I just received a comment on this blog that my friend Liz Terry has nominated me as one of her 15 Very Inspiring Bloggers. I feel very honoured, especially as I haven’t been blogging long. Liz used to write for Velvet (more later) and I love her blog: http://lizterryblog.wordpress.com/
For those of you who haven’t come across this award before, there are rules attached to being nominated:
1. Display the logo of the award – above
2. Link to who nominated you – done
3. Say seven things about yourself – below
4. Nominate a whopping fifteen other bloggers! 5. And in doing said nomination, link over to them (preferably to a specific post for a trackback).
So, seven things about me (in no particular order):
1. I am very proud of being the editor of Velvet for five years and interviewing some fabulous women writers, although we eventually ran out of money to keep going. You can still follow us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Velvet-Magazine/250608918151
2. You can still get my first novel, If It Falls, at http://www.amazon.co.uk/If-it-Falls-ebook/dp/B004K1FHZS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369840231&sr=1-1&keywords=if+it+falls%2C+naomi+young though I’m not sure who is getting the royalties, because I’m certainly not!
3. I’ve been playing the alto saxophone since last August and I’m loving it.
4. I love cycling. In 2011 I did the London to Cambridge bike ride and in 2012 I did the Norwich 100 for the British Heart Foundation.
5. I lived in Guatemala for about two years at the end of the civil war. (If It Falls is based on that experience.) I was overjoyed that Rios Montt was convicted of genocide and appalled that the conviction has been annulled.
6. I am an open and proud gay woman, but that does not define me. I am honoured to have been Chair of the Cambridge University LGBT Staff Network for three years.
7. I support equal marriage.
I don’t read that many blogs, so I may struggle to nominate 15. I hope that doesn’t disqualify me as an inspiring blogger if I don’t manage it! In no particular order:
Stella Duffy: http://stelladuffy.wordpress.com/ Stella always has interesting things to say and she is an inspiration as a writer and an out gay woman.
Shelley Silas: http://shelleysilas.wordpress.com/ again Shelley always tells it like it is.
Shaun Levin has been a great inspiration: http://shaunlevin.com/category/blog/
Write Around Town, very inspiring workshops and writing maps http://writingmaps.wordpress.com/
Susan Sellers. We used to be in a writing group together and Susan has always been supportive and Vanessa and Virginia is gorgeous. http://susansellers.wordpress.com/category/susans-blog/
Sharon Bridgforth ran the first writing group I was ever in. Amazing. http://sharonbridgforth.com/s/blog/
I just love Mark Doty’s writing http://markdoty.blogspot.co.uk/
Liz Terry’s http://365projectinwords.wordpress.com/ I love that idea
Manda Scott – very inspiring http://wordpress.mcscott.co.uk/
For nostalgia and to make up the numbers, Patty Nazo who was an inspiration to me at the time, but I think she may have moved on to bigger and better things! http://pattynazo.blogspot.co.uk/
Naomi Young 