Sunshine Blogger Award

Miriam Kramer has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! The award is passed between bloggers as a form of "peer recognition to bloggers who bring positivity, joy, and creative content to the blogging world.”

You can check Miriam Kramer’s blog at https://www.thewellwordedorchard.com/

Part of the award is answering eleven questions about myself, so here it goes…

1. Where is your favorite place to write?

   I generally write at the computer; it’s a lot easier to get my words down and not have to worry about typing up the words later from a notebook. But honestly? I love it when I can write outdoors, if the weather is cool and breezy, the sun is starting to set, and the mosquitoes are all dead, it is the most wonderful place to sink into my story world.

2. Do you have any places that you want to write at someday?

   Nothing is better than writing at home. I find my brain really distracted if I try to write other places, unless it’s very early morning or late evening. Perhaps on a vacation in the mountains, that might be the perfect place.

3. Do you have a favorite snack or drink to have while writing?

   Hot tea is great when it gets cold out, but I don’t usually have a snack or drink… I can’t have myself spilling it on the computer. I am totally absent-minded enough to do that lol

4. What is one of your favorite posts from your blog?

   I was pretty happy with my Worlds and Wonder post from the beginning of this year, as well as my Spirit Fire three-part snippet series.

   https://gschroepfer.substack.com/p/worlds-and-wonder

5. What is one of your favorite posts from another blog?

   I thoroughly enjoyed this post by Addilyn LeBrun. (Also, check out her blog; she has great posts and lots of awesome book reviews!) This post truly made me crack up while reading it. (which is a rare occurrence, I assure you)

6. How do you start the creative process when you begin a new project?

   I sit down with a goal during the week, that is 500 words, and on Saturday, it’s a blog post. For my books, I read the last chapter I wrote over to get grounded on where I am in the story, perhaps look at some plotting ideas I jotted down, then turn on music and write. I wake up at six, before everyone is awake in my house, to write.

   Writing blog posts are a bit more of an adventure, since I never have a plan for those, I write down a bunch of topic ideas, go do something, then come back and pick a topic, write an outline, go excerise or eat, then stress-write the rest of the article and post it before six pm. (This is not a recommended technique, just how it always seems to work out for me *fp*)

7. Do you use any different or extra apps for editing than for writing?

   I do use Grammarly for my grammar and spelling mistakes (I make a bit too many of them for me to go through an 85k word doc and not miss some lol). It is nice and easy, and there is a pretty good free version.

8. Who is your author role model?

   I have several, pretty much any author whose writing has blown me away. I should say that I owe a lot of my writing experience to James Scott Bell and his incredible books on writing. I devoured every book of his I could get my hands on, and his advice jump-started my writing in a way I could have never achieved on my own. I am also very inspired by authors S.D. Smith and Andrew Peterson; their excellent storytelling shall forever be a fuel for my imagination, along with countless other authors.

9. When, in your opinion, is the best time for writing?

   Whenever works best for you, I had to experiment a little to find a time that worked with my schedule and gave me enough room to get my daily word count in comfortably. Which turned out to be waking up early… guys, i’m not a morning person… but it has worked, and a year of doing that during the weekdays, I have found that I actually have trained myself to be creative at that time every day, the words flow, no matter how sleepy my brain is.

10. If you ever published a book, how would you celebrate?

    Probably run blast music and dance around (if nobody is around) and then binge on chocolate and tell everybody I meet lol

11. If you became overnight famous for writing a novel, what would you want the title to be?

    Hmmm, well, that would depend on the book that got published, of course. I have a lot of books that I have written, I will put my most promising book I have written so far, Storm.

And there are the questions! Next, my nominees for the Award…

Mary P, who writes Daytime Dreamers

Hosanna Nichols at Thoughts from a Powder Keg

The rules for the nominees:

1. Ask 11 questions for up to 11 bloggers that you want to nominate, and let them know they've been nominated by commenting on their blog.

2. Answer the following 11 questions in a post on your blog.

3. Display the award logo somewhere on your blog.

4. Link back to this blog in your post.

My questions for you:

1. What inspires your writing the most?

2. What do you do to get yourself out of a writing slump?

3. What is your favorite genre to write in? Why?

4. What are your top three favorite books?

5. What do you do to supplement your writing?

6. What is one piece of writing advice you wish you knew when you first started writing?

7. What is one of your favorite blog posts?

8. Do you listen to music while you write?

9. What is your favorite quote from one of your stories?

10. What is your favorite theme to write about?

11. What is one thing you love about writing?

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