The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award

I had expected to blog a little more about Galicia today, but then received a pleasant surprise in today's e-mail: British Fantasy Writer Lia Keyes, founder of Scribblerati, and host of the Scribechat on Twitter, gave a friend, Rachnia Chhabria, The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award for her blog. In turn, Rachnia gave it to me and four others. And after fulfilling the requirements, (telling ten unusual things about myself), I, too, am to to pass it on to five others. Before I do either, let me just urge you to go to their blog sites, as you will get a good read in either place: http://rachnachhabria.blogspot.com/ and http://liakeyes.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=timequest . I would also like to urge any and all to joing Scribblerati, as it's a good place to meet other authors and catch up on lots of writing news.

I'm going to reverse the above process, though. First, I'm going to name the five OTHER sites I would like to pass the award to, and THEN I'll tell the ten unusual things about myself.

Okay, the awards go to:
http://sandie-lee.blogspot.com/ Sandie Muncaster is the Blog Editor for Bumples Magazine at http://www.bumples.com/. Bumples Magazine is a charming online magazine for families and children.
http://rileycarney.blogspot.com/ Riley Carney is a marvellous author who only happens to be a teen-ager (as opposed to being a "teenage author"). She is a prolific, well-published writer who maintains an interesting blog and also promoting literacy one of her special projects.
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/ Nathan Bransford, an agent, has probably one of the most popular sites online. He is truly funny, and wonderfully informative about every aspect of what is going on in the publishing industry. One can only benefit from visiting his site.
http://throughendangeredeyes.blogspot.com/ Rachel Dillon wrote the wonderful picture book, Through Endangered Eyes, which is becoming a part of a series, and she also is working on a young adult novel and covers a wide range of writing-related topics on her blog.
http://thevirginiascribe.blogspot.com/ Amy Tate has wonderful insights about the writing process and speaks from the heart. A trip to her site is like visiting a friend who understands the life of a writer.

Ten unusual things about myself? Well, I think they're unusual.

1. My mother was an opera singer, but not famously so.

2. Therefore, I know a smattering of opera French, Italian, and German, but can say nothing useful in any of those languages.

3. When I focused on writing, I started out wanting to write a grown up novel. But I seem to have settled into writing for children. They are just such a fun readership to write for.

4. It's quite possible that I haven't entirely grown up.

5. As long as a cold wind isn't blowing and there isn't lightning and thunder, I love rain and fog.

6. I can never leave a bookstore or a library empty-handed. Consequently, our basement looks like a used book store. So does our livingroom. And bedroom. And guest bedroom.

7. Although I love live opera, I hate it when someone -- the stage director, the choreographer, the constume designer, whoever -- decides to recast the drama and music in an odd setting like a black stage with lots of boxes, and with everyone wearing symbolically dark cloaks. I want the opera the composer had in mind: Costumes. Temples. Woodlands. Lakes. Boats. All of it.

8. I continue to love the Beattles.

9. My favorite dessert in the whole world is the almond-flavored Tarta de Santiago. My second favorite is one of my sisters-in-law's Squash Halva. Even chocolate pales in comparison.

10. Given that I LOVE chocolate, that tells you something about the Tarta and Halva.

So, there it is. Galicia will have to wait for tomorrow. But then, we are in "Que sera sera" land. Galicia has all the time in the world -- a contagious attitude, I might add. Hasta Manana.

PS: Visualize an accented a on sera, and a tilde on the n. I can normally do that in Word, but have never figured out how to do it on this blog. If anyone can tell me, please do!