Blog Awards of Doom

You ever have one of those weeks where nothing really seems to come together? Yeah. Between a baby sick with RSV (he's been really good about it, though he doesn't much like his medicine) and doctor's orders to stop letting my two middle kids walk all over me (which is harder than it sounds) suffice it to say I haven't been able to wrap my mind around writing or even blogging at all this past week.

Recently I was given a couple of blog awards and I'm just now getting around to passing them on. I really like blog awards. They're an excellent kind of encouragement and I love the way every person who gets one pays it forward by sending the encouragement on. I admit to being more than a little thrilled at having my blog singled out for an award. I must be doing something right here.

Claudie A.sent the Versatile Blogger Award my way.

Thanks, Claudie! The rules for this award are:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you. (Here, have a box of thank-yous! *hands box*) 
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 0 - 100 deserving blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

Well, all right. You asked for it.

1. I have always hated my name because it is too common. There were 12 other Sarahs in my graduating class.
2. I love to sew. Primarily I like to make fantasy and historical costumes, though I do regular clothing and miscellaneous household stuff as well.
3. I can't cook. Not even a little. I don't know why but I just can't wrap my brain around cooking. My dear, wonderful husband does all the cooking in our house and he is incredible!
4. When I read I tend to get really absorbed into a book so that I'm not even aware of my surroundings. I remember once when I was a young teen reading the book Rebecca while in the car. I looked up from the book when we got to our destination and I had this horrible, frightening feeling for a minute because I didn't understand where I was or why I wasn't at Manderley.
5. I am terrified of spiders. To borrow a metaphor from Cracked.com: Spiders are descended from the first sin that man committed against God, which congealed into the most fearful shape in mankind's thoughts, and then scuttled away into the rocks to haunt his children for the rest of eternity. No one will ever convince me that spiders aren't pure evil.
6. I am wearing broken glasses right now because I have young children. My son broke my glasses once and I got them fixed, then he broke them again and I've gotten used to wearing them balanced on one ear.
7. My favorite color is red, but I'm not really sure why.

There, more info than you ever wanted to know about me. Now I get to inflict that task upon a few more bloggers. In keeping with the name of the award, I've decided to pass it on to a few bloggers I follow who do more than write.

Patricia Lynne blogs about books and writing, but also has an online store where she sells handmade jewelry.

Marjorie at Everything Emerald is participating in BuNoWriMo, but she's also an art student with a gift for photography.

Jenny at The Modest Peacock does it all, but it's her skill as a seamstress that has me most impressed and jealous.

So check out those excellent blogs.

Deniz Bevan of The Girdle of Melian (best blog name, BTW) mentioned me while passing around the Blog on Fire Award.

And I'm flattered. As far as I know, there aren't any requirements for this one so I'll just say, Thanks, Deniz! And pass it on to a few of the blogs that I particularly enjoy.

E.J. Wesley of The Open Vein has a great blog. His posts are always very well written and thoughtful. There are few blogs I look forward to reading more.

Margo Lerwill of Urban Psychopomp is a talented fantasy writer who has lots of great thoughts on the writing process to share. She recently self published a short story called Dis.

Will Foley of Tales of the Harbinger is another aspiring fantasy novelist with a gift for words. He posts lots of his writing experiments for everyone to see as he learns and grows as a writer. Talk about brave!

To wrap up this awards post, I would like to present a BRAND NEW AWARD that I just made up myself.

This is the Blog Award of DOOM! Because nothing's more fun than doom, right? Here's how it will work:

1. When you receive the Blog Award of DOOM your task is to post a short selection of your writing, 100-300 words, in which your favorite character suffers a horrible fate. It can be your favorite character from your own writing or from something you've read, it can be from a finished manuscript, a WIP or something you just made up on the spot. Your choice, but it has to be full of DOOM!
2. Pass it on to one other blogger and let them know their DOOM has come.
3. Remember that the person who passed the award on to you also received it as well. Go back to their post to read and comment on their writing sample. Make sure to thank them for sending the DOOM your way.
4. Whenever you use the word DOOM in your post, you must capitalize the whole thing.

I hope this is an award we can all have fun with. I'll get it started by passing it on to...

L.G. Smith of Bards and Prophets

Muahahahaha! Your DOOM is upon you!

Last but not least, check out these upcoming blogfests that look like great fun:

Elizabeth Mueller is hosting the Getting to Know Your MC Blogfest on June 24th.Answer three important questions about your MC: What is their greatest fear? What is their biggest accomplishment? What is their biggest regret?

Wicked and Tricksy is hosting the Something Wicked Blogfest from June 27th to July 1st. Name your three favorite spec-fic stories, tell why you love spec-fic, and make a prediction about where you think the spec-fic genre will go in the future.