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Motivation doesn’t come easily for me.  I have a tendency to rest on admittedly tattered laurels rather than risk rejection.  Pieces that have received past praise get dusted off, tweaked a bit and trotted back out.  Re-entering the whirl that is WordPress is forcing me to change that behavior, and although uncomfortable, I know it’s a good thing.  If we allow it, the Universe will send us rewards for our efforts at improvement, and this is a case in point.  A rockin’ young woman named Britt, who blogs at Fairytale Epidemic, nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award.  I’m a big fan of her work for several reasons;  she’s fearless about sharing her own fears, she’s sometimes funny but can be a little dark and is just a beautiful woman, inside and out.  Plus, the music videos she often showcases keep me from sinking into “Classic Rock Syndrome”.  So thanks, chicklet, for the cosmic nudges.

For those of you about to be nominated who are not familiar with the award process, it may sound a little chain-letterish (a friend dubbed it ” a positivity Ponzi”).  Someone nominates you for the award, you nominate others, they nominate others…you get the idea.  It’s a great way to discover new blogs that you might not have found otherwise, and if you choose to participate I can tell you from personal experience it’s a win/win.  First there’s the warm fuzzy of being recognized by a blogger you admire, which is always nice.  Second, it blows the roof off your blog stats, also nice if your goal is attracting more readers.

Please note that I said IF you choose to participate.  In my  thoughtless enthusiasm over a previous award, I nominated someone who didn’t really want the extra attention and has subsequently deleted his blog.  It may be hubris on my part to think that the nomination provoked his disappearance, but it has saddened me greatly.  So…no pressure, nominees.  If you’re not comfortable answering the questions and/or spotlighting other bloggers and you’d prefer not to cut and paste the “bling”, no worries.  I think your blogs are awesome either way.  With that said, here are some bloggers that rock:

Abandoned Kansai

Inspirez

Urban Wall Art & Murals

conTIMplating

Humbled Pie

Little Mind Seeds

Peculiarities and Reticences

Here’s how this works:

Versatile Blogger Rules  (If you choose to obey them)

• Display the Award Certificate on your website
• Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award
• Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers
• Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post
• Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

I cheated a little on the number of nominated bloggers.  I was also the recipient of The Liebster Award, so I had to keep some of my other favorite bloggers in reserve for that one.

So…seven things, eh?  And they have to be interesting?  Yeebees….

1.  I’m an aquaculturist (fancy name for fish farmer) with the goal of developing my farm into a successful agri-tourism destination.

2.  I participate in Bible study by phone once a week.

3.  I’m an Aquarius.

4.  Normal people scare me.

5.  Harley Davidsons make my heart go pitty-pat.

6.  One of my dearest friends is a seventh generation witch.

7.  Starting to blog again ranks as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

So there you have it, folks.  Stay tuned for more talented people in my next installment, “The Liebster Award”.  Thank goodness this can all be done while wearing sweats.  If these were red carpet events I’d have to get all gussied up in my Sunday-go-to-meeting overalls.