The Versatile Blogger

I'm not so sure how versatile I really am. It's mostly fiction here. This image kind of screams lack of versatility too.

Before I begin, I was just noticing that the qwerty layout designed more than two centuries ago by  Christopher Latham Shole works really well in conjunction with a right-handed mouse. Clairvoyant? Maybe. Sorry, I so seldom write anything non-fiction, I had to sneak that in while I had the chance.

It has been brought to my attention by the lovely Mikalee Byerman, that I’ve been a dick reticent, for finding neither the time nor the grace to accept and pass on two more of these blogger awards. Unfortunately, my dickishness reticence prevents me from reusing her awesome trophy picture that happens to also include her adorable, if somewhat impish… okay almost Lady in Red impish, smile, so I guess I’m stuck with this same old green one.

I admit it. I’m guilty. Not of that D-word thing, Mikalee absolved me of that, but I am guilty of not paying forward a couple of these awards. So today I’m sharing the Versatile Blogger award along with my excuse for not doing it sooner.

The excuse is simple. The Versatile Blogger Award came with rules. Duh… losing! Actually so did the 7 x 7 award and the Liebster award and the One Lovely Blog award and so whatever. I’m up over my up-to-here with rules. The short list of things I truly stand for includes, the abolishing, avoiding, circumventing, bending or flat out breaking of rules. And why not? Rules were meant to be broken!

The first rule of this award is actually okay. I got the nominations from four awesome people and those people deserve for me to share their blogs with you. Mikalee gave me something too, but I’m not really sure what it is. Besides she gave it to everyone, and when everybody gets the same thing from the same dick… um yeah, so I should probably go get that checked. Meanwhile, you should check out her blog cuz it’s awesome too.

First, Noeleen @ WordsFallFromMyEyes actually sent me three awards at once. I’ve said a lot about her already, so that link takes you to the first award I accepted where you can see the amazing thing she did and why you will love her and all of that.

Sunshine at Simply Charming was the second person to pass this my way. Her blog offers a variety of stories and insights inspired among other things by raising three teenagers. From anecdotes to Weekly Photo Challenges, I think you’ll find the girl with kaleidoscope eyes  and her blog will live up to their names.

And most recently, Nathan at The Flight of Reason added himself to this list. Nathan’s blog cloud highlights Christian Living, with looks at life, family and politics. His posts are thoughtful and very articulate. He’s pretty easy on the eyes too, but I’ll just break the beautifully written bad news here, he’s totally taken. 😦

And as I was writing this post, Christy @ PCC Advantage joined the fun. Those of you who clicked the link for Noeleen may have noticed that award went to PCC Advantage. She has been one of my top commenters. She talked me into writing an almost non-fiction piece,  and she currently owns the distinction of being the only blogger to be a protagonist in one of my short stories. And did I mention she has one lovely blog? Oh I think a time or two…

The rules I’m breaking involve disclosing seven more things about myself when I could barely think of seven the first time. I’m so done with that. I love writing myself into my stories as the protagonist. Occasionally that causes the little fiction tag to get overlooked, so I thought it would be fun to create some more confusion with a little role reversal. Here are seven things about Annie you probably don’t know because my blog stats tell me no one ever clicks on my older posts:

1. My first real kiss was my best friend Jessi, and I liked it. It’s probably not Katy Perry’s fault.
2. I died before. …more than once, actually. In fact, it happens so often it gets to be a nuisance, so I only wrote about it a couple of times.
3. I’ve listened to myself sing and play piano. That might not seem like much, but it’s tricky doing that from the other room!
4. Mýa’s wallet showed up in my groceries one night. No, I did not keep it!
5. I saw Al Green in concert and I didn’t know who he was until I looked him up later on Google.
6. I’ve written for the newspaper twice, once as a sports journalist and once writing a daily horoscope.
7. I don’t actually have an imagination of my own. My friends do, so I borrow theirs.

[drum roll begins] Recipients of the Versatile Blogger award (with rules conveniently pre-broken for you) are…

[drum roll fades while Annie rambles on] My first thought on how to break this rule was to pass the award to my top commenters. A quick look at that list revealed people I’ve already given one of the two other awards to, and who have already been given this one.

Versatility: the ability to change or fluctuate at will.

Nominating commenters is an awesomely versatile idea. If you are one of those bloggers who stops to comment, then how cool are you?! So I applaud you, and I pass the Versatile Blogger award on to you! …sort of. Here’s how this is going to work. First, you have to comment here that you want the award. Second, you have to read one of my older stories and comment on it. Just like that I’ll add your link and a little bit about you… up until it starts to get tired. You can pass it on however you want.

Under the Fallen Leaves – Jenna writes mostly romantic poetry. She also shares stories and challenges of her life and she can totally write in French! I’ve mentioned before how she found me through a butterfly. Oh and she’s a really beautiful singer!!
Ermilia – Ermisenda and Eliabeth host an awesome fiction blog – kind of my home away from home. Their Picture It & Write feature is a favorite of mine. Book reviews and fun discussion topics fill in the spaces and they are also co-authors of a unique novel series that will make a blog tour stop here on St Patrick’s Day!
Articles of Absurdity – What could be more absurd than life itself? Lorelee’s blog offers  a charming, witty and humorous look at her life. She describes herself as a sarcastic and at times highly inappropriate quitter. Read backwards, that says inspirational and funny!
KhadijaTellsStories – Khadija tells great stories! Thoughtful, provocative, interesting and very well written fiction. I’m very impressed and you will be too! Oh, and her first opinion piece had a picture of Johnny Depp. What are you waiting around reading this for?