The Sunshine Blogger Award

It is not often I am lost for words, but a week last Saturday was one of them, because a week last Saturday is when a complete stranger, Anna the Fangirl, nominated This Door is Alarmed for The Sunshine Blogger Award. I am touched beyond words! I send smiles to you across the drift of space to wherever you may currently reside in the world! This blog stands among giants in its tender first weeks, so it is a terrific honour that it has been considered worthy so young!

I checked out Anna’s site and it tugged gently at one of those immaterial ligaments that says ‘read more, read more’.  It is wonderfully written, with well-voiced and crafted pieces on everything from day-to-day struggles, to books and music. She has a raw, honest, melodious style I think you will all like, so check her out here.

Apparently, this award comes with a few simple rules. I am a little ashamed to admit some little part of me bubbles in anarchic desires when I see a list of rules—I am at a loss as to why. These bubbles leave me split; one-sixteenth of me wants to do anything in my power to circumnavigate the rules, and the rest of me is too lily-livered to contemplate it. Very occasionally, the anarchist breaks out.

So what will it be today?

I will thrash and smother my one-sixteenth, and happily acquiesce, of course! (And not just because Anna seems like such a damned lovely person!) So these are the rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post/or on your blog.

I guess I’ve made it to number two! These were Anna’s questions for me, and my answers:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Most people wouldn’t guess this, but I am actually a huge travelling enthusiast and have left footprints all over the world, but right now I most want to be transported home for a feline-fuss!
2. What do you miss most about your childhood? Not much, despite having an excellent upbringing. As a child I felt entombed and frustrated by the mandatory dependences that are intrinsic to childhood. I think that is why I like to quietly wander about the globe so much as an adult.
3. What is your favourite time of the year/ holiday? I couldn’t say—it’s all homogenous these days. If I had to choose it would be summer, because it is statistically less likely to rain here.
4. What is your favourite post on your blog? I like the one about language creation , because linguistics and conlanging is a long-term passion of mine. Oddly enough, each post is my least favourite when it is first published, I come around to liking them later.
5. What are you afraid of? Writing this blog XD
6. Do you like movies or books better? 100% books, always books. Films mostly bore me. It takes a superb film to drag me out of the entertainment to be had in my own reveries.
7. What kind of animal would you choose to be your pet? (Real or fictional) You know what I’m going to say: cats, cats, cats! Felines are a female’s best friend!
8. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Most certainly a morning person. Getting up early is an enema for the brain: sleeping-in leaves thoughts sluggish and wasted. Mornings bring with them the most exquisite contemplations, in my experience; I like to spend at least ten minutes thinking in the morning or I get a bit grumpy!
9. Would you rather have a fun night out or stay in? Stay in.
10. Why did you start blogging? It was a solid, anonymous way to get my story to the public. Plus, I find writing a flighty mistress, and highly addictive. Tinkering those finely-tuned rhythms and teasing synonyms until they submit is akin to a complex skill such as oil painting: it galvanises me.
11. What was the last thing that made you smile? This question caused me to stutter and something like a writers’ block washed over me. Usually the words gush out at such a rate I find even shorthand touch-typing is not sufficient. In sum, this might be the most difficult question you have asked me—but not for the reason you are all thinking—on the contrary, I smile a great deal of the time, and often I’m not even aware I am doing it. It is a strategy I developed when I was young to avoid altercations. Next time you are in a difficult situation with someone, try smiling at them, especially if they are in the wrong; it causes the oddest reaction. It will diffuse almost any tense or potentially vitriolic encounter. So I suppose my answer would be—myself.

Eleven nominated blogs—it took me a long time to choose these—there’s so much great stuff out there!

https://bitchininthekitchen.org

https://anhistorianabouttown.com/

https://dynamicstasis.blog/

https://thescribblingssite.wordpress.com

https://planet-dom.com

https://simonjwood.wordpress.com

https://jacquelinemhadel.com

https://novuslectio.wordpress.com

https://threadfullofdreams.com

https://allyannemarieblog.wordpress.com

https://matthewreay.wordpress.com

These are my questions for my nominees:

1. What is your favourite thing beginning with the letter ‘s’?
2. What is your quirk?
3. Of the blogs you follow, which is your favourite and why (please leave a reference to their site, and please choose a blog that you have not nominated)?
4. What five things do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?
5. If I was reading a book, with you as the main character, how would the author describe you?
6. What do you wish you could change about yourself?
7. Which one famous person (real or fictional) would you like to meet and what would you say or ask?
8. If you could have a super-power, what would it be?
9. What are you most proud of?
10. What is one key thing blogging has taught you?
11. What question do you wish I had asked you and what is the answer?