Letting More Than the Cat Out of Santa’s Bag–A Secret & Super Blogger Award

taken from Google Images

On August 5^th a writer-friend who has made such an impact on me through her work and her life chose me as a recipient of the Super Blogger Award.  Months later, I am still honored that she thought of me.  I met Julie on SheWrites last year.  Around this period of time last year, I had just ventured out into the blogging world.  I didn’t know if I had anything to say that would appeal to anyone, but I knew I had to answer the muse’s call.  Julie reached out to me and we bonded in the writing ranks.

Not only do I admire her art of storytelling , but also the strength and tenacity she has shown during her personal trials, which she wrote about here.

I already knew the person that I was going to pick as the next recipient.  It just took me a while to come up with a secret.  I am the true epitome of an introvert.  I hoard books and snippets of words, but what writer doesn’t do that?

But I think the timing worked out well because this author has a book that is coming out this December.

I would like to say thank you again, Julie, for nominating me.  You can find out about her secret here.

Taken from http://athoughtgrows.blogspot.com/

The rules for the Super Blogger Award are as follows:

Take the award for yourself, then pass it along to someone who inspires you or you just think is “super” in one way or another. Tell us why you think that person is super and deserving. Now, all the recipient has to so is reveal (as in one) small secret about themselves (super people always tend to have a secret or two, right?) and pass the reward on to someone they think is deserving.

My Secret

It is no secret that I love to write, but it wasn’t the only talent in the fine arts arena that fascinated me as a little girl.  I loved dancing and choreographing. Unbeknownst to Debbie Allen, Paula Abdul, & the Soul Train dancers, I was their protégé. I made up dance routines all the time, studying Janet Jackson’s “Pleasure Principle” video moves until I had each one perfected (except for that devilish split! )

I had already mentioned this fact about me online before.

Only my family knows about the “other” me, the secret identity that hid behind library books, scrawny legs, and a soft whisper of a voice.  I loved acting.  My cousins from Georgia and I always had active imaginations.  We loved to dance and whenever we visited each other, we would show each other the latest dance moves and perform for the adults.  My late cousin had a large deck in her backyard.  I always corralled everyone to put on a show for everyone.  We would act out different scenes cooked up in my wired imagination.  When I acted, just like when I danced, I became a different person.  I wasn’t worried about what others thought about it.  I loved to entertain.

But as I entered middle school, adolescent angst got the best of me.  I became more comfortable with the characters inside of my head and writing their stories.  I remember when a childhood friend and I wrote a soap opera featuring five teens.  The 100 page+  work of art was a little too racy for my mom’s tastes.  She tossed it out and further dashed my hopes of it being included with the other artifacts of other writers.  🙂

Maybe it is not too late to become the next Shonda Rhimes or Keri Washington. Nahhh..that would be too much of a scandal in itself for my easily embarrassed preteen!

Taken from Google Images

And the Super Blogger Award Goes To. . .

Taken from http://sydneyavey.com/blog/

Sydney Avey writes a weekly blog in which she features a list of published short stories that center around a theme or topic.  Her blog has introduced me to different works that have impacted me as a reader and a writer. As a writer and a teacher of writing, I always felt that models of professional writing were the best teachers.  You learn so much about technique and other literary elements by reading.  Sydney also features short stories that are examples of literary devices such as point-of-view.

I also think that those who teach literature in secondary and postsecondary schools would find her weekly list of stories to be a wonderful resource.

Sidney has been published in several literary journals, and she has a novel, The Sheep Walker’s Daughter, coming out this month.

I hope Sydney continues to share these wonderful lists of stories with the writing community in 2014.

Taken from Amazon