I Get a Gold Star!

So, guys, I was really surprised last week when my writer friend, Calisa Rhose, nominated my blog as a Blog of the Year for 2012!

Calisa and I have known one another for about four years and have a kind of unique story: We both joined a critique group of unpublished writers at about the same time. Only a few of us had submitted anything, anywhere. There were 8 of us...within the first year, three of us were published and now, four years later, almost all of us have at least one published book out 'out there'. It's been my pleasure to grow as a writer with these girls, to begin new friendships - and to read their books!

Here's what the Blog of the Year is all about:


1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award (not just one or two, it's blog-owner's choice...and I have some special people to pass along to y'all)!

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award –http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook page – click the link here ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/groups/BlogoftheYear/ and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!

When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

So, without further ado, here are a few blogs that caught my attention and kept me coming back in 2012:

Christine Warner:  Christine is a great lady, a fun blog hostess and a killer Words with Friends player. She beats me regularly and yet...I keep coming back because I never know what word-i-don't-know that she'll play. She's awesome. Her 10-4 Tuesday posts always introduce me to the most interesting people and her What to Read Wednesdays have put a LOT of new books on my keeper shelf. 

Liz Flaherty: I've known Liz for several years; we're part of a critique group that has created our own blog, host pitch sessions and other authors. We don't critique as much as we once did, but when any of us have a WIP problem, we turn to one another first. Plus, she writes some of the most romantic not-romance-first books I've ever read.

Jill Kemerer: Jill is an amazing writer, encourager and all-around fun person to be around. I met Jill a couple of years ago at my first RWA chapter meeting. She was professional and sweet and a few weeks later our chapter had a brainstorming weekend. And Jill's true colors came out - and there are a LOT of colors! Jill cracked me up the entire weekend, made me wonder about her sanity (there was this idea she had about a killer twist to a book that involved pirate coins and a very ... ah ... strained sister relationship. One sister wound up dead) and yet I came away from that weekend with so many solid ideas. I'd refilled my well, as we say in our chapter, and Jill was part of the reason.