Sunshine Bloggers Award

sunshineaward Thank you so much to Erin of Bubbles and Beebots blog who nominated me for the Sunshine Bloggers Award. It’s a grey and misty day here with the temperature hovering just above zero, so a little sunshine is definitely needed!

Erin asked her nominees five questions. Here they are with my answers:

What inspired you to start blogging?

I’ve always had the urge to write, but apart from various teenage sci-fi stories scrawled in exercise books, I’ve never really done much about it. I started my blog two years ago when I stumbled across the blog of a former colleague, detailing his battle with cancer. We hadn’t stayed in touch so it was lovely to hear his voice again through his blog, but at the same time I sensed that his story was heading towards a sad ending. This made me realise that I needed to start writing something – anything – and a blog seemed a good place to start. In my first ever post I wrote: “I can’t keep waiting until some mythical moment when the time is right. Time is, after all, limited, and we never know when we’ve missed our last chance.”

And my blogging friend – I found out that he’d passed away, when I was checking Facebook whilst on a train journey with my girls, last summer. Had to keep a brave face and carry on playing I-Spy, but deep down I said a quiet thank you to him.

What kind of audience do you hope is reading your blog?

Perhaps this is one of my weaknesses as a blogger, I don’t really have much idea! I take part in a couple of creative writing challenges, and blog about parenting and family life, so I think lots of my followers are fellow parents and aspiring writers. Quite often I write with my family in mind, as I know a lot of them follow my blog which means a lot to me.

What has your blog taught you?

A huge amount about setting up and managing a website and promoting it! It’s also been useful in making me think more long term. I’ve realised that if I want to “be a writer”, the blog isn’t really an end in itself, so while I’ve no plans to stop blogging, it might need to play second fiddle to other writing projects.

What is your favourite blog post?

This one: https://kirstwrites.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/inheritance/ because it’s about some very treasured memories.

If you could be any animal for a day, what would you be and why?

A duck! They just seem so contented and at one with the world as they’re gliding along. I love the way they stick their feet out when they’re landing on the water as well – it looks like so much fun!

Now,to share the happy vibes and sunshine, I would like to nominate the following bloggers whose posts I am particularly enjoying at the moment. These three bloggers are all very different but are all inspiring and totally original – you really should check them out!

https://myinsanewxnderlandblog.wordpress.com/

http://cathylynnbrooks.com/

http://mumvsmom.com/

If any of the bloggers I’ve nominated would like to participate in the Sunshine blog award, you just need to create a blog post answering the questions below and nominating your own favourite bloggers.

There’s no obligation to participate if it’s not your thing, of course, but it’s fun and a opportunity to connect with other bloggers and help us all get more visitors to our blogs.

So here are my questions:

How did you choose the name of your blog?

A national newspaper wants to print one of your blog posts – which one would you choose and why?

What was the best book you read in the last 12 months?

Social media – a fantastic invention or the curse of the modern world?!

Have fun, and be sure to let me know if you are participating so that I can check your post!