Friday 21 August 2009

Glittering Prizes and Fourteen Good Things

Apart from various exam awards, the Coty Compact I won for dancing, and the Collected Poems of John Keats that I won as a school prize – still use it !- my life has not been littered with prizes.

So I’m very excited that the clever Al
has passed on to me the Kreativ Blogger Award for which I thank him very much. (Look him up – he’s interesting…)

How lovely to be labelled creative with a K!

Apparently my task now is to name seven things about myself that people might find interesting. To be honest I think I am mostly uninteresting except that I write novels, but here goes;

  1. I see ghosts and sense time warps. ( I am trying to explore this in the novel I am writing at present…)
  2. I knew I’d be a writer when I was eight, although I had never met a writer, and had barely even met a white collar worker.
  3. I taught for nearly twenty years before I became a full time writer. During this time in schools and higher education I also wrote a weekly newspaper column and published four young adult novels. I loved teaching (and still do…) but always felt like a writer who happened to teach, rather than a teacher who wrote on the side. I think perhaps I wasn’t a conventional teacher.
  4. I draft all my novels with an ink pen in ledgers before I transcribe them onto the computer.
  5. I used to paint and pot.In fact I once taught art in secondary schools. I think I am a better writer than painter but I think there are interesting parallels in the two artistic processes.
  6. I’ve experienced two bouts as writer in residence in a woman’s prison which I found both chastening and inspiring. A life-changing experience.
  7. My disability is that although I love intense conversations I am woefully lacking in small talk. So I’d never make a twitterer.

And now I have to nominate seven blogs to whom I am to pass on this award. So!

My Nominations For the Kreativ Blogger Award

  1. - Avril Joy at Writing Junkie for her poetic take on writing and her emotional honesty
  2. Kathleen Jones on A Writer’s Life for vivid, inspiring posts that do indeed reflect the intricacy of a writer’s life.
  3. Debora at Love and a Licked Spoon for showing that great writing and great cooking can be sisters in arms. Nepotistically speaking, she is my own Elizabeth David
  4. Bookpusher at the The Genteel Arsenal for her delight in the world of children’s reading which is where it all starts. Also for a fun. fizzy site that is full of youthful energy
  5. Check out http//: http://www.60goingon16.typepad.com/ for this wonderful woman of bohemian inclinations, particularly for her ironic tone, her joie de vivre, her social commitment and her wonderful photographs. These are a revelation.
  6. Pinkpackrat for her political commitment and inspiring anger. And for her wit and knowingness.
  7. And I have just stumbled on the wonderful Norman Geras’ prizewinning blog at http://normblog.typepad.com/. (Someone sent me a link following one of my own posts about Easington) I love the range, breadth and depth of his posts which may variously focus on the writing world, the political world, the world world. His posts are long, (which I like) , very readable, entertaining and thought provoking. A man of letters. As such a literate man I hope he might be amused to be labelled Kreativ with a K.

I recommend them all to you.

Happy reading, happy blogging!

Wxx

NOTE : According to Al if you want to pass on this award to some favourite blog., this is what you do! (Isn’t this quite democratic?)
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.(Don’t need to tell you this, I’m sure…
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

- Check
3.
Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. –Check

5. Nominate 7 of your favourite Kreativ Bloggers. - Check
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate. - Check
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated. –
Check

this was fun to do -even for someone with no small talk wx

7 comments:

  1. How I sympathise with the lack of small talk! I used to have to go to formal parties with my ex and I would be ill with dread beforehand. Many thanks for the nomination Wendy - I feel quite embarrassed by it! Now I have to think (kreatively?) about something about me that might interest someone else. This is almost as difficult as small talk!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Kathleen
    Sorry for your blushes but I really do enjoy your blog.
    And I wanted to say that W Wordsworth is very OK by me, as the poetry stands alone in glory. (As if he or his ghost would worry about my opinion...)

    best
    wx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Wendy, I know how Kathleen feels, I also feel embarrassed, feel like I don't deserve the award for something that is so haphazzardly maintained, but thank you. Will think about who to pass it on to and then post.
    Found your 7 things fascinating, especially intrigued by your sensitivity to the supernatural or unseen and the fact that you were a teacher. The best children's and young adult writing seems to by people who have worked as teachers, they treat their audience with far more honesty and respect generally than many people who try to write for kids with out having a close knowledge of their audience. Thanks again and can I just say that you are a most deserving winner of a Kreative blogger award, with your compelling insights into the creative process, and commentary on life and literature.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Bookpusher
    You're very welcome.

    Haphazard maintenance is a sign of creativity, I think ...

    I often think that good teachers and good children's writers, as well as respecting and empathising with children, have knowledged of the child at various stages within themselves, like the core figures in one of those Russian dolls. What do you think?

    Looking forward to seeing your significant seven.
    Have a good day where you are.
    wx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Blushes over here too! But thank you, Wendy; will do my best to come up with seven things that don't make me blush even more furiously. (And thank you for the links to the other recipients - such riches.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why thank you Wendy-- what a lovely surprise and what a gift. I feel honored and as others have said, a bit unworthy-- to be singled out by someone who writes as beautifully as you do is truly something special. I am fascinated that you draft all your novels with pen and inl and I look forward to reading your ghost and time warp novel. Thanks for putting a bit more of "you" out there for inspection.

    Oh yes and thank you too for pointing me to what I know are going to be six new very interesting blogs and bloggers to get to know.

    cheers

    Roberta( pinkpackrat)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Apologies for tardiness, Wendy; prizes duly awarded here: http://60goingon16.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/-the-prize-is-thine-.html

    ReplyDelete

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