I met Kristen Hilty at the Kansas SCBWI Conference last month. We talked and later she started reading my blog. Last week she awarded me the Versatile Bloggers Award, saying, “I thought some other authors could benefit from your great articles. Thanks for the advice.” Thank you, Kristen, for the award and the kind words.
Being of inquisitive mind, I wondered how the award got started. The earliest reference I could find on the net was a May 14, 2009 entry on Bits and Bytes of Life blog. The creator, Arpit, wanted to recognize fellow bloggers and created a list of awards, including this one, in celebration of the blog being a year old. Arpit is no longer blogging, at least not since January of this year. I wonder if he’s aware of where his award has gone.
Here’s the award definition from Bits and Bytes:
Versatile Blogger Award: This award is meant to appreciate the versatility of the bloggers who have the capability to divulge into different areas and yet emerge victorious. Be it sports, politics, entertainment they have always emerged with flying colors by impressing us with their opinions and posts.
I found this award scattered all over the internet with a variety of different award images. Some were personalized. Many were the image you see above. I couldn’t locate who created this image. If anyone does know who created it, I’d love to know.
I also discovered that rules vary. The rules Kristen and I received are:
Award Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award and provide a link to their blog.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 other bloggers whom you have recently discovered and whose blogs you think are fantastically versatile/resourceful/functional/adaptable.
4. Contact those bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about their award.
Seven things about me.
1. I hate chain letters, which this reminds me of. Yet, recognizing other bloggers is a good thing, so I’ll play.
2. My husband and I have been happily married for 35 years.
3. I grew up in Oregon and really miss the Oregon coast.
4. Dark chocolate is my preferred flavor.
5. I was very shy as a kid.
6. In some ways I’m a perfectionist, which is why not all of these 7 points can start with “I.” But only in some ways, which is why I don’t have five “recently discovered” bloggers in my list below.
7. I believe children’s writers are the friendliest writers on the planet. 🙂 I met Sharon Mayhew, who award this award to Kristen, at the same conference. If you’ve never gone to a children’s writing event, they are a great place to make friends!
So here’s my list of bloggers I’ve discovered recently:
Mary Kole at Kidlit.com – She is an associate agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and writes young adult and middle grade, too.
Mike Jung‘s Little Bloggy Wog – a writer whom I had the privilege of meeting at the LA SCBWI conference this summer. I’d already been amused by his tweets.
From the Mixed-up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors – started this spring by 30 middle grade authors who celebrate MG books.
Do you have any blogs you’ve come across recently that you’d like to celebrate? Go for it. We all like receiving encouragement now and then.