This morning I was tickled pink to learn that I’d won the Nobel Prize been awarded the “Versatile Blogger” Award by Carrie Daws (or perhaps it was the “Inspiring Blogger” award, I’m not sure). I immediately updated my Wikipedia page and called my employers and told them they could take this job and shove it. Then I read the fine print and discovered that the Versatile Blogger award doesn’t come with a large honorarium/endowment like I’d assumed. Several awkward phone calls later, I sat down to figure what this honor actually entails.

Like most blogging awards, this is more like a facebook meme than an actual award—it’s really a way for bloggers to get to know more bloggers. Which, I think, is pretty dang cool. In a couple months I’ll come up on my fourth anniversary of blogging (yes, I’m counting my old blog), which is a lot of time to spend babbling about whatever to an audience of maybe a dozen regular readers. It’s been nice to chronicle my (ongoing) journey toward becoming a published author, and to have a record to look back on of some of the exciting moments along the way, along with some of the discoveries I’ve made. But it does get lonely from time to time, and sometimes it feels like I’m talking to myself, and so it’s really nice to hear that somebody who visited my blog appreciated what I had to say and felt like passing it on. So thanks, Carrie. I’m flattered that you thought of me. 🙂

So according to the rules, my responsibilities include thanking the person who awarded me and linking back to her blog (check!), sharing seven things about myself, and (gulp) passing the award on to fourteen others.

So seven things about me . . .

1. I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until I was like eighteen or so. I didn’t get out much as a kid, and eventually I reached the point where being seen crashing around trying to learn would have been too embarrassing. Then when I was a teenager I reached a point where it occurred to me that I could drive far enough away that nobody would know me, and practice there! Win!
2. I can’t stand LED lights because the flicker bothers me. I’m very sensitive to flickering lights, like old CRT monitors, or when someone idiotically places a ceiling fan under a light fixture. I don’t know what I’ll do when old-fashioned light bulbs become impossible to get.
3. I’m in my second year of biking (!) or walking to work every day, instead of driving. It’s not that big a deal, though, since I only live around two miles from work.
4. I’m a night owl by nature, but I get up between 3 and 5 on workday mornings. Not so I can write, but so I can do my take-home work. I find it too depressing to work at night, and getting up early lets me give myself permission to write at night instead.
5. My father was the cook in my household when I was growing up—and a damn fine one, too—so when I moved out for the first time, I decided I was going to learn to cook as well. I threw myself into it, and eventually got pretty good at it, but not before I’d ruined my roommate’s pans by stirring stuff with a metal utensil, and not before I’d served him food that was very nearly raw. It only took me a month or two to start to learn what I was doing, but by the time I got a clue, my roommate wouldn’t eat a damn thing I made (and wouldn’t let me use his pots and pans either), so he never got to eat anything good I ever made.
6. My first story submission to a magazine, when I was a barely adolescent teen, was a fairly unmitigated act of (unintentional) plagiarism. In hindsight, it’s a damn good thing it didn’t get bought.
7. Most of my friends would think I’m being falsely modest here, but it’s true: I am actually a rather slow thinker. I’m not saying I’m dumb—still waters run deep and all. But I am not remotely quick-witted. I can fake it pretty well though, especially when it comes to math—again, I am not quick with numbers, but I appear quicker than I am because I know a lot of shortcuts that most people don’t know.

*whew* That wasn’t as hard as I thought I would be.

Now onto passing it forward. If you read my blog, then you should check out these other folks, because, as I noted above, it means so much to have somebody read your thoughts. The following are all people whose blogs I’ve enjoyed in the last month or so. Some of them are new, and I hope they’ll keep sharing their insights and points of view.

• M. K. Hutchins – M.K. is a published science-fiction writer, who has one of the coolest ideas for a blog series I’ve ever encountered: once a week (or so) she writes about both a game and a book that have a thematic connection between them. Isn’t that awesome?
• Jason Runnels – Kind of similar to the above: Jason is a puzzle nut—and a Rubik’s Cube fanatic in particular—as well as a writer and a reader. In his blog, he makes some cool connections between puzzles and stories!
• Andrew Buckley – Andrew is a writer who shares some of his funny short stories on his website, along with a fairly regular podcast. Andrew is also one of the funniest and most entertaining people I follow in Twitter.
• Sarah Nicolas – Sarah is an up-and-coming YA novelist, who writes speculative fiction. She will go far, and you can say you heard it from me first!
• Lisa Iriarte – Yeah, that last name might sound a bit familiar. 😉 Lisa is my wife and a hell of a more prolific writer than I am. (Although not a more prolific blogger. Hmm . . . maybe she’s onto something.) She writes stories about kick-ass Xena-esque women—IN SPACE! What’s not to love?
• William Henry Morris – (No, not that William Morris) is one of the smartest bloggers I know, even though he’s wrong wrong wrong about cliffhanger endings.
• Julia Lizz – Julia is someone I just recently started following on Twitter. Along with random interesting bits of information, Julia is blogging about her experience growing out dreads!
• Wendy Sparrow – Wendy is a fellow insomniac and writer. Judging from all the manuscripts she has completed, she puts those extra waking hours to ridiculously good use!
• Jessa Lynch – Jessa is another one of the funniest people I know on Twitter. She’s also a Giants fan, so she’ll need cheering up after they inevitably choke this week—dropping by her blog will probably help!
• Dawn Lajeunesse – Dawn is a study in perseverance and an inspiration to anybody trying to make it in publishing.
• Pamela Findling – Pamela is a brand new blogger, a former computer programmer, and a freelance writer. Go give her blog some encouragement!
• Suzanne van Rooyen – Suzanne is like half my age and has accomplished like ten times as much. Check out her blog for links to some of her short fiction published online!
• Angela Quarles – Angela is another cool tweep. In addition to blogging about excerpts from her own writing, she blogs about hot men who read. So, um, yeah.
• Lori Dyan – Lori is a writer with a great sense of humor—just make sure you keep her on your side, as her letter to the owner of Fancy-Pants Restaurant shows!

Okay . . . wow, that took a lot longer than I thought it would. Hopefully, though, now that you know a little bit about all these cool people, you’ll check out their blogs!