Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I'm back!  And I have a confession... I've been avoiding blogging a tiny bit because I knew I needed to write this post, and I feel very undeserving of this award.  I'm still a fairly new blogger (at least THIS blog is rather new), and I have been very sporadic at actually posting.  Even more than that, I feel like I never really say much of consequence--just ramble about writing related thoughts tumbling around in my brain.  So I was not only shocked when Shell Flower of Tangent Shell nominated me for this award.  I'm honored, and I love the little banner--so pretty!

Okay, so here we go.  First, the rules:

• Display the award logo on your blog post. 

• Link back to the person who nominated you. 

• State 7 things about yourself. 

• Nominate 15 bloggers to the award. 

• Notify those bloggers of the nomination by linking to one of their specific posts so that they get notified by ping back and you can also go comment on their blog.

Everyone was doing really creative things for the seven list rather than just stuff about themselves so I think I shall follow the trend of doing something writing related and introduce you to seven characters in the story I am working on right now.

1. Andie :: a sassy, belligerent high school senior whose loud music, dark clothes, and attraction to girls completely contradicts all of her stepfather's conservative beliefs, with her mom caught in between.  She sings, plays her dad's old guitar, and tries to avoid being home as much as possible as long as "Lucifer" is around.  She is haunted by her horrendous sophomore year of high school and the events that happened that year.
2. Nate :: Andie's slightly more straight-edged best friend who acts in the school plays, tutors in math and science, and since Andie "broke his heart" when they became friends sophomore year and he learned she was gay, nurtures a giant crush on his blonde, dancer, lab partner, Phoebe.  His level-headed nature balances Andie's fiery attitude, keeping her in school and out of (mostly) trouble.
3. Olivia :: at 21, she is finally legally able to drink--though she has been working in a bar since she was 16, and is a recovering alcoholic.  She and her older brother barely made it through high school living on their own together, and she's still caught up in the cycle of just trying to keep her rent paid and electricity on.  All the while avoiding her abusive ex, who wasn't able to escape the lure of the liquor when she did.
4. KJ :: when Andie's sophomore year of high school shattered into pieces when the school found out she was dating another girl, a popular football player secretly befriended her--keeping his friends away from her during gym class, and keeping her secrets when she confided in him.  What Andie didn't realize immediately was that she had befriended her best friend's little brother.
5. Cory :: Olivia's ex-boyfriend who has a love of Whiskey and redheads, and a lack of self-control.  When Liv pulled her life together enough to finally stop drinking, and Cory refused, the drunken fights grew even worse until Olivia ended up in the hospital and kicked Cory out.  He's been trying to fight his way back into her life ever since.
6. Kacie :: Her daughter had always been Daddy's Little Girl, but when her husband died when Andie was 12, instead of it bringing them closer together, it began a downward spiral.  When she unexpectedly fell in love with Ian a year and a half later and married him, the tenuous relationship with her daughter shattered.  Now, she is caught trying to understand her daughter enough to reconnect while trying to balance the volatile relationship between Andie and Ian.
7. Ian :: a Southern conservative Christian who made the unusual choice to relocate north when his ex-wife took a job in New York and threatened to take his daughter away.  Now, Natalie splits time between his house and her mom's apartment in the city, while he tries to deal with his stubborn step-daughter who has hated him since the first time they met.

Wow, that's a really dramatic cast when I put it like that... but I love writing how their lives have intertwined, and how they work to heal each other from all of the damage their pasts have wreaked.

And now for my nominations.  I'm not going to do 15, because that's a rather large number comparative to the number of blogs I follow, so instead I am just going to nominate the blogs I draw the most inspiration from.

• Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart -- other than the fact that Hart has been sort of my writing mentor for quite a long while, her blog is insightful, hilarious, and chock full of useful writing related things.
• Amber T. Smith at Princess of Procrastination -- another person who has encouraged my writing for a long time, but is also laugh out loud (the REAL laughing out loud) funny, and is ESPECIALLY inspiring because her first novel releases NEXT WEEK. *excitement*
• Pk Hrezo at Pk Hrezo - fearless fiction -- I always enjoy reading her blog, and I'm totally in love with her "good vibe guardian" pixies.  Awesomeness!
• Elizabeth S. Craig at Mystery Writing is Murder -- absolutely the most helpful, informative, thought-provoking writing blog that I follow.  I also love reading her kind, encouraging replies to all of the people who comment on her posts.
• Sarah at Fanatic for Fiction -- I know when I was in college it was a huge challenge to dedicate time to writing, or to even find the inspiration to write after writing so many boring papers, so I find it very inspiring that she is writing AND blogging while still going to school.
• Mel Chelsey at Writings, Musings & Other Such Nonsense -- her blog header's tagline says it all: "If you like dark, sarcastic wit and want to know more about my fantasy writing..." Boom. I'm sold.
• Stina Lindenblatt -- from whom I always learn so much, and whose posts always inspire me to click past the little blurb on my dashboard to always read the full post.

*claps* I think that's all for now.  I love all of the blogs I follow and read, but these were the ones that instantly came to mind that keep bringing me back to read and learn from some more.

In other news... I've been writing a bit again.  Working 40-55 hours a week has taken a toll on my writing, but I'm scaling back just a little bit on the work, and trying to squeeze in a bit of writing before I fall asleep on top of my laptop every night. ; ]