Razzle Dazzle!

The best feeling in the world is doing what you love and being recognized for it. Recently, a fellow blogger nominated me for The Dazzling Blogger award. Shelly of Growing with Spawn is an international lifestyle blogger. She’s been a wonderful source of guidance and support for me in my blogging journey (on and offline). If you have a free moment, please check out her site. She always has unique content and her writing style is so diverse which makes for interesting conversations. Thanks again Shelly!

The Official Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for The Dazzling Blogger award.
2. Link back to the original post.
3. Answer the seven questions that they asked on their blog post.
4. Make up seven new questions.
5. Nominate seven more people for The Dazzling Blogger award, who you think exemplifies excellent blogging skills.

Shelly’s questions for the nominees were:
1. What is the first thing you do each morning?
I am guilty of checking my phone as soon as I wake up. After that, I take my vitamin D with a sip of water.

2. How long does it take for you to write a blog post, edit, and post it?
I always have a running list of ideas and writing prompts. These come to me at any time in the day or night. I try to have a few posts scheduled ahead of time so that I’m never in a panic the day before (but this isn’t always the case). It’s always great when I have scheduled posts and sudden inspiration hits for another post that needs to go up right away because then it adds to my list of advance posts. I allow myself a full week to write, edit, and schedule a post.

3. What is the thing you fear the most in the blogging world?
Rejection and being misunderstood.

4. If your blog had an expiration date, what would it be? And why?
I put myself on a weekly schedule a while back. Secretly, I feel like if I ever allowed myself to skip a week that it may be the start of a downward slope. I hope there’s no expiration date because I intend to stick with this for a long, long time! After many years and numerous attempts at breaking down this wall of insecurity with my writing, I’m now like a broken dam that’s just burst open and I can no longer contain it or go back. It’s a good thing!

5. How has your blog transitioned over its lifetime?
I’m becoming more honest and open with my storytelling. I used to sit at my desk wondering how to start a post (seriously). “Do I just go right into it? Do I explain why I am writing this? What’s a good segue?” It sounds very elementary but I used to sit there and wonder how I could transition into a storyline, then I’d ask myself why this post is relevant to my “readers.” It would be such a process even before I had any words written down. I constantly second-guessed myself to the point where I let fear win.

6. Who is your blogging bestie? And why?
I don’t have one but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a long list of bloggers I admire. Life does get busy most days so it’s not always easy to keep up with all the blogs on my blogroll but when I can catch up, it’s so nice to see how everyone is keeping sane. 

7. If you were featured on the news, what would it be for?
“Local woman caught on dashcam speeding down a major road. Her excuse: she needed bread, the bakery was closing soon!”

I was previously nominated by Crystal Byers for The Golden Blogger award. Crystal said it best in her post about these recognitions (I am paraphrasing here): the intention behind these types of awards is to help recognize new and strong voices, and spark conversation. I tried to think of relevant and thought-provoking questions because those are the questions that I think really tell us about a person. 

I would be happy if each of the nominees decided to participate but please don’t feel any pressure to if you don’t have the time. I picked these candidates based on varying factors but mostly, I’m interested in seeing what their answers will be. I only had seven slots but this is open to everyone- feel free to participate in the comments section or via your own blog linking back to mine.

And the nominees for The Dazzling Blogger award are:
Where Good Advice Happens
Pete Springer
Crystal Byers
Happy Panda
Nuts and Crackers 
Motherhood Beyond Survival
The Spinstress

Here are the questions for my nominees:
1. Do you have any regrets in your life and if so, what would you say is your biggest regret?
2. What did you believe as a young kid that was totally silly/wrong/untrue?
3. If you had a life motto, what would it be?
4. What is one thing you still hope to accomplish at some point in your life?
5. What is one thing you worked so hard for or dreamed of that you were able to finally achieve or acquire? Was it as good as you thought it would be?
6. If you could have one superpower, what would your power be and why?
7. Can money really buy happiness? Why or why not?

At the start of the pandemic, I started a Whatsapp group where I corralled all my friends and each day I would pose one question (anything from simple curiosities to compelling subjects) to the group and we would all share our answers. I’ve missed a day here and there but for the most part we’ve all been doing it consistently for over a year now (still going). I personally enjoy doing it for so many reasons: it expands our mind, gives us something to think about, allows us to appreciate other perspectives we never considered before, we each have safe space to share a piece of ourselves, and it’s another way to stay connected in a lighthearted way. I highly recommend it!

I appreciate this community so much because everyone is so generous with their time (reading and commenting) and unconditional support. I love that we can gather as like-minded folks and share life stories and musings. It has been a fulfilling journey so far and I hope it never ends. Finally, to you– whoever you are (whether you’re a regular or a new reader who stumbled upon my blog), I just want to thank you for stopping by. I hope you stay a while but if you can’t, I hope my words have made a small, positive impact on your life in some way.

Liked this post? Check out other popular posts on my blog:

• The Wall
• Right Back At Ya
• Sister, Sister
• Because I Am
• I’m An Asshole