I've been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!

                My friend Rosanne Dingli has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award, a kind of pay it forward way to bring some attention to fellow bloggers:

Her post is here, and she explains it way better than I could: http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/2011/12/promotions-and-awards.html?showComment=1323755247201#c7719256585328669387

Thanks, Rosanne! It’s been kind of a rough autumn for me – the boost is much appreciated.

This comes with a responsibility to say seven things about myself, and to nominate five more deserving bloggers. I don’t have all that much interesting to say that I haven’t already said, so you probably know these things:

1.       Last year I got my 30 year pin as a volunteer firefighter (I joined on my 18^th birthday), and this year a certificate for 20 years as an emergency dispatcher.

2.       I have Seasonal Affected Disorder: Winter quite literally drives me crazy.

3.       My fiancée is half my age – and twice my maturity.

4.       I can’t stand America’s two great drinks: coffee and beer.

5.       It took me over three decades from the moment I first ventured into fiction writing as a child to getting my first novel published.

6.       My humor column, Slightly Off the Mark, was named after a line in a newspaper story about a bowling league.

7.       I was known throughout my school years for being painfully shy.

Now, on to nominations that, I admit, I picked somewhat at random because I couldn’t decide among all the excellent bloggers:

William Kendall:  http://williamkendallbooks.blogspot.com/

Beth Muscat:  http://allkiddingaside-beth.blogspot.com/

Barry Parham:  http://barryparham.wordpress.com/

Kelly Hashway:  http://kellyhashway.blogspot.com/

Linda Nagata  (Who holds a special place in my heart because she taught me a short story writing correspondence course I took – by snail mail! – many years ago):  http://hahvi.net/