The Liebster Award

Hello lovely folks! I had the pleasure of being nominated for the Liebster Award twice, so massive thanks to both Louise @ Dragonspire UK and Julianna @ Blots of Ink and Words for the love! This is going to be another long one (22 questions!) so grab a cup of coffee and get comfy for a while.

The Rules

• Thank the person(s) who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions they gave you.
• Nominate 11 blogs and let them know they’ve been tagged.
• Give them 11 questions to answer.

Julianna’s Questions:

Why did you start blogging? I’ve had a couple of blogs over the years, a personal one, a craft business one and now my book blog. I suppose the reason I’m drawn to blogging is to hopefully make some online friends and feel part of a community of people with similar interests. I’ve definitely found that with this blog! I’m also hoping to publish my novels and would love to have a little network of potential readers!

What’s your favourite thing about blogging? I love the support everyone gives each other in the book blog community! When I started I would never have imagined being tagged and nominated for awards by some of the amazing blogs I follow, I just thought I’d sit quietly in a corner of the blogosphere, like at school discos when no one asked me to dance. But you’ve all taken me into the fold and I love you for it 😀

What causes you the most pain (bookish related)? Having to DNF books I’m just not enjoying. I’m trying to struggle through The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine at the moment, forcing myself to read ten pages a day at least, but it’s just not gripping me and I feel like I’m wasting time I could spend reading something I love. I think I’m going to have to give in soon as I’ve got library books that need to be back soon and I know I could tear through them in days as it’s a series I love, whereas TSQ is taking weeks.

What are the main reasons you’ll follow a blog? When someone follows my blog or likes/comments I always pop over and have a quick look at their most recent posts to see if I fancy following them. If it’s another book blog with reviews of books I’ve heard of or read, or are pegged as YA or fantasy, I’ll almost always follow as I love discovering new books through people’s reviews. I like blogs that are easy on the eyes, but to be honest I mostly follow via WordPress Reader so the format doesn’t actually matter. I also love following fellow writers, so posts on the craft of writing appeal to me too.

What type of book covers do you like the most? I love really simplistic covers, like Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater and The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo.

 

I prefer them to not have people on, but if they do then something like Lauren Kate’s Fallen series, where you don’t see her face, or A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson are right up my street.

  

What’s your favourite genre of books and why? Fantasy. I read more YA than anything else, but I do love MG fantasy too, Harry Potter was the series that got me hooked as a teen, Percy Jackson is a great series too, I haven’t read them all but I hope to. And my current Adult fantasy obsession is the Broken Empires series by Mark Lawrence. I just love the escapism of fantasy, the creativity of the world building, the magic and monsters, and the way that fantasy tackles the really big issues of morality, courage, love and justice without shoving it down your throat.

 

Why did you start reading? My dad got me into reading as a kid, I don’t even remember when it started or what my first book was, but I read the entire Animal Ark series by Lucy Daniels, the Ms Wiz books, and anything else I could get my hands on. Book fairs at school were my absolute favourite, and visiting the mobile library when it came to my village. Harry Potter kept me reading throughout my teens, and then I dropped off a little during uni, but as soon as I finished with coursework and dissertations I was back on the bandwagon!

What happened if someone walked up to you and tried to fight you? Good question. Is it a physical fight? Do they have a weapon? I’d probably run away, I’m no athlete, I don’t think I could take someone in a physical fight. If it was just a war of words I might be able to hold my own briefly, but I absolutely hate confrontation so I’d definitely end up telling them where to go and walking away. Quickly.

What would your “happy place” include? A huge bed, lots of blankets, my dog Bailey, unlimited pizza and ice cream, and every book on my Goodreads TBR. Oh and my husband can visit, once a week.

What would you do if you were stranded on an island? See above. Except, probably less blankets and more sun cream.

(Did I hit eleven questions yet?) What makes you bored? (Is it writing questions?) Watching my husband ten pin bowl (he plays competitively and is actually very good, but that doesn’t make it a good sport to watch, unfortunately).

Louise’s Questions

Fanfiction: Do you approve or disapprove of it? If you write it, should you keep it separate from your original author writing or shout about it? I love fanfics, I used to write them when I was a teen (Harry Potter mostly) but I prefer to write original stuff now and just read other people’s fanfics. I’m not sure whether fanfiction should be kept separate, some big authors started as fanfic writers, like Stephanie Meyer and E. L. James, so it can definitely help you to get discovered. I suppose it depends if your official readers would enjoy the stuff you write for fun, otherwise I guess you could just use a pen name.

Do you have any pets? If yes, what are they, and how do they help/hinder your writing? If no, what would be your ideal pet? Yes! My beautiful German shorthaired pointer Bailey, she’s my best friend, and I wrote two pointers into my WIP The Fair Queen as an ode to her. She does get in the way of me writing when she wants walking right when I’m in the middle of a big scene, but our walks are the times when I think about my story and come up with new scenes and plot twists, so I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What was the first story that inspired you to write? Why should we read/watch it? Well, I started thinking about the story for my novel The Fair Queen last summer when I was deep in a book hangover post A Court of Mist and Fury, so while my book is nothing like Maas’s I think it was probably that that pushed me to give writing a go – I wanted to create characters someone would love as much as I loved Sarah J. Maas’s. If you like YA fantasy (or adult fantasy, it’s a bit sexy and dark!) and you haven’t read A Court of Thorns and Roses you should definitely give it a read. Book one is OK, but book two is the best book I have ever read, hands down.

The thing that inspired me the most was my surroundings, I live right by Sherwood Forest and we got our dog last February so I was walking her every day in the woods by my house and a story just started to come to me.

If you could have or achieve any one thing this year, what would it be? (Writing or otherwise!) I really want to find an agent to sell my first novel this year, I’m taking part in Pitch Wars in August and really hope to get a mentor to help me perfect my pitch for the agent round in November. Fingers crossed I end up with an agent before the end of the year!

Do you have a day job in addition to writing, or is writing your day job? I do have a day job, I’m a marketing manager for a small accounting firm, and I really enjoy it.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Bonus points for pretty pictures 🙂 I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one place, but I  have a bucket list for each decade of my life, I’m almost done with my twenties (I turn 30 next year and only have one thing left to achieve!) and I’ve already picked my ten goals for my thirties. So, in the next twelve years I hope to go to Australia, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. Disneyland is one of my favourite places, I’ve been to Paris and Orlando, so I’d love to go to California. I’m going on a big family holiday in September to Singapore and Thailand which I’m really excited about, it’s a once in a lifetime kind of trip that I never expected to take, and there’s a Universal Studios there so I can’t wait to visit!

Who is your favourite heroic character? What makes them special? This is such a tough question, I tend to fall for secondary characters way more than protagonists. I’m going to go for Aelin Ashryver-Galathynius from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, even though she’s definitely more of an anti-heroine. She went through a really terrible experience, but she came out the other side so strong and is a really selfless and courageous person. Also, I love the sass.

Do you write every day, ad hoc, or have a different schedule? I write ad hoc mostly, but I’ve found that I do much better with structure, so NaNoWriMo is my best writing time. I couldn’t write every single day, I have too many other things going on, but I’m always thinking about my projects, fleshing out my outline or character profiles, so I might not write every day but I work on my stories every day.

What do you find most challenging about writing? Why? Definitely letting people read my writing, I’ve given a few trusted friends and family members my novel to beta read and I’ve had some great feedback but it’s absolutely terrifying!

Who is your favourite villain? Why are they so nefarious? Can I choose Maleficent? She’s technically a villain, even though I guess the movie makes her out to be more of an anti-heroine… I just think she’s wonderfully evil and clever. And my husband says I’m just like her… 😀

If you could have two fictional characters brought to life, who would you choose and why? Hmm, only two? Let’s go for Hermione Granger – perfect bookish best friend, I think we can agree. And Dorian Havillard, because he loves books and puppies. That’s it. That’s the only reason……….

Phew, that was fun!! OK, now to choose from all you fabulous bloggers to nominate. If you’ve already done this one or don’t feel like it, no worries! Equally, if I haven’t tagged you but you want to give it a go, have at it.

• Tanya & Shanya @ Twin Bookmarks
• Jacqueline @ Bluejay Books
• Holly @ Nut Free Nerd
• Nadwa @ Painfully Fictional
• Sarah @ Between the Pages
• Heather Lauren @ Heather Lauren Reads
• May @ Forever and Everly
• Breeny @ Breeny’s Books
• Christine @ The Story Salve
• Mel @ Mel to the Any
• Katie @ Read with Katie

OK, you lucky people, here are my eleven (seriously? eleven?) questions for you:

1. If you could live in any fictional world (doesn’t have to be fantasy, just any book world) which would it be?
2. Which fantasy creature would you love to have as a pet?
3. If you could control one of the elements (earth, air, water, fire) which would you choose?
4. Do you prefer tea or coffee? How do you take it?
5. Would you rather be too hot or too cold?
6. What’s your favourite colour?
7. Team Edward or Team Jacob?
8. Go to your Goodreads to read list, what’s the fifth book on your list?
9. Ketchup or mayonnaise?
10. Do you prefer paperbacks, hardbacks, ebooks or audiobooks?
11. Who would be your dream book boy/girlfriend?

So that was definitely my longest blog ever! I hope you guys enjoy getting to know me a little better, congratulations for actually making it to the end! Best of luck with my questions, I can’t wait to see your answers, tag me in your blog so I can find your posts.

 

Lyndsey

x