Honest (S)crap Award

Bend me over and strike me pink, the wonderful Catherine J Gardner (the classy lady I've placed on the pedestal as the caring overseer of our little writing group of friends - who anyone is welcome to join) has nominated me for an Honest Scrap award.

The Award and Rules:

This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.

The rules are as follows:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.

2. Choose a minimum of 5 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

The Honest Scrap Award goes to....

The following nominees are all part of our growing online group of writers and friends who I have come to love and adore for their support and kindness.

Jamie Eyberg - has become a good friend even though we are separated by miles and miles of ocean. Any writer who is also a stay at home dad, can rebuild his own house, and shoot wild animals from distance - oh, and he can write, is good in my books and deserves all the honours he can get.

Danielle Ferries - I'm a sucker for a pretty face and an emerging talent. D is both of those, and an Australian writer to watch in the not-too-distant-future. I'm all for supporting young writers who write exceptional weird stuff.

Aaron Polson - writer, teacher, and editor extraordinaire. This guy has written some truly awesome stories that make the skin crawl and the hairs stand on end - and he's a friend of mine. It just keeps getting better and better...

Natalie L Sin - A lady I'm sure was born a man inside a woman's body. When we are all famous, Nat will be the one at our yearly get together in Aspen who keeps the party going for days on end. And who could go past a blog which regularly highlights the world's need for Korean boy bands - err, maybe I should take this award back...

Jameson T Caine - A truck driver with a latin named blog who writes wonderful prose and has an awesome writing space, who seems very down to earth and an all around nice guy. I'm more than happy to count him among my writing friends.

10 Honest things about me (that I haven't already divulged on this blog...)

1. I prefer to write than to watch my kids play sport. I don't, but I wish I could.

2. I only drink alcohol during summer and then only at the cricket club, and usually only a couple of cans on a Saturday night. I can't remember the last time I got really drunk.

3. If given the choice, I will drive. I consider myself an excellent driver and have faith in my ability to get out of trouble and protect those travelling with me. I have varying levels of faith in other drivers I travel with.

4. I can live on turkey and mayo sandwiches.

5. I drink Farmers Union Iced Coffee by the gallon. It is normal for me to have two or three 600ml cartons a day.

6. I am a leader in my sporting club, I am not shy in coming forward with suggestions at work, but I am extremely insecure about my writing.

7. I would kill to protect my kids and my wife - and I know how it can be done in many ways - some untraceable by pathology.

8. I rarely get a fit of the giggles, but when I do, I can't stop. I carry on well past the point where it hurts, and it's very easy to set me off again once I get started - which my wife has great pleasure in using against me.

9. I love Formula One racing and was a big Schumacher fan. I still support Ferrari.

10. At the completion of writing my first manuscript, "Tigers Eye", I found an article claiming some writers got paid nearly 80 cents a word. I began planning my retirement as I packaged up my manuscript, a synopsis, and query and sent it to a reputable Australian agency with the greeting of "Hi from a nervous new writer" - I shit you not - If you take nothing else from this post, never do this. Never tell any agent you're a new anything. You're a writer, be professional, or at least try to portray an air of a professionalism.