when I was in my early twenties, but after a series of strange events I stopped. Never charged a dime. For years old 'clients' wrote to tell me how things I'd told them came to happen.

There you go. Fun, Fun, Fun! Now, for my nominees...

Lexa Cain - 

Mina Lobo at Some Dark Romantic

Nicole Singer at Write Me a Word

Elizabeth Twist -

These are all ladies with unique voices, amazing intellect, and a whole lot to say. Do not miss their blogs!

And for those reading this post, thank you for making my blogging life such an enriching experience. I treasure each of your comments. Most of the time you offer me great comfort and support. Here's to another hundred awards and a million publications!

IWSG June

Here we are once more, almost half way through the year and calling on all insecure writers to come together, to cheer each other up. How's been your 2013 so far? For me, it has been a year of ups and downs. Last year I was super motivated, writing 2 posts every month for the blog and reading like crazy. I started reviewing, discovered I was really good at it, and enjoyed it a lot.

This year, however, I've been mostly concentrated in writing fiction. I have many stories doing the rounds, but none has yet found a house. The snag? Well, I haven't been as active in the blog, and my reading is just not happening. I'm sad to say I may miss my goal of books read for the year by a long shot. And since I'm not reading, I've stopped reviewing. Still, writing is good, right?

I'm trying to keep positive, pick up my reading, and finding new bookish activities to ignite my fire, again. But I won't stop writing, and I won't stop trying to land a new publication.

I hope for the rest of you things are going well and you are facing the hot season with lots of plans and a great attitude. Tell me all about it! Best wishes to all. And remember to go to the IWSGroup page and get to know more amazing writers. There's hundreds now!

"To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength." 

~Chris Jami.