blog award
Showing posts with label blog award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog award. Show all posts
Hello all! The gloriously witty and always-insightful Heather from Sometimes I'm a Story was kind enough to bestow upon yours truly the Infinity Dreams Award. Thank you so much, Heather! Here's my response:


Rules:
  • Thank and follow the blog that nominated you.
  • Tell us eleven facts about yourself.
  • Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.
  • Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them.

Eleven facts

  • I love anime and people seem to forget that a lot. (Fairy Tail / Kuroko no Basket / Sword Art Online / Soul Eater fans? HIGH FIVE.)
  • I've eaten squid ink pasta. (It was really good!)
  • I've been writing about teenagers since third grade. Yay for inadvertent YA writing!
  • I'm basically incapable of writing fanfiction. Whenever I attempt to, it comes out as a puddle (so does most of my writing, but with my original work I can usually salvage something).
  • I'm probably that one suspicious girl in the corner wearing a hoodie. Especially if said girl has ink/pencil stains on the side of her left hand. (Hey, hoodies are comfortable.)
  • My favorite Studio Ghibli movie is Spirited Away, but honestly ALL their movies are my favorites on some level.
  • I just made a resume website thing in an attempt to be more "professional."
  • I am so into Halsey's music right now you don't even know.
  • I'm thinking of doing Communication or Media Studies in college, with possibly a Creative Writing minor.
  • I'm super pumped because I get to take Diversity & Justice and Graphic Design 2 at school for second semester this year.
  • Unfortunately, that also means I need to get both Health and PE out of the way in first semester—usually it's one per semester—which IS GUARANTEED TO MAKE ME CRY. I kid you not when I say that these two classes are the most awful ones in the school. I detest them. (On the bright side, though, once I get these credits out of the way, I *never* need to take another Health or PE class again.)

How do you feel about soft tacos?

I don't really eat tacos a lot? But I've never experienced a particular dislike for soft tacos on the occasions when I have eaten them. I suppose I have a fairly good opinion of them on the whole. Unless they're sentient and they're coming for me in order to avenge their fallen brethren.
bilbo being #relatable

Favorite Disney movie?

This should go without saying, but: Mulan ALL THE WAY. Mulan is such an amazing, resourceful, courageous character (both in the movie and in the original ballad, although the two versions differ in many ways). Plus, the movie has sass everywhere and much girl power, and when I first saw it, it was the one Disney movie I could really relate to—the main character was Asian (hooray!) and she didn't fit into the typical definition of 'femininity' (although again, movie Mulan is very different from ballad Mulan). I think it completely changed the way I looked at storytelling and at my own identity.
what a dork. i would say 'protect' but you don't need protecting
FAVORITE
the animals in this movie have so much sass
Close second is probably Big Hero 6, though. There's an adorable huge balloon robot and an equally adorable main character. There's diversity and sass. There are super cool action scenes (I mean, that's honestly a necessary thing sometimes!). I just love Big Hero 6 a lot, and I feel like it's not appreciated enough.
*screaming*
*still screaming*

Best villain ever?

Oh my goodness, this is so difficult. There are lots of tired, cliché, uncomplicated villains out there, but there are also layered, fascinating, magnetic ones. Currently, my favorite villain is Talis, the amoral AI overlord of the world featured in Erin Bow's The Scorpion Rules (it's a straight-up genius YA dystopian that comes out later this month; I was lucky enough to snag an eARC). He's snarky, brilliantly strategic, and utterly remorseless, but with a surprising and breathtaking depth to him. Definitely one of the most memorable villains I've ever read.

Favorite musical?

Of the musicals I've actually seen in person, I have to say my favorites are Fiddler on the Roof and Wicked. (Although in the case of Wicked, I may be biased because I saw it in New York. On ACTUAL BROADWAY.) Fiddler on the Roof has elements of culture, history, and family that I didn't think I'd enjoy but ended up absolutely loving, and the dialogue, music, and character dynamics are spot-on + so well-done. Wicked is absolutely hilarious in some parts but powerfully reflective in others, as it looks at the strange power of friendship, the twisting nature of time, and the boundaries between good and... well, wicked. 

How much do you hate spoilers?

This is how I react when I see one for a fandom I'm not in and want to get into, or one for a fandom that I'm in but am not too deeply invested in:
i've been waiting to use this for forever
Now, this is how I react when I see one for a fandom I'm really into:
look i'm not in the asoiaf fandom but i still love daenerys? oops
In sum: I hate them a lot. Please don't bring them anywhere near me. In fact, KILL THEM WITH FIRE. (Or alternatively, please use spoiler tags. I'm really not a big fan of getting a bunch of spoilers and then being forced to go into a show or story or film where everything is a foregone conclusion.)

What’s the best thing about your blog? 

Honestly? Probably the title. (FOREVER PROUD of my blog title.) The actual content, on the other hand—well, anyone who's been here for a while knows that sometimes my posts can become puddles of caps and sappy thoughts. If you're looking for a ~quality~ blogger with her act together (and an actual posting schedule), you'd be best served in continuing your search elsewhere. Although for those of you who have put up with me for a while: thank you! You're the greatest.

What are three books that everyone must read before they die, period?

  • All the Rage by Courtney Summers, for its discussion of rape culture, its take-no-prisoners attitude, its powerfully dynamic and unavoidably human main character, and its gut-wrenchingly visceral prose.
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, for its lens into the tide of history, its deeply passionate and distinctive cast of characters, its sweeping and masterful writing, and its paragraph of a first sentence.
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, for its unique and stunningly emotional narration (courtesy of Death), its heartbreakingly wonderful characters, its historical setting, and its grasp on what makes us human.
End of discussion. *bows*

Discuss your opinion on corn on the cob.

Honestly? I think it's generally delicious, but it's very dependent on the kind of corn. For example, yellow corn here in America tends to be very sweet and nice (in my experience), while corn in Korea tends to be more whitish and honestly kind of tasteless (but nonetheless amazing once salted). Overall, though, I like it, and since I tend to eat more corn on the cob around my birthday month, it holds a pretty positive connotation for me. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Honestly, I'm pretty open to whatever comes my way as long as a) it's related to books, publishing, media, and/or the Internet in some way, b) it pays enough for me to support myself, and c) it allows me to write novels, poetry, and the like on the side. Of course, being a full-time poet and YA author would be the dream, but I realize that that's not really feasible until I have at least a few books under my belt aka a vaguely (that's a BIG 'vaguely') reliable source of income.

Do you have a favorite punctuation mark?

What can I say? I'm a walking cliché & I love ampersands. I love fonts with pretty ampersands. I love the geeky Latin origin of ampersands. But I'm also quite partial to semicolons, especially when used correctly; I really don't know why other people seem to find them so intimidating. I've got a weakness for em-dashes as well, which you've probably noticed if you've been reading the blog for a while—I tend to overuse them, I think.

(Props to you if you see what I did there. *twirls*)

Describe the best trip you ever took.

I'm fortunate enough to have gone on lots and lots of wonderful, eye-opening trips in my lifetime so far. But my best trip was definitely the one I took to Korea the summer after third grade. I got to attend elementary school for about a month—at the same school that my mother attended when she was tiny!—and I learned a lot and made lots of friends (turns out being from America at a Korean school does great things for your social status). And oh my goodness, Korean school lunches are perfection. (The students there actually refuse to eat the school lunches because they think they're low quality. Imagine how they'd react to the cardboard we're typically given in America.) I also took taekwondo classes for the first time while I was there, which was at once terrible and amazing, because a) it was incredibly hot and humid, which isn't great if you're engaged in intense physical activity every single weekday, but b) that also meant I got to eat a veritable mountain of ice cream. Plus, taekwondo is a lot of fun. And of course, visiting Korea is always wonderful because I get to see family (the vast majority of my relatives live there) and practice my Korean (fun fact: I actually picked up the dialect of my mother's hometown within two days) and eat delicious food (so much food).

 Honorable mention goes to my most recent trip to Korea, about two years ago, in which a hairdresser asked me whether it's true that everyone in the US carries a gun everywhere. (Wake up, America! THIS is how the rest of the world sees us.)

I hereby bestow this award on

...some lovely recent-ish commenters who also run stunning blogs. (I was going to also give it to Alyssa, but I know you're dealing with the tag backlog of the century, so.)

Chiara | Aneeqah | Adelyn | E.R. | Alex | Ana | AnQi | Morning | Samantha | Aimee | Jo

Some questions for you all

  1. If you could steal the wardrobe of one book character, whose would it be?
  2. Your life has just become a novel! Write a short pitch for said novel.
  3. What's your favorite foreign film? 
  4. What does breakfast typically look like for you?
  5. If you could make a PSA on any subject and have it broadcasted to the entire world, what would that subject be?
  6. What is your stance on unicorns?
  7. Favorite obscure word?
  8. Who is your favorite non-human(ish) fictional character (think animals, robots, etc.)?
  9. Go back to the very first post you made on your blog. Is it cringe-worthy or surprisingly okay?
  10. You have to assemble a team of nine bloggers—including yourself—for a grand and dangerous adventure, Fellowship of the Ring-style. Who would you choose and why?
  11. What is your favorite soup?

Thanks again, Heather! And congrats to the award recipients.

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this has basically no significance. i just thought it was really cool that a wikipedia cake exists. [via]
*glances up at title* Um, basically everything, but we won't remark on that.

Who's brought this nefarious but undeniably brilliant combination to Christina's blog, you may ask? (I think we all know the answer at this point. HUMOR ME.) That would be the equally nefarious and even more brilliant Alyssa Carlier of The Devil Orders Takeout. She's tagged me for the Cake Book Tag and the Addictive Blog Award - my thanks as always! And if you're not devotedly following her takeout, I'd recommend it. There is much science and snark and writerly witchcraft to be had (sometimes all at the same time).

But let's get down to what you're all *really* here for: dessert.

Cake Book Tag

I think I can present this tag basically without comment and proceed, so I'll do just that.

Flour: A book that started slowly but turned out amazing.

still don't love any of the covers for this series. *sigh*
Honestly, this entire series started out slowly but turned out to be MIND-BLOWING. When I first read Throne of Glass, I was pretty 'meh' about it—I enjoyed the experience but it was nothing that I hadn't really seen before. But then I read Crown of Midnight. It was better, so I figured I'd stay with the series. And then Heir of Fire came along and IT SLAYED ME, YOU GUYS. IT... BROKE ME. The Assassin's Blade had an equally debilitating yet wonderful effect on my feels. If any of you are considering the Throne of Glass series, DO. IT. Although it may not seem amazing at first, DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE WILL BE EMOTIONS EVERYWHERE.

Butter: A book that had a thick, rich plot.

i still don't know how i feel about these covers. i'll never know.
I mean, this series had a thick, rich EVERYTHING, not just the plot. Laini Taylor brings colorful characters and lush, vibrant settings to life with supernatural grace and power. Her writing just slides into you, settles over you like a second skin. I feel so at home in her worlds and her characters' minds, but at the same time, I'm exploring something real and new and radiant. This trilogy is such an original and powerful fantasy, fearless and gorgeous and earth-shattering. READ. IT.

Eggs: A book you thought would be bad but turned out great.

(First of all, I love eggs through and through, so I kind of take issue with this heading. But I digress.)

stop elizabeth wein 2k15
A really good IRL writer friend of mine read this book and enthusiastically recommended it to me. I super super respect her as a reader and writer to the highest power, and our tastes are usually pretty similar, so I figured I should trust her and go for it. So I borrowed the hardcover from the library and promptly decided that it just didn't click with me. The tone felt juvenile, the characters felt forced, etc. I returned it and told her that I didn't manage to finish it.

Fast forward to a deal I found for a free audiobook of Code Name Verity. Fast forward to when I decided to give it a chance.

GOODBYE, BLITHE IGNORANCE. Cue gross sobbing at the beauty and tragedy and absolute gold that is this book.

Sugar: A sugary, sweet book.

okay, fine. so this is sweet but not necessarily 'sugary'. but i am ignoring that so hard right now.
I don't really read a lot of books that could be described as 'sugary', so I'm going to have to go with Ella Enchanted. I am, as a whole, a HUGE Gail Carson Levine fan (actually, I'd say Fairest is my favorite book of hers), but I guess Ella Enchanted is the real 'classic' that she's written, and there are definitely sweet moments. And AHH THE NOSTALGIA.

And anyway, those of you who haven't read this book clearly missed out on an essential part of your childhoods. Rectify this error immediately. I promise it will help you grow up to be a more well-adjusted, awesome human being.

Icing: A book that covered every single element that you enjoy about a book.

no i will never stop book-pushing this series. #sorrynotsorry
I have squealed about this series on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, I'm certain. But I need to bring it up again because it's one of my favorites of all time and it is so horrifically underrated. There is DIVERSITY. There is BANTER. There are COMPLEX, LAYERED, STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS EVERYWHERE. There is BEAUTIFUL WRITING. There is BRILLIANT WORLDBUILDING. This is one of my most treasured fantasy series ever to exist and I need EVERYONE TO READ IT. YOU MUST ALL READ IT. I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU HAVE. I enjoyed every bit of it and it contained basically 'every single element' I love in books. Truly the perfectly sweet icing on the literary cake. 

Sprinkles: A book that always cheers you up.

unrelated note: why are the covers for every single edition of this series so unashamedly horrible? they remake the covers over and over again and they're all absolutely terrible. this series deserves better, random house. really, it does.
John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series never fails to pick up my mood. I can flip to any page in pretty much any of the books and be completely sucked in within a few sentences of skimming. The effortless and intelligent yet hilarious Ranger snark, the gloriously played-out fight scenes, the general kick-butt everything about the series (highly skilled and awesome women! diverse characters! rich worldbuilding! detailed descriptions of weapons!)—this is the good stuff, right here. My memories of this series are immeasurably fond, since I first picked it up in the fifth grade and never looked back. It's a staggering twelve books long, so I have lots and lots to choose from if I ever need a comfort read.

The Cherry on Top: Best book of the year so far.

actual gift from the cover design gods, clearly.
(I think the fact that Alyssa and I both put this particular book in this particular spot says a lot about our friendship.)

I mean, everyone was expecting this to be here, right? V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic sounded fantastic, yes—I even spotlighted it for Waiting on Wednesday once—but I was so not ready for THIS LEVEL OF PERFECTION. I think I was operating on some kind of book-induced high for the entirety of this reading experience. CROSS-DRESSING LADY THIEF LILA BARD! KELL, THE DASHING BLOOD MAGICIAN WITH A FABULOUS COAT! ASTRID AND ATHOS DANE! HOLLAND! PRINCE RHY! I mean, it just doesn't get much better than this.

Cupcakes: An awesome short with the epicness of a book.

also LOOK GORGEOUS ART
This is a really inventive and beautifully written reinterpretation of Penelope's side of the Odyssey, with a pretty darn wonderful twist. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for the mortal women in Greek mythology, and Penelope is one of my favorites.) It is truly epic—and look! The story is available to read for free here.

Addictive Blog Award


Rules:
  1. Thank the person awarding you.
  2. Share a little about why you blog and how the journey started.
  3. Paste the blog award on your page.
  4. Nominate 10 other bloggers you feel deserve the award.

Why I blog

My reasons for blogging have definitely evolved over the past three-odd years. At first, it functioned as my excuse for playing with Blogger and trying to sound sophisticated. But soon it became a great kind of outlet for me, allowing me to express opinions about things I was passionate about, explore new areas of interest, and just generally be unashamedly me on my own little corner of the Internet. The friends that I've made here, the memories I've squealed about here, the fun I've had here—that's all thanks to this good old blog. And that's really what it's all about for me; I'd like to thank you all for making this such a great space for me and hopefully for anyone else who takes the time to stop by.

How the, er, 'journey' began

The rather humdrum and somewhat embarrassing Fairy Skeletons origin story: I was young(er). I thought I was good at writing. (Every day I argue with myself over whether or not this is true. I'll get back to you when I've decided, which will probably be never.) I could clearly see that Wordpress was not going to take me anywhere at that point, which is what I was using at the time, and so I stumbled upon Blogger one day and was immediately seized by the desire to try it out.

After over three years of 'trying it out', I think I'm finally starting to get it right. Kind of.

I'm tagging/nominating

Taylor @ Paper Daydreams
...so I'm totally blanking on more nominees. But! If you were awesome enough to read down to the bottom of this post, consider yourself tagged/nominated! 

Thanks again, Alyssa, and I hope you all enjoyed reading my answers!

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A very belated happy 2015 to you all! I hope your resolutions (or pseudo-resolutions, or lack thereof) are chugging along nicely—I myself have settled quite nicely into this new year.

To start off the new blogging year on Fairy Skeletons on a thoroughly positive note, Alyssa @ Insanity Inc. has been kind enough to nominate me for a blogging award (again!), and I'm writing up my response post!

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Maybe it's because I finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater a little while ago, but I can't stop thinking about the power of threes.

Anyway.

To start off - the lovely Alyssa at Insanity Inc. nominated me for three blog awards! So it's only natural that I open up this huge post with a big thank-you to her. I don't know if I've mentioned it (read: I have indeed mentioned it), but you should totally check out her blog and her writing because she's brilliant.


The Rules:
♥ Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
♥ List the rules and display the award.
♥ Add 7 facts about yourself.
♥ Nominate 15 other bloggers.
♥ Follow on blogger the person who nominated you.

 My Facts:
  1. I'm very short. (Around five feet and two inches tall, or approximately 157 centimeters.)
  2. My favorite film score composer of ever is Hans Zimmer (Inception, Sherlock Holmes - the Robert Downey Jr. version, The Lone Ranger, etc.). If you haven't listened to any of his pieces you should do that. Seriously.
  3. I currently have thirteen books on my bookshelf that I have not read. ("For shame, Christina!" you say.) And that's not even counting the unread books on my Kindle. *sobs*
  4. I once took a synchronized swimming class. You can imagine how well that went.
  5. For some reason I constantly get called 'Christine'.
  6. My glasses are purple. *grins*
  7. And I'll go Alyssa's route here and talk about classes! I'm taking Literature/Composition 10, World History 10, AP Statistics, Graphic Design 1, STEM Physics, and Japanese 1. So far I'm getting less homework than I did in middle school and am feeling extremely weird with so much free time. (I'm just going to ignore PE, because don't I always?)

Best Blogging Buddies Award

The Rules:
☼You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.
☼You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.
☼You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated for this award.
☼You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions in your post.
☼You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you on your post.

Imagine a door. Any door. Describe it?

 It's painted a deep green, with a doorknob worn smooth by years of turning, turning, turning. Something about it is out of place, like it's being shifted and blurred by a layer of smoke, and it smells burnt, though it shows no signs of damage. When you reach out and place your hand on it, it's warm to the touch, strangely so.

Naturally, when you try to get it open, it's locked.

Pick up the book nearest to you and read the fifth sentence on page seventy-six.

 Actually, in the book nearest to me - Collapse by Jared Diamond, which I'm reading for World History Honors and desperately trying to enjoy but struggling - page seventy-six is blank. So.

What's your favourite colour? What's the nearest object to you that is this colour?

 My favorite color pretty much changes based on my mood, but right now I think it's this one (giving you an image because I feel too lazy to describe it):


I don't think there are actually any objects in my house that are this color. A shame, I know.

Which is your favourite literary character?

 I swear this is one of the most cruel questions I've ever been asked. HOW DO I CHOOSE?

Okay, so at the moment I'm really loving Karou from Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. This girl may seem like a Mary Sue at first, but the way she picks up the pieces of herself time and time again after being shattered just tugs at my heartstrings. She is tender yet strong. Indestructible. Also, she is magical and wonderful and is an artist and has blue hair.

Heck, I even made her a fanmix.

Subject you're taking that you hate most?

 This isn't normally the case, but right now I absolutely loathe Literature/Composition. It's not because I hate the subject itself - why on earth would I be a writer if I did? - it's that we just spent two and a half months on Lord of the Flies and we've been writing CHAPTER SUMMARIES. (The book is less than two hundred pages long. I have no idea how this happened.) Worse still, I've already done this book for school - in seventh grade, and I think we did more in-depth in-class analysis back then. It's not that Lord of the Flies is a bad book, though. It's actually very thought-provoking and fairly well-written besides. It's just that no one should be made to read it this slowly.

But now the LotF unit is over and we're doing poetry, so hopefully it gets better. (But I kind of think it won't, because the class is honestly kind of a joke.)

When did you sleep last night?

Something like 12:30 am? This is entirely the fault of anime.

The most amazing thing that's happened to you in the last week?

 This. (Thanks, Alyssa.)

Who's in your profile photo? If it's yourself, what's special about this photo?

 I honestly don't know - it's a silhouette photo that I have no idea where I found. It'll probably change soon. *grins sheepishly* (On that note, does anyone have ideas for what I should use as my new profile photo?)

Favourite OTP ever?

 This is very cruel. Along the lines of the favorite literary character question earlier.

*makes inhuman noises*

I'm going to have to say Blue Sargent x Richard Campbell Gansey III from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, also termed "Bluesey" or "doomed" according to the author. (I affectionately call them Dick and Jane.) There's so much tragedy and tenderness and heart in their relationship - meaning in the silences and the loneliness and the in-between moments.

AND IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR A KISS? ARGH.

Which fandom are you not in but you admire a lot?

I really admire the ASOIAF (A Song of Ice and Fire for those of you who don't know) fandom, which Alyssa herself is a part of, as well as some others on the Internet that I see around. The book series by George R. R. Martin just sounds so awesome - I have no idea why I haven't gotten to it yet - and the TV series sounds equally amazing. Plus, the fan work (art! art! art! also music!) that comes out of this fandom is just mind-blowing. I want to be in this fandom! Ahh!

My answer to this question also may or may not be influenced by this:
Favourite fairytale from a country your parents/grandparents/known ancestors were from?

 All of my known ancestors are from Korea (and I'm very proud of my heritage), so our folklore isn't really termed as "fairy tales", but I'll make do. (Plus KOREAN FOLKLORE IS AMAZING.)

There's one story that goes something like this (although it varies widely depending on who you hear it from, and I may have muddled it up a bit):

Long ago, there once was a peasant woman who made a living selling rice cakes. She had a son, Haesik, and a daughter, Dalsun - the son was older and very wise, and the daughter was younger and very innocent. They lived together in a small cottage far from the nearest village.

The peasant woman often went to the village for a day to sell her rice cakes, and on one such day, she encountered a tiger on the way home. The tiger demanded that she give him a rice cake; otherwise, he would eat her. Frightened, the woman gave him her best one, but the tiger simply came again and again, taking rice cakes until they were all gone. The woman begged him to spare her life for the sake of the two children waiting at home, but the tiger, consumed by thoughts of an easy meal, devoured her.

The tiger then kept the mother's clothes and set off towards the children's house. The children had locked the door, and the tiger knocked and asked to be let in. Dalsun moved to open the door right away, but Haesik stopped her, alarmed that the tiger's voice was so different from their mother's. In his frustration, the tiger covered his paws with rice cake powder. He fooled the children into thinking his skin was as pale as their mother's and opening the door.

The tiger immediately lunged at them, and Haesik and Dalsun ran as fast as they could until they reached a tall tree and began to climb. Not to be thwarted, the tiger retrieved an axe from inside the house and began chopping the tree down.

Dalsun prayed for a rope from the heavens - if the children were good-hearted enough to be saved, the rope would hold firm, but otherwise, it would be rotten. Accordingly, a rope came, and Haesik and Dalsun were able to climb it into the sky. The tiger saw what they were doing and prayed for a rope for himself. The rope that came down for him was rotten, and it broke after mere moments.

The tiger fell and died and I cheered because honestly I hate this tiger so much.

Once they'd reached the heavens, Haesik and Dalsun became the sun (Haenim) and moon (Dalnim), respectively, and brother and sister still light up the night sky.

What do you find lacking in your life?

 I find that I have all these grand aspirations and then not enough motivation to follow through with them. I want that to change. I want to feel productive and work hard at things I love, and I feel like that just isn't happening right now.

What are you going to do in the next five minutes, other than answering these questions?

 I'll probably work on either my Scholastic Art and Writing Awards entry (yay for Orpheus/Eurydice genderflipping and Japanese elements in fantasy) or my cases for Speech and Debate (slightly less yay because I'm a singularly horrible debater).

What's the one thing you want to change in the world?

 Institutionalized prejudice, definitely. Racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. It's so destructive and counterproductive and horrifying. And insidious, because it's so easy to pretend that it doesn't exist. It strips people of their humanity and that shouldn't happen.

 Freeform — tell us anything you want to say.

 I expect that some people might use this space for something very deep and thought-provoking. I however, am going to signal boost a cause that I really care about:


I'll leave you with their extremely important mission statement and a link to their website:
We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature. We Need Diverse Books is committed to the ideal that embracing diversity will lead to acceptance, empathy, and ultimately equality. We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Our mission is to promote or amplify diversification efforts and increase visibility for diverse books and authors, with a goal of empowering a wide range of readers in the process.
Also, their first Indiegogo campaign is ending in ten days, so please contribute if you can!

EDIT: I forgot to include my questions for the nominees, gah!

  1. What's one thing you've always wanted to do that you managed to finally get done this year?
  2. Name five things you genuinely and wholeheartedly like about yourself.
  3. What's your favorite part of blogging?
  4. Describe your writing style (in blog posts or creative writing, your choice!) in three sentences.
  5. Is there a song that's currently stuck in your head? If so, what is it?
  6. If you could only eat one kind of fruit for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  7. What language(s) - real or fictional - would you love to learn?
  8. What is your opinion of silence - the all-encompassing, thick-as-a-blanket kind?
  9. Without using the Internet or the news, predict the weather for tomorrow (be as far-fetched or practical as you want).
  10. In the movie Rise of the Guardians (which I personally love), each Guardian has his or her own "center", or a single value that makes them who they are. For example, Santa Claus's center is "wonder". What do you think your center would be?
  11. If a movie was made about your life, which actors/actresses would you put in the cast?
  12. How do you like your eggs cooked (or do you not like eggs at all)?
  13. How would you describe your fashion sense?
  14. Do you have an "aesthetic"? If so, describe it for us!
  15. Absolute favorite poem?

The Rules:
♥ Thank the person who nominated you.
♥ Leave a link to their page.
♥ Give a brief story about how you started blogging, and share some tips.
♥ Nominate 15 other bloggers
♥ Notify your nominees by email or comment

The Blog's Origin Story:

 Nothing terribly glamorous, I'm afraid. I started out blogging on Wordpress (don't go hunting for that now, it's long gone) and was thoroughly awful at it, because I had no real idea of what I wanted to do. When I made this blog, it wasn't really a case of "I have finally found a grand purpose for my blogging life and will proudly carry it out"; it was more like "Ooh, Google has a blogging platform and I want to play with it".

Blogging Tips:
  • Make friends! Blogging can be a very lonely endeavor for a very long time without them, and I'm so thankful for the friends I've been meeting in recent years. 
  • Comment. If you're anything like me, you perk up every time you get an email saying that someone's commented on one of your posts. So leave meaningful, kind comments on blogs you love reading, and people are sure to return the favor. Never think that your comment bothers someone, because almost 100% of the time, they'll love you for stopping by.
  • Don't stress because of "blogging obligations". A blog is your space to do whatever you want with, and no one will hate you if you aren't able to put up X post on X day or if you don't post enough or something along those lines. "Blogging obligations" will only make you unhappy and cause you to question why you created this blog in the first place, and that makes it stop being fun.
  • Social media counts. Whether it's Twitter, Tumblr, or any other secondary platform, it really helps you connect with others who share your interests. It might help to get on specific social networks that reflect what you like - for example, I made a Figment account because I love to write, and thus I found fellow writers who I now consider very good friends.
  • Have a nice design. Not only is a pretty design easier on the eyes and really fun to set up, it draws more people to your blog.
That's all from me! Now for my nominations.

My Nominations

Since Alyssa and I have lots of mutual friends, she nominated many of the people I would have spotlighted. (They're all awesome too, by the way.) So this won't be quite fifteen, but here you are! (My apologies if you've already been tagged for any of these.)

Morning @ The Ups and Downs of My Not-So-Average Life
Katie @ Adventures in Katieland

Ahh, blog awards are so much fun! I hope you enjoyed my answers.

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Woohoo! Out of my blogging slump! So sorry for that unintended hiatus, but I'm back.

Oh my goodness - thanks to the lovely Adelyn Belsterling (doesn't she have a fabulous name?), I've been given another Liebster Award, and yet another excuse to tell everyone more about myself!

However, this is a slightly different version of the award, which involves modified rules:
  • Post eleven facts about yourself.
  • Answer the eleven questions provided by the person who nominated you and then create an eleven-question set for the next group of nominees.
  • Choose eleven people to nominate and link them in the post.
  • Let your nominees know they've been tagged - and no tag-backs!
I love the Liebster Award because it's a great way for us smaller bloggers to build community, and without further ado, I'll be building some community of my own by answering Adelyn's questions!

1. Who was your first book crush?

Oh, dang. That's hard. My first? Well, I've had too many to number, so let's see. I only really started having genuine book crushes when I started reading young adult literature just a couple years ago. The first books I had genuine fangirl attacks over were the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. So I suppose my first actual book crush was Will Herondale. However, before the fangirl era (which has stretched on into the present, by the way), I read Pride and Prejudice, which of course meant that I was unknowingly crushing REALLY HARD on Mr. Darcy. So I'll say Mr. Darcy as well, because who wouldn't?

2. If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?

This is quite possibly even harder. Elizabeth Bennet, though, probably - because her story has one of the happiest endings ever. She gets Mr. Darcy (+ escape from Mr. Collins), Pemberley, financial security for herself, financial security for her family, and a happily married Jane. It's kind of difficult to not want to be her.

3. If you could live in any fictional universe which would you choose?

The country of Herran, in The Winner's Curse, before the Valorian conquest. (Not a spoiler, don't worry.) It sounds like such an educated, enlightened, artistic country with a very rich culture - a place I would love to live in, intellectual and creative in equal measures. (Since it's based on Ancient Greece and all, woohoo ~) But really, the descriptions of Herran in The Winner's Curse make me ache to go there and be a part of that civilization.

4. Which author would you let take control of your life?

I was going to say Maggie Stiefvater, but then I reflected that this might not be the best idea. (Although she might turn me into Puck Connolly, which would be beyond amazing, she might also turn me into Joseph Kavinsky. Or *shudders* his girlfriend. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, read this book and this series, respectively. You may or may not regret it - feels warning in advance.) So I guess I'll say Kimberly Karalius instead. I know, I know - Kim is one of the other lovely people nominated by Adelyn in her original Liebster post, and not a traditionally published author (though I'm confident she will be soon!). And I might not be totally objective about this, since Kimberly is one of my Figment friends/acquaintances/general brilliant people who are supportive of me despite their obvious brilliance. But honestly, I'd love to think about how much magic my life would suddenly contain if it were one of Kim's stories. I could defy love fortunes, tell stories with flour, and even get a host of bees to do my bidding. (CLICK THE LINKS. GO.) Best of all, I would be the true heroine of my own fairy tale - complete with, no lie, a ship-worthy ship. *squee*

5. Which book has had the most impact on your life?

Though it's not one of my favorites in and of itself, Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan has really affected my life because it was the first book I read by a young author (twelve years old HOW) and it got me thinking about writing. I figured that if she could do it, there was no reason I couldn't, and this is what helped me develop my interest and eventual passion for building stories as well as reading them. Although this push into writing may have contributed to what seems like my mental instability, too.

Yeah, we'll just gloss over all of that.

6. What was the last place you traveled to?

In terms of, you know, actually far from home, that would be New York City, New York. I went for the National Awards Ceremony of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (remember when I screamed about that?), so that I could receive my gold medal and silver medal. And oh. OH. OH. It was glorious. We went to see Wicked where I nearly cried of happy/sad feelings, to the New York Public Library where there was an amazing children's lit exhibit that had me mesmerized while the entire rest of my family seemed mildly bored, to a brunch place that served the most perfect slices of toast I've ever seen, to the Empire State Building because duh, and so many other places. Not to mention - CARNEGIE. FLIPPING. HALL. That had to be emphasized. I have no shame. That building, the emotions and high ceilings that have built it, it's all a work of art. Just thinking of it makes my heart swell with joy.

7. Which fictional character would you want to be stranded on an island with?

Definitely Elisa from the Fire and Thorns trilogy. She's resourceful, powerful, and totally kick-butt - plus maybe we could have a heart-to-heart talk while we're stranded. Elisa is just so good at life that I would love to get her opinion on things. And her intelligence would ensure that we got off the island once we were done.

I'm hoping we could become, like, best friends Hopefully we'd enjoy each other's company, you know? And I admire her so much as a ruler and person. I might just spend the first few minutes squealing, who knows.

Probably my most likely reaction, actually.

(I would've said Haku from the Ghibli film Spirited Away, but he doesn't talk much. I'd probably drive myself insane.)

8. Which book is your favorite guilty pleasure?

I'm pretty assertive about almost all of the books I read, so I guess there aren't any books I'm genuinely "guilty" about. However, if I had to choose one series, it would be the Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare - split up into the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices, of course. I sometimes get criticized for loving these so much because of their occasionally overt drama and their kissing scenes. (Those are so steamy it makes me a tiny bit uncomfortable, to be honest.) But I think they have genuine merit, and besides, I will fight to the death for the Herondales. So. (But please no City of Heavenly Fire spoilers! I haven't read that one yet!)

9. What book made you fall in love with reading?

Probably one of the more clichéd, light middle grade series I started in first grade, the kinds that never seem to end. I distinctly remember loving the Junie B. Jones series and the Magic Tree House series, though now I can't possibly fathom what I saw in them. I do owe those books my gratitude all the same, because without them, I wouldn't have made the leap to the wide, wonderful world of YA literature and classics that I love so much today.

10. If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Hands down, I would choose to have a photographic memory. Yes, this would be extremely painful because I wouldn't be able to forget traumatic sights and the like, but I could a) ace all my tests, b) throw exact literary quotes at people whenever I feel like it, c) REREAD BOOKS IN MY HEAD WHAT, and d) identify criminals accurately if I ever witness one. (Well, that got dark.)

11. What is the best book you have read this year?

Oh, that's excruciating. There's The Archived, The Winner's Curse, and The Scorpio Races, which I think were the big YA stunners for me so far. But keep up with me at my collaborative book blog, Literoses, where I'll be covering other great and not-so-great books!

Oh, and now eleven random facts pertaining to yours truly!
  • I'm that one terrible person who never roots for the USA in any international sports events. Things like the Olympics, the World Cup (ahem)... I'm never cheering for America. What is this patriotism you speak of?
  • I hate tomatoes but like salsa. Go on, judge me.
  • I once ate raspberry and cucumber sorbet. It was awesome beyond belief.
  • I have no idea why I'm talking so much about food, so I'll do a completely unrelated one: I watch two animes, Fairy Tail and Kuroko no Basuke. You are welcome to speak with me about either of these. Because I love them both.
  • On a side note, the only team sports I actually like watching are soccer/football and basketball.
  • But my favorite sport to watch is figure skating. (Sorry, but duh.)
  • I'm a second-degree black belt in taekwondo. But I probably can't beat you or anyone else up, because...
  • I'm short.
  • I also have terrible reflexes.
  • I have terrible eyesight to boot. My glasses actually make people feel sick when they try them on.
  • I won a state-level spelling bee once. (Yeah, really.)
My nominations are:
  • Ryanne (We spoke on Figment recently and you're so kind that I couldn't not include you.)
  • Willa (I read your posts and Lit Up Review and just recently started following your personal blog. You're a great blogger.)
  • Paola (I adore your thoughtfully written posts, your photography, your Tumblr, and your gorgeous voice! So basically a lot of things about you. Hopefully that doesn't sound as odd as I think it might.)
  • Bethan (I only started following your blog recently, but I love the effort you put into posting and being nice to all of your readers.)
  • Rose (Um, obviously. Your blog design is pages upon pages of pure genius, and your posts are always very thought-provoking.)
  • Kristianna (You're one of the most hilarious bloggers I know, in the most positive way. Your gaming series had me cracking up so hard I was in tears.)
  • Emily (I love meeting fellow teen writers, plus your blog is procrastination-inducing thoroughly entertaining. Congratulations on your awesomeness.)
  • Mackenzie (So much beauty is contained in your wonderful blog, seriously. Plus I love your infectious positivity and creativity.)
  • Kate (Another teen writer like me! I really admire how personable and involved you are on your blog and around the Internet.)
  • Kara (Yet another teen writer! I just found your blog and Wattpad account, and your blog posts are so well-written and engaging. I have yet to really get into one of your Wattpad stories, but I hope to do so soon!
  • Temple (I know, technically an author so it's a little odd of me, but I so wanted to nominate you! I've seen you around on YouTube and Goodreads and just started reading the blog, but I think you're super cool and can't wait to read Velvet.)
Also, there were some people on Adelyn's list that I would love to nominate but didn't in the interest of spreading the Liebster love as far as possible. So here's a short shoutout to AnQi, Cassie, and Kim.

Oh, and the nominees' questions:
  1. What's your favorite breakfast?
  2. What "unattainable" person (i.e., celebrity, fictional character, etc.) do you have a crush on?
  3. What's a movie (an adaptation, an original movie, whatever!) that you really want to see made, and who would be in the cast?
  4. If you could collaborate on a book with any author, who would it be?
  5. If you could live in any time in history, where would you go? (Or would you stay in the twenty-first century?)
  6. Do you have a nickname? If you don't, is there a nickname you wish people would call you by?
  7. Describe yourself in a haiku.
  8. Do you have any strange skills that not many people know about?
  9. How good are you at keeping secrets?
  10. What's the most valuable thing you've ever learned from a book?
  11. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
Many thanks again to Adelyn for the nomination, and I hope you all find this as fun as I do!
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