
Hello dear readers… Fellow blogger, Darell Philip, has nominated my site for a Liebster Award; a way of sharing and discovering interesting new blogs on WordPress.
Darell’s site is well worth a visit. He covers news, opinion pieces and poetry. Check it out, if you get the chance:
https://darellphilip.wordpress.com/
My prize/punishment is to answer some of his thoughtful questions and nominate other great bloggers. Which I’ll attempt below:
QUESTIONS:
- What is your favourite book and why?
- It’s very hard to choose just one, but the book I’ve read most is London Fields by Martin Amis. The prose is dazzling and every line drips with a cleverly constructed barb of black humour.
- What song do you currently have on repeat?
- This week I have mostly been listening to the song Fire by Waxahatchee.
- Which season (Autumn, Spring, Summer or Winter) of the year best describes you?
- I was a winter child but since I turned 30, I feel most alive in summer. Autumn is easily the most beautiful and inspiring season though. For me, the new year has always started in mid-September and Autumn has always been waiting there to paint it so colourfully.
- In the event of an emergency home evacuation what is the first item you grab?
- My pet rabbit, she loves an adventure.
- Which historical figure would you most like to meet and why?
- Does Carl Sagan count a historical figure yet? I’d love to talk space, humanity and the future with him.
- What makes a good blog?
- I’m a sucker for a simple, easy to navigate layout. I’m here for the poetry above all else. So, a blog which recedes into the background and just showers me with delicious writing is what I long to stumble across. A mix of styles, quality over quantity and something which offers a bit of background or context about the author (even if it only helps to deepen the mystery/enigma) is a nice touch.
- Back to the past or forward to the future?
- I would love to have traveled the world before globalisation; perhaps in the 1960s. I’m already headed into the future and quite happy where I am thanks.
- Your dream vacation?
- I’d love to take a year out and explore everywhere in Asia, writing about the people I see and encounter.
- The greatest movie of all time?
- Very hard to choose. I love the poetic cinema of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieลlowski (particularly The Double Life of Veronique) but I think the film which ‘has it all’ (for me) is Being John Malkovich; it has big ideas, it’s funny, silly, serious, sad, sci-fi, eccentric and melancholic.
- Wealth or health?
- Health, 100%.
- Your proudest moment?
- I’m proud of my career outside of writing and I’m proud of some of my writing. I don’t think there is one moment which stands out though.
MY NOMINATIONS:
Note to nominations: Don’t feel obliged to fill this out or to respond in any way. However, if you find yourself with half an hour to spare… Why not answer the same questions that Darell asked me and repost.
Thanks again to Darell for the nomination and to all the great writers and bloggers out there who inspire me every day. Please do check them out!
Devon Brock (the poetic champ who steered me onto WordPress): https://sweetandbittergreens.com/
John E Marks (a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Poem): https://johnemarks.wordpress.com/
Anonymously Hal: https://anonymouslyhal.wordpress.com/
Kimberly Ray: https://coffee-shop-sessions.com/
Ink of The Heart: https://kathrinesantos.wordpress.com/
Zerrgebiete https://zerrgebiet.wordpress.com/
Little Whisperer: https://littlewhisperer.com/
Lucy Works: https://lucysworks.com/
Feelings and Metaphors: https://feelingsandmetaphors.wordpress.com/
Allowing The Spaces: https://allowingthespaces.wordpress.com/about/
Finally, here’s a little piece which sums up what I love about writing and reading poetry:
Why Poems?
Poems are my photographs
my diary
my inner monologue
poems are my measurement
my record
the fingerprints of emotions
invisible no more
Poems are my expression
the sum of interactions
they show my working out
Poems are the breath
of lost lovers
against my neck
Poems are my kisses
for family and my friends
the hugs I seldom give
And your poemsโฆ
your poems keep me company
a little light
calling to my lost ship
I sip my tea
and slip into your mindโฆ
Thanks for reading.
Listen to my poems on Soundcloud
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Buy my book on Amazon
Congrats on the nomination, Tom! You absolutely deserve the recognition for your poetry (and blog). Learned quite a bit with the Q & A! ๐ Thanks for the nomination and Iโll do my best to answer the questions.
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Thanks Kim ๐ Looking forward to seeing your responses. P.S. Did you get a notification in WordPress that I’d linked you in this? I just wonder where I need to let the people I nominated know, or will WordPress take care of that for me…?! ๐
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There wasnโt a notification for the link. They would just need to closely monitor your blog to see it or youโll have to individually contact each nomination. But what I really want to know is when is the award ceremony?! ๐
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Well, we’ll have to see how much attention people pay to my posts then ๐
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I know this question wasn’t directed towards me but I did not get a notification that I was pinged and I do have my Ping turned on. Generally if Ping is on and someone @ you – you get notified. I will double check my settings! And I get notifications on my feed any time you post Tom cuz I have yours turned on!
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Thanks Delia. That’s really helpful.
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Right. You both need to go under your settings and check if you can receive pings and send pings… (mine are on). Settings/Send Pingbacks/Receive Pingbacks (turn those on)
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Nice one thanks – yep, I’ve got all 3 settings turned on. I have been getting notifications when people link my blog in their posts, so it seems to be working at this end! ๐
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Thanks for your interesting responses to my questions and congratulations once again on a well deserved award. ๐๐๐๐๐ฏ
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Thanks again Darell. Only took me a month to get to responding! Haha, a fun exercise though. Cheers for the nomination. ๐๐ผ
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It was worth the wait Tom and a pleasure to nominate you too! Blessings ๐
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Congrats! You absolutely deserved it.
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Aww thank you, that’s so kind. ๐
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So sweet! Congrats Tom! I have been nominated several times but have never participated. I do appreciate the nomination and this is the year I’m doing things differently so maybe I will do this too! Just don’t hold your breath for it because I already have a lot of things in the pipeline to get done! But congratulations and thanks again too!! I am following Kim’s blog and so I’ll check out some of the others you recommended!
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You’re welcome. I suspected you would have been too. It’s just a bit of fun really but a chance to spread some love and discover some new blogs etc. Bit of a balancing act too as there are loads of people I wanted to nominate but didn’t want to write an essay! ๐
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