Last week, I had the pleasure of being nominated for the Liebster Award by the wonderful Jessi Gage. Jessi has recently released a fantasy romance called WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER that I highly recommend. I’ve fallen in love with her hunky hero, Darcy, a 16th Century Scot who comes to the aid of a 21st Century pregnant museum worker when she’s transported to his era. Visit Jessi’s blog to learn more about her and her delightful novel. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
So how does the Liebster Award work? Here are the rules:
Thank the person who nominated you (thank you, Jessi!).
Post eleven random facts about yourself.
Answer eleven questions asked by the person who nominated you.
Think of a new set of eleven questions and nominate eleven others to answer them.
My eleven random facts:
1. I love gypsy-style clothing
2. My nickname in high school was “Starchild”
3. I have a bizarre fear of bears
4. I am madly in love with the character of Aloysius Pendergast, created by authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- From a party a few years ago (my hair was a lot shorter). That’s my aunt with me. I can always count on her to be a dancing partner!
5. Someday I would like to buy a Jaguar (the car, not the animal!)
6. I prefer small gatherings to large parties
7. I can’t whistle
8. I love to be outside when it’s warm and windy
9. I’ve always loved vegetables, even as a kid
10. I am an avowed ‘cat person’
11. I love, l-o-v-e, LOVE to dance!
Jessi’s eleven questions:
1. Who was your idol growing up?
I had several…Michael Landon, Paul McCartney, David Soul, David Hedison and David Cassidy. Hmm…guess I liked a lot of Davids! 🙂
2. Who motivates you to be the best you can be?
My husband. I’m good at motivating myself most of the time, but when I hit a wall, he’s the one who helps me over it.
3. What’s your favorite morning ritual?
Coffee! It used to be tea until hubby and I discovered Keurig.
My office. Decorated with balloons and bags of chips!
4. Fudge or salty snacks?
Salty. I’m addicted to chips. Several years ago on my birthday, my staff at work filled my office with small bags of Middleswarth chips. They were everywhere–on my desk, my file cabinet, the bookshelves, windowsills. Needless to say, my chip addiction is well known 🙂
5. Beer or wine?
Wine, but it has to be dry.
6. What’s the biggest challenge you face as a blogger?
Making time. I love to blog and rarely lack for content/ideas. It’s just squeezing the hours from a day that is usually overflowing to begin with.
7. What’s your favorite season?
It used to be spring, but I find myself leaning more toward summer these days.
8. Where do you go to get away from stress and regroup?
I don’t necessarily have a place as much as a mindset. I like to read or work on a WIP. In warm weather, I love relaxing on my back porch and deck.
9. If you’re a writer, how many books do you aim to write per year? Are you making your goal?
Two books per year. So far so good, but it’s hard with juggling a full-time job.
10. Who’s on your ereader right now?
WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER by Jessi Gage! LOL!
11. If you look out the window right now, what do you see?
A large white cross. It’s on the church in a field behind my house.
My 11 questions for my nominees:
1. What was your favorite book as a child?
2. What famous person from history do you admire most?
3. If you could have a superpower, which would you choose?
4. Who is your favorite fairytale character and why?
5. When it comes to movies, what is your favorite genre?
6. Who was your teenage celebrity crush?
7. Would you describe yourself as an introvert, extrovert, or somewhere in between?
8. What was your favorite subject in school?
9. What is your favorite board game?
10. What is your favorite form of social media?
11. Would you rather spend a lazy day at a secluded beach soaking up the sun, or a day in a tourist town that offers numerous attractions?
From the ‘Starchild’…my senior year of high school, LOL!
And my nominees are:
1. Donna Cummings
2. L.J. Kentowski
3. Loni Flowers
4. Sheri de Grom
5. Lorraine Paton
6. Calisa Rhose
7. Susan Koenig
8. Emma Meade
9. Mackenzie Crowne
10. Debbie Peterson
11. Renita Pizzitola
I’m looking forward to seeing your facts and answers, ladies! Thanks again to Jessi Gage for the nomination. I enjoyed participating. This was a lot of fun! 😀
From the Pen of Mae Clair 
Thanks Mae for thinking of me. You are still a starchild–twinkling ever so brightly wherever you go in the universe.
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That’s so sweet of you, Sheri 🙂 Thank you!
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How sweet that your husband is your inspiration! That was so sweet. Mae, it was a pleasure getting to know you better in this post. I love that you admitted to your chip addiction. As far as addictions go, that’s not a bad one to have;-)
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My husband and I met in high school when he was a senior and I was a sophmore. He’s been by my side through thick and thin, and that has never changed. As for my chip addiction, the girls at my office had way to much fun with that. They actually went to a chip distributor to buy such a large box!
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Congrats on the nomination, Starchild 🙂 and thanks so much for mine! Loved to hear about the fun you have dancing the nights away 🙂
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Thanks, L.J. Hubby doesn’t like to dance but a lot of the ladies in the family do. We always have a blast whenever there’s a band or DJ!
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Starchild appears to have had a bit of an attitude. LOL Love it. Thanks so much for thinking of me, Mae. I’m honored. I’m off to NYC in the morning with a crazy schedule for the next week at least but I’ll try to get mine up asap.
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Oh, yeah, the seventeen year-old me had LOTS of attitude, LOL. Have fun in NYC, Mac. I’ll be looking forward to your Liebster whenever you have time. 🙂
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Gypsy style clothing – very cool. Why Starchild? I’m curious.
Thanks for the award, Mae.
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Everyone knew I was a writer of fantasy and sci-fi. Between that and the way I dressed (lots of skirts with hankerchief hems, harem pants, fringes and jewlery), the name was given to me by someone in my creative writing class. I remember a teacher reading something I had written aloud to the class without telling them who the author was and one of the guys (Barry) immediately said “The starchild must have written that.”
My year book is filled with endless comments about my writing and the way I dressed, LOL!
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Aw, that’s lovely. I’d cherish my yearbook if it had such nice comments. Your fashion choices sounds so cool
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I think that “dance” picture should have been a video! So much fun to read a little bit more about Mae Clair…she’s a gem! Thanks for thinking of me and I’ll get working on my post!
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LOL, thanks, Debbie. I had fun at that party. I always love to dance! 🙂 And I’ll be looking forward to your post and your answers!
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To answers some of the questions: and thank you for the award!
My fav book as a child was the Madeline series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeline. I still own one of the books with my drawings intact. My mother totally got sick of reciting them to me. In her old age she could still recite them! (I tried to write a vampire children’s story based on the series…)
I don’t have answers for most of these questions, sorry
I don’t have fav genres in books or film. It it’s good I’ll read it or see it. I do decide whether to see a film based on the director though.
You’ll have no idea who he was – Fabian was my teen celebrity crush
I’m basically an extravert but if in uncomfortable company not so much
My fav subject in school was math….
Does Yahtzee count as a board game?
I’m not on twitter am on facebook for writing group. I’m on the computer all day with one thing or another, enough is enough
I like to do the tourist thing in the morning and laze at the beach in the afternoon
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Believe it or not, Sue, I do remember hearing of Fabian 🙂 Yahtzee is always a fun game! The answer that surprises me the most is…math. Seriously? Ugh! Definitely my worst subject. But I loved science. Makes no sense, I know, LOL. Thanks for posting!
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got over the math – now can’t balance cheque book. A good friend, an author, used to be in the sciences too. Our younger selves are in some ways very different from our current personalities
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Mae, I LOVED the pics you included of yourself dancing and as “Starchild”. I agree with others, that name had your destiny written all over it. I bet we would have really hit it off in H.S, girl! Gypsy clothes, I still dig! And well, you know how I feel about David Soul.. sigh(oh, and chips, too!!).
You and your hubby have the sweetest love story. How wonderful you found each other so early on and still are so good together. That’s a true blessing, and a real HEA!
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We would have been buds even back that far, Venice (er, but we won’t say how long ago that was, LOL). Glad to hear you still love gyspy clothing too. And yeah, sometimes it’s really amazing to think my hubby and I have been together as long as we have. I knew the moment I met him he was ‘the one!’ 🙂
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