Thank you so much Hardi Goradia. I’m honored that you nominated me for the Liebster Award. I’ve been following your blog for some time now, and I’m impressed with your writing and your goal to be a solicitor. Your blog tagline says it all, “if you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half way done already.” – Abraham Lincoln. And you’re half way done! Hardi’s an eighteen-year-old young woman who lives in Mumbai, India.

I had to think long and hard about this Liebster Award since I’ve declared my site award-free after receiving three blog awards in rapid succession. For me, the acceptance work involved took away from book writing time! Don’t get me wrong I love awards and I’ve explained all of that in my blog post, “Award, Award, Award…Three’s a Charm!!!” But, because Hardi is a special blogger friend, I’ll accept this one. However, with a different approach to the rules of acceptance, a limit on the work involved, and to showcase my nominator, and one other blogger friend!

This approach probably will not set well with the Award Police, and they’ll make me give this one back! Not to worry, it’s no doubt the last award anyway. Unless there’s a free one coming, some sort of blog recognition on it’s way, or a future book award lined up. For now I’ve voiced my thoughts on the subject. More busy bloggers and writers might accept all kinds of awards if the work was related to writing/blogging and less time consuming. Is that another blog category in the making?

My acceptance of this award is to showcase Hardi Goradia, my nominator, for stating her main interest is “about things about which people are kept least informed about, which goes out of their sight as thus out of their mind. I’m trying to touch those aspects of social issues which went unnoticed. Rekindling the world of laws your never knew about and crimes you never thought would have occurred.”

Visit her blog site: Fifty Shades of Reality, http://itshardii.wordpress.com. You’ll understand why I’m impressed with her writing and want others to be enlightened and get “insight into what centers our society, but eventually they end up being just pieces of newsletters here and there.” Her writing is flawless with magnificent vocabulary. Some of her blog post topics are; “Juvenile Delinquency,” “Born with Dignity,” “Die with dignity –Euthonashia,” “An Error That Cost a Lifetime,” “Acid Attacks: The New Gender Terrorism.”  She includes general and significant law terms in these blog posts.  She’s the voice of tomorrow!

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up-and-coming-bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, valued, endearing and welcome. Blogging is about building community, connecting with other bloggers to help spread the word about newer bloggers and their sites.

The Liebster Blog Award Rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award and link their blog to your post.

2. Answer 11 questions they’ve asked you (I’ll answer  only new questions).

3. Nominate 11 bloggers who have 200 followers or fewer for this award. (I’ll showcase one blogger friend for this award).

4. Ask 11 questions to your nominees (I’ll ask questions related to writing and blogging).

5. Let your nominees know you nominated them once you’ve posted about your Liebster Blog Award.

6. Add the Liebster Blog Award to your blog post.

Questions and My Answers

1..What is special about the country you belong to?

Author Dinesh D’Souza sums it up in The Heritage Foundation article, “What’s Great About America.”  “My conclusion is that America is the greatest, freest, and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world. By making sacrifices for America and by our willingness to die for her, we bind ourselves by invisible cords to those great patriots who fought at Yorktown, Gettysburg, and Iwo Jima, and we prove ourselves worthy of the blessings of freedom. History will view America as a great gift to the world, a gift that Americans today must preserve and cherish.” www.heritage.org/whats-great-about-america/

2. Why do you think your blog is different from others? What makes it so? The Welcome Page features a Sunset Gallery! Some are photos from worldly bloggers favorite sunsets! I like to showcase blogger friends’ personal favorite sunsets. There’s also a Featured Friends category where I showcase friends’ special talents and accomplishments. I’m told it’s an inspiring blog site, a bit whimsical and very welcoming.
3. What is the thing closest to your heart? My family, my friends, my dogs, Sammy & Charley, and my writing!
4. If you were granted 2 wishes, what would they be? I’d wish I was born ten or more years after I was born, then I wouldn’t be soooo old now! I’d wish to be near the end of writing the books, Before Sundown and Happily Ever After.
5. What is that one thing that differentiates you from others? A few things in educational history! I went to college at WSU with my two sons (we had different majors though). I became a board certified family nurse practitioner at the age of sixty!
6. If there was one thing which you could change about your past, what would it be? If I changed anything in my past I’d not be where I am today, and I like where I am. The only thing I’d like to have changed is being me a lot closer geographically to my family!
7. Are you more of a city person or a nature person? Also cite reasons? Oh No, choices? I’m a city/nature person! I’ve lived in European cities and loved every minute of being close to shopping and cultural events. But, I always had a nature get-away place in the mountains or near the seaside. I loved the outdoors feeling of freedom. Living now in the US, I’ve lived near the ocean and lived near the mountains, for the same reasons as above. Just cannot make up my mind which I’d rather be, a city or a nature person!

My Showcase Blogger Friend Nominee for the Liebster Blog Award

Sandrine Tungka lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. She’s a newlywed who works in a multinational company. She loves to take pictures, and dreams to be successful in her writing life, especially blogging. I nominated Sandrine for her first blog award in November, a Sisterhood of the Worldly Bloggers Award, and I’m nominating her again for the Liebster Award. It’s her choice how she accepts the award, the conventional, standard way following all the rules or a hybrid form. I had a rules discussion with another blogger friend, and the result ended with both of us agreeing that the award is given to show appreciation. It’s yours already and you can do-or-not-do-anything you want with it. There are varying rules and different logos for some same awards anyway.

Sandrine has a diverse blog site with many blog posts under categories; Travels, Daily Prompt, Wedding Journey, Married Life, My Opinion, and Entertainment.  Her blog site SanWa Journeys, life is a miracle that needs to be thankful for, http://sanwajourneys.com is worth a visit.

She describes herself as “woman with ordinary activities. A person who loves the smell of new books and change it with ebooks. A person who likes to travel a lot but cannot do so too often due to some priorities. She is just an ordinary woman with an extraordinary life that God has given and has a great willingness to write her life in a blog of her.”

“I am a woman who have a dream to be successful in writing life especially blogging.”

“I am a woman who loves take pictures with my not-so-sophisticated handhelds and devices.”

“I am a newlywed who works at a multinational company [for now].”

“I am a dreamer and a doer to reach my passion.”

“I am Sandrine and the owner of below social media profiles.” Instagram: @sandrinetungka, Twitter: @sandrinetungka, Tumblr: Sanbeltzone’s Photos, Flickr: Sanbeltzone, Facebook: Sandrine Tungka, LinkedIn: Sandrine Tungka, G+: Sandrine Tungka

Sandrine’s participation in NaBloMo in November 2014, tells her thoughts on connecting with other bloggers and how she wants to see the other side of the world from the bloggers perspective.

“I joined for NaBloPoMo November 2014. It means that starting November 2014 I need to push myself even harder in Posting a Day with the topic given. What I’m interested about the most is how bloggers connect one another. I want to expand my connection through blogging. I need to see the other side of the world from the bloggers perspective.”

Questions for Sandrine Related to Writing and Blogging

She answered personal questions to accept the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Please read more about her on her site’s acceptance blog post.

1. How did participating in November’s NaBloPoMo help “push” your writing forward?
2. How would you inspire young, new bloggers to keep blogging when they feel unknown, unsuccessful and defeated?
3. What author do you want to be like in your writing? Style? Genre?
4. What differences do you find in your blog writing now that you are married?
5. If you were going to write a book about your life, where would you begin the story?
6. What activity do you do to get yourself writing again when you don’t want to, but know you have to? Listen to music? Take a walk to clear your mind? Eat special food?