Liebster Award Nomination

Jena Henry (who both has a blog and is  active on Twitter) nominated me for the Liebster Award. As far as I can glean, this is a sort of chain-letter blogger award used to help promote new/under-followed awesome blogs.

Here’s the deal: having been nominated, I must answer the questions the illustrious Jena Henry posed to me, nominate 10 more blogs, and pose new questions to the new nominees. (Then let them know they’re nominees.)

First, a my contribution to the Liebster trivia: Liebster is cited as being “sweetheart” in German. I’m not fluent in German, but I’ve taken classes. To me, it sounds very masculine, so I’ll take this moment to thank Liebling Jena.

Onto the trivia questions:

1. Brussels sprouts or kale?

Kale tastes like sewage to me. I’ll always take brussel sprouts!

2. What’s your favorite quote..the one you would put in a big frame and display at all times?

I’m one of the least consistent people on the planet. I can’t stand looking at the same quote for long, so throughout high school, I had a rotation of fourteen SG-1 and Bible quotes I posted in my locker.

Today’s favorite: “I’d like to apologize in advance for anything I may say or do that could be construed as offensive as I slowly go NUTS!” (Jack O’Neill, “Window of Opportunity,” Stargate: SG-1)

Or maybe: “Is that a ‘money back if you’re not completely alive’ guarantee?” (Also SG-1.)

Can YouTube clips count as quotes? Can my wall-frame play videos? Because I love this heroic aerospace-based negotiation in Firefly. 

It just doesn’t work without the jet engine.

3. What’s your favorite commercial?

I abhor commercials so thoroughly, I won’t listen to the radio or watch TV if I can avoid it. I survive via Amazon Prime.

Basically, my favorite commercials are the ones for awesome scifi movies or SG-1 marathons.

4. You have to choose: would you prefer to live in 1916 or 2116?

2116 all the way!

I’m thrilled to be living at a point in time when we can kick off human colonization of space–this and the upcoming centuries are wonderful times to be alive!

5. What’s your favorite blog post that you wrote?

I love this question!

(Even if it’s hard.)

While “A Distinction Between Scientists and Engineers” is by far my most popular blog post, “Planet Generator” is my favorite. It is ridiculously long for a blog post, though, so when I get a chance, I’d like to break it up into more usable parts.

Because sharing ways to put science in scifi planets–that’s cool.

6. Are you a morning glory or a night owl?

I swear my coworkers can tell when I haven’t had time for tea. I drag myself into work early, so in the evening, when I feel alive, I can be doing the things I really love with (or without) the people I choose.

7. What office task or housekeeping chore would you gladly pay someone to do?

All of them if I had money?

Top on the list… Man, I delegate all this to my husband. I don’t even know what I hate most anymore. Cooking?

(You may want to think twice before eating anything I’ve made.)

8. Tell us about your writing projects.

In 2007, I embarked on a nine-book series that has now grown to include an additional two. Last April (2015), Cleveland Writers Press bought the rights to the first book, Rights of Use. In it, a mass kidnapping drags Speaker of the House Andy Rockefeller into the world of Project Black Book, the Air Force’s investigation into aliens, while his daughter Maggie and her new friend Sarah must face alien parasites and try to overthrow their oppressive empire.

CWP hired an awesome editor, and we’re polishing “Draft 9” into “Draft 11.” I’m super excited!

9. What’s at the top of your bucket list?

Right now, travel. First, I need to get to Billings, Montana, for research for the Project Black Book series.

Then I’d really like to visit some German-speaking countries just to travel and try something I’ve never done.

10. Who is your favorite child? Why is Jena C. Henry your favorite author? Ok, how about giving us your best advice about writing, editing, promoting, marketing your work.

Best advice? No one’s ever asked me for advice!

Here goes:

Nothing gets done without prioritizing the big things.

Background: I started this series the same month I started engineering school and met the most wonderful man in my life.  The day after graduation, I started work at a demanding aerospace job. A month later, I got married. Then I rewrote this book the…third?…time and found a publisher for it two years later (when they opened). In the meantime, I started attending conventions to learn about marketing in the local SF fan community.

And I started singing in a church band.

You can’t manage life without deciding what you aren’t doing.  There are many books, TV shows, and movies I’d love to experience. There are so many friends I’d love to spend days hanging out with.

I make the time I can for them, and I make time for the things that really matter, the things that are central to my existence. Everything else can wait, maybe indefinitely.

And to me, that’s success.

Tasks for the new nominees to continue the cross-promotion that is the Liebster Award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you (me) and link to their blog in your post. shannoneichorn.com
2. Copy and paste the Liebster Award badge into your post.
3. Answer the ten new questions from me; these are posted below the list of nominees.
4. Nominate ten newbie bloggers. Inform them by commenting on their blog with the news that they’ve been nominated and tell them to follow the link to your blog, which you will also give them.
5. List your ten new questions for them to answer.

Given my attitudes in the last question above, I acknowledge that my awareness of other blogs (especially those not nominated alongside me) is deplorable. On the premise that fiction and webcomics are other ways that we explore our connections to the world around us in blog-like platforms, here are my nominees:

1. Urvi B. Patel (@urvibpatel) is an as-yet-unpublished writer by default (and engineer by day). She’s restarting her blog and so far has an awesome post up on rewriting. This is a blog to keep an eye on!
2. Wasted Talent is about fangirl, mechanical engineer, and artist Angela Melick (@AngelaMelick) and her wacky, lovable life adventures.
3. Moxie Magnus (@MoxieMagnus) blogs about her life as Chief Xenocosmetologist aboard the USS Enterprise. It’s an amusing read–and she’s fun to look for at Midwest science fiction conventions!
4. Alex White, Writer (@thegearheart) started out producing his own really epic audiobooks, which I listened to on my drive into GE Aviation. That drive was way too short for the amount of adventure I wanted to experience! He also now has books coming out, which is awesome! If you, like I, are not much of a blog person nor an audiobook person, at least find his music to use as a background while writing.
5. Body Count Writers is a new blog about killing characters in fiction by three writers who’ve tallied up 24 deaths in their fiction so far. Full disclosure–I’m one of them–but the other two ladies are the ones who started it, so I nominate the two of them in the hopes that they’ll recover more time to update soon.
6. Dream by Day discusses a number of writing topics as well as business ideas and reflections.
7. Oberon’s Forge Press by Helen Savore discusses writing and revising, especially for series. (Among other projects, Helen is working on an awesome book called Phoenix Grail that I’m looking forward to reading.)
8. J. L. Gribble (@hannaedits) is a fantasy writer and science editor who’s active in the convention community, alongside her publisher, Dogstar Books. She blogs about writing, editing, and the life that surrounds it. (I waited a year to get my hands on her book Steel Victory.) Bonus: Ms. Gribble is coming to Cleveland Concoction in March!
9. Storysculpting by Karen Morris Herkes (@Dawnrigger) covers a lot of writing life, book reviews, and the business of publishing–and bonus–it’s by this awesome instant-friend I met at DragonCon 2015!
10. Not Another Fiery Readhead (@NotAnotherRed) is mainly a book review blog for England-based ginger Megan Entecott (my first beta!), but she also blogs as a female science fiction and Star Wars fan.

Bonus nod: It’d be awesome if she had a blog, but what Christie Pastor-Barsi (@CPBAeroSpace) does have is cool photos, especially of her travels around the world. Take a peek!

For the last segment, I need to propose questions for the nominees. Here goes:

1. Do you have any competing passions?
2. What would you say to someone who admires you and your work?
3. In your opinion, what is something everyone should do once in a lifetime?
4. What do you get from being an online content provider?
5. How do you feel about the future?
6. Cats or dogs (ie, let me throw you a bone)?
7. Favorite work of fiction?
8. Please tell us about your current projects.
9. Can you tell us about something special you have planned?
10. Coffee or tea (or something else)?