What is the Liebster Award? It is an award that anyone can issue and is generally issued among bloggers. The purpose of the award is to share your favorite bloggers. Those bloggers answer the questions you propose, and then they nominate their favorite bloggers. This can go on and on. There are two major benefits to this award. One, by checking out your favorite bloggers, you get to learn more about them and find other great bloggers. Two, word-of-mouth. If you are lucky enough to be nominated for a Liebster Award, other people learn about your blog.

I have been lucky enough to be awarded the Liebster Award by Cassidy Cornblatt. Thank you Cassidy! I am very happy to have been given this award. Unfortunately, I am not able to continue the Liebster Awarding at this time. I have a lot of favorite bloggers, but because I am currently focusing on my pet industry retail website and blogs, any awards I give will be to pet bloggers, not fantasy or book author bloggers. I honestly don’t know that many bloggers. I’d like to, but I just don’t have time at the moment. Selfish, huh?

What I can do is answer the Liebster Award questions and share my opinion of Cassidy’s great blog. Besides Whitney and Cassidy, perhaps you, in turn, could recommend some great fantasy and/or author bloggers to me?

1. Why are you a writer? I have always had a vivid imagination. My imagination is the place I often went in order to get away from it all. As I daydreamed, my fantasy world grew and developed. Several years ago, I felt like I had a story so great that I had to write it down.

2. How do you come up with your ideas? I think of sci-fi/fantasy movies, sci-fi/fantasy books, brainstorm fantasy ideas, imagine complicated human interactions, contemplate the personalities of real people, just to name a few.

3. Where is your favorite place to write? Computer. It keeps me focused because my brain associates sitting at the computer with work. Writing is fun, but it is also a lot of work.

4. What do you do besides writing? I am an artist, a dog trainer, I make crafts, and I run a pet-related online business which is really fun. As stated above, my current focus is on my pet business.

5. Is writing a hobby for you or a career/career path? Hobby

6. Do you think writers should have to be decent editors of their own work? I think it helps. It is a hassle having your book professionally edited only to find there are tons of errors. I’d rather try to do it right as much as possible the first time around.

7. What do your friends/family members think of you writing? They are envious. No one else in my family has my creativity or imagination.

8. Do you have any inhibitions when it comes to writing? Yes. Will people like it or think I am a stupid amateur?

9. What type of main character do you prefer to write/read about? I prefer male heroes with few flaws. Richard from The Sword of Truth series, for example, is my most favorite fictional hero.

10. Do you prefer writing or reading? I read more than I write but only because reading is easier and I have more time for it.

11. How often do you write? Lately, not much. I want to get back into it, but life is pretty hectic.

Okay, if you haven’t gotten bored yet please read on about Cassidy Cornblatt’s blog. As you may have guessed, Cassidy likes to write too. Not only has she written a fantasy novel titled “A Broken World“, but she shares some great writing tips on her blog. Some of my favorite blogs posts of hers are

Guide to Symbolism in Literature – http://ccornblatt.hubpages.com/hub/Guide-to-Symbolism-in-Literature

How to Be Critical Without Offending Anyone – http://ccornblatt.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Be-Critical-Without-Offending-Anyone

Learn How to Write a Novel – http://ccornblatt.hubpages.com/hub/Learn-How-to-Write-a-Novel

The Recency Effect – http://cassidycornblatt.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-recency-effect/

Be sure to stop by Cassidy’s blog. Check out her fantasy novel too!

I don’t usually post on Sundays, but I wanted to answer some questions that Whitney Carter asked on her Liebster Award. Even though she didn’t ask me those questions specifically, they were thought provoking questions and worthwhile for any writer to think about. Come visit me again tomorrow!