Liebster Blog Award! Nominated Again! Aaaa!!!!

I was nominated for a Liebster Blog Award a while ago. And guess what? I was nominated AGAIN!I was nominated by Orisi of Orisi's Blah Blah Blah. Orisi noinated me for this award about two months ago! I'm sorry I'm just getting around to it now! :( Life has been busy busy busy! And this is a fairly involved blog post. But I did get around to it! And life is calming down a bit! :) Check out Orisi's blog! And thank you to Orisi!

The Liebster Blog Award is an award for blogs with fewer than 200 followers. It's a way of showcase these blogs and also discover new blogs!

The rules are: I've have to answer 11 questions, list 11 facts about myself, and then nominate 11 blogs and give 11 questions to answer! So here we go! 

1. Why do you blog?

I have always wanted to be an author. I asked an author I knew through GoodReads if I should have a website and she said that I should and that having a web presence is very important for an author.

2.  If you could become a character in a book for one day, who wouldja be?

I would probably want to be Hermione Granger. I would love to live in the Harry Potter world. And get to hang out with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and the entire Weasley family. And Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore! I also just love her character. How smart she is and strong aand she even eventually develops some spunk.

3.What is your favourite genre?

I don’t know if I can pick one favorite genre.  I especially like Young Adult, Poetry, Classics, and Memoirs.

4.Spring, Summer, Winter or Autumn?

My favorite season is Spring. Next would be Autumn. Then Summer. And then Winter.

5. Do you have a favourite book? What is it and why?

I have two favorite books. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. These books have amazing, three dimensional characters. They are both also very intense stories – just in different ways. They both have to do with love, only in different ways.

6.  In your opinion what makes a good book cover?

I think a good book cover will have SOMETHING to do with the story inside of the book. I’m even up for symbolism. I just want it to have something to do with the story.

7. Look one-hundred years in to the future... what does reading look like then?

I really don’t want to think about that. I’m guessing e-readers will practically take over. But I have to keep hope that hardcopy books will still be around!

8. Do you love or loathe movie adaptations of your books?

It really depends on how the director does with the movie. I don’t think there is an y one way about it. I do think the book is always better. But there have been some really good book to movie adaptions.

9. Where is your favourite place to read?

Anywhere I can. :)

10. Where in the world have you visited?

I live in the United States. I've never been out of the country. But I have been to: Michigan, Maryland, Florida, Vermont, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. I think that’s it.

11. If you could explore one culture in the world and ask all the questions and not offend anybody which culture would that be?

I would want to explore Middle Eastern culture. I think they have one of the most misunderstood cultures. Especially after September 11^th. I would want to learn more about their culture.

11 Facts About Me
1. I love nature photography.

2. I started getting into photography my freshmen year of college.

3. I took three art courses my freshmen year of college: Photography, Painting and Photography.

4. I majored in English and Communications in college.

5. I changed my major from Communications to English and Communications my sophomore year of college.

6. I started out as a Psychology minor but added Creative Writing as my second minor when I found out it was available.

7. The Creative Writing courses I've taken are: Poetry Writing, Travel Writing, Fiction Writing, Memoir Writing and one more course over the summer to finish out my second minor that is just called Creative Writing (a combination of Fiction, Poetry and Memoir Writing).

8. I graduated/walked with my class at graduation on May 17th 2013 and my 22nd birthday was on May 18th 2013.

9. The first manuscript I started was called Teen Troubles. I was in 6th grade. I never finished it, but I have the notebook it was written down in and I may go back to it one day.

10. I finished the first draft of my romance novella entitled My Heart is Yours in January and I'm going to start editing it in June.

11. I am insanely ticklish!!!!

Blogs I'm Nominating:
1. Orisi at Orisi's Blah Blah Blah
2. Fatuma at Book Rants
3. Sky at Author Sky Diamond

4. Neriah at Chocolate Coffee Books

5. Rallu at The Daydreamer

6. Mum of Two Girls at Cystinosis – The Story so Far

7. Hannah at Fit Every Day

8. Ana, Cassandra, Kathy and Shannon at So Many Books, So Little Time

9. Jenia at Story For Desert

10. Dana Dane at That Movie Kinda Sucked

11. Fatuma at Life is Funny Except When it’s Not 

Questions For My Tagees:

1. How long have you been blogging?

2.  How did you come up with the name for your blog?

3.  Do you have more than one blog?

4. What are your favorite topics to blog about?

5.  What are some of your favorite blogs to read?

6. What made you decide to start a blog?

7. What is your favorite part about blogging?

8.  What is your least favorite part about blogging?

9. What do you find most difficult about blogging?

10.   Do you think you will be blogging “long term”?

11.   Just for fun: If you were an ice cream flavor what flavor would you be and why? 

So, I am delighted to be nominated again! Thank you again to Orisi! This post is a bit of work but definitely worth it! I apologize for only listing the names of the blogs, but for some reason I'm having issues putting links in my posts. I also apologize for the strange formatting. I don't know what happened. :( I hope you enjoyed this post and go to check out these blogs! 

   <3 Amanda Leigh

Liebster Blog Award

I've been presented with my first blog award! From Sharon at Fictionally Inclined: http://fictionally-inclined.blogspot.com/  

 

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word which means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. 

The Rules:

1. Each person must post 10 facts about themselves

2. Answer 10 questions the tagger has given you and give 10 questions for the people you’ve tagged.

3. Choose 10 people and link them in your post.

4. Tell them you’ve tagged them.

5. Remember, no tag backs

10 Facts About Me:

1. The Outsiders and Wuthering Heights are my favorite books.

2. Harry Potter is my favorite book series. 

3. I think Lost is the most brilliantly amazing genius television series EVER.

4. I picked the pen name Amanda Leigh because I really like my middle name Leigh. 

5. Emily Dickinson is my favorite poet.

6. I've read The Outsiders five times.

7. My favorite colors are blue and turquoise. I also really like black.

8. I LOVE to cook and make-up recipes and experiment with food.

9. I'm an avid "journaler". (Yes, I know that's not a word, but it fit. I write in my journal A LOT.)

10. My first book, Thousands of Mornings, a collection of original poetry and photography just came out in June. You can go to my Works page to find out more. :)

Questions from Sharon:

1. How long have you been blogging about books?

I have been blogging about books since November 27, 2011. :) 

2. How did you get into book blogging?

I've wanted to be an author since I was 8 and I found out having an internet presence is an important step. So, of course, a lot of what I blog about is books.

3. What are some of your favorite books/series?

Guess I spoiled this one lol. My ultimate favorite books are The Outsiders and Wuthering Heights. My favorite series is the Harry Potter series. I'm reading the 2nd book in the Hunger Games series now and am pretty sure it will make it into my favorite series. Another amazing book is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Also, I don't want to be crazy by Samantha Schutz. I do love the Vampire Diaries series, as well as the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. Really, I could go on forever...

4. What about authors?

Again, I could go on forever. J. K. Rowling, S. E. Hinton. I love Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare. I think Maggie Stiefvater is an amazing writer. Of course there's Emily Bronte. And L. J. Smith. And of course Suzanne Collins is pretty freaken amazing...

5. Genres?

Young Adult, Poetry, Classics, Memoirs. 

6. If you could recommend one book to get a non-reader into your favorite genre (or one of your favorite genres), what book would you choose?

This is a tough one. My first instinct is telling me to go with either the Harry Potter series, The Outsiders or the Hunger Games series. Maybe Speak. 

7. What is one pet peeve you have that grates your nerves when it appears in books?

If a character speaks too stereotypically, I guess that's the word for it. Teenage characters saying "like" too much, or teenage girl characters acting like ditsy fangirls, stuff like that. Also, when a character has too many love interests. At some point it just gets out of control for me.

8. What is one plot device/trope/factor that pretty much guarantees you'll read a book if it's included?

I've never thought about this before to be honest. I really don't know. But something I've always in books is an unexpected twist or twists.

9. How do you keep track of the books you want to read? Online? Computer file? Physical list?

A combination really. Online on the Goodreads website somewhat. Physical lists somewhat. And then I also sort of just remember.

10. If you could choose any book character to be your significant other, who would you choose?

Wow! This is a hard question! There are several candidates of course, but I think I've narrowed it down. It comes down to Dallas Winston from The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, Johnny Cade also from The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries series by L. J. Smith, and Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. For a second I thought maybe Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte but then I thought....no. I do like him even though I probably shouldn't and am rather fascinated by him, but in the end no, probably not. So that leaves Dally, Johnny, Damon or Peeta. Hmmm.....that's a really hard decision. Peeta is pretty amazing and I loved Damon from the second I first read about him in the first Vampire Diaries book, but it really comes down to Dally or Johnny. I never could decide who I liked best lol. They're both incredible! But, I think it would be Johnny. Yes. I tw ould be Johnny Cade. <3 

People I'm Tagging:
1. http://thedaydreamer3.blogspot.com/
2. http://authorskydiamond.blogspot.com/
3. http://chocolatecoffeebooks.blogspot.com/
4. http://cystinosis-thestorysofar.blogspot.com/
5. http://fiteveryday.blogspot.com/
6. http://girlzandtheirbooks.blogspot.com/
7. http://lifeisfunnyexceptwhenitsnot.blogspot.com/
8. http://somanybookssolittletimebookgroup.wordpress.com/
9. http://storyxray.blogspot.com/
10. http://thatmoviekindasucked.blogspot.com/

Questions For My Tag-ees:
1. When did you start blogging?
2. What made you decide to start a blog?
3. Why did you pick the topic that you did for your blog?
4. How often do you blog?
5. Do you ever get into a rut with your blog?
6. How do you get yourself out of it?
7. What is your favorite part of blogging?
8. Your least favorite part?
9. Do you plan to blog "long-term"?
10. What is your favorite blog post you've written so far?

<3 Amanda Leigh