#AtoZChallenge Blogs I'm Most Looking Forward to Reading

I'm in a terrific mood today, because not only is it one of those rare Saturdays where I have no plans (this is good news for introverts like myself) but it's also the start of my two week long Easter holidays. This means I now have lots of time to engage in my favourite hobbies-reading, writing and blogging-and this makes me very happy indeed. The lovely, long lie-ins also help :)

Anyway, I've spent most of today trawling through the list of blogs that signed up for the A-Z Challenge theme reveal, bookmarking ones that seemed interesting or had a theme that appealed to me. I didn't manage to get to all the blogs (there are 544 on the list), but I did have a look at about 250 of them, so that's not bad! I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to leave any comments, but I do plan on visiting some of those blogs during the challenge to say 'Hi'.

Here is a 'shortlist' of some of the blogs I'm really looking forward to visiting during the challenge:

Click Me Quick (10)

Today it's time for 'Click me Quick'- a feature where I share the blog posts, web articles and videos that have uplifted, interested or inspired me over the past week.

This week I've found the following gems for those interested in books, art and creative writing:

Click Me Quick (9)

Today it's time for 'Click me Quick'- a feature where I share the blog posts, web articles and videos that have uplifted, interested or inspired me over the past week.

This week the internet has been dominated by the Ice Bucket Challenge (which is just as well as it's for a very  good cause). But I still found some bookish gems this week as well.

Book Blogger Love-a-Thon Mini Challenge 6: The Love-a-Thon Awards!

The final mini challenge of the 2014 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon is to nominate your favourite bloggers for awards, in the style of the Grammy's or Oscars. I've always loved these type of posts as I enjoy highlighting blogs that I think deserve attention as well as discovering some new blogs to visit.

This was a really hard challenge as there are so many fantastic blogs that I visit daily that deserve an award, but I had to narrow it down to mentioning 3-5 blogs per category.

Anyway, without further ado, I would like to announce my nominations for The Love-a-Thon Awards!
*Drum-roll please*

Click Me Quick (8)

Today it's time for 'Click me Quick'- a feature where I share the blog posts, web articles and videos that have uplifted, interested or inspired me over the past week.

Click Me Quick (7)

I hope you are all having a good weekend. I've been utterly lazy this weekend, only venturing out of the house to go to the pub! I'm enjoying re-charging my batteries and catching up with my blog posts. Today it's time for 'Click me Quick'- a feature where I share the blog posts, web articles and videos that have uplifted, interested or inspired me over the past week.

Click Me Quick (6)

I'm trying to keep on top of my memes and features this year, so as it's Saturday it's time for 'Click me Quick'- a feature where I share the blog posts, web articles and videos that have uplifted, interested or inspired me over the past week.

Click Me Quick (5)

Today it's time to recommend some fun and useful links, blogs and resources that I've stumbled upon during the week:

Click Me Quick (4)

Hi everybody, hope you're all having a good weekend. As well as getting some blogging and editing done I need to get some Christmas cards written today. How are you doing with your Christmas prep?

Today it's time to recommend some fun and useful links, blogs and resources that I've stumbled upon during the week.

Click Me Quick (3)

Hi everybody, hope you're all having a well-deserved rest and that you enjoyed Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it). Today it's time to recommend some fun and useful links, blogs and resources that I've stumbled upon during the week.

Click Me Quick (2)

Hi everybody, hope you've been enjoying the fireworks this week and are having a great weekend. Today it's time to recommend some fun and useful links, blogs and resources that I've stumbled upon during the week.

Click Me Quick (1)

Hi everybody, hope you all enjoying a well-deserved rest this weekend. Today I'm introducing a new feature to my blog: 'Click Me Quick'. Every weekend I'll be recommending some fun and useful links, blogs and resources that I've stumbled upon during the week.

Latest Nerd Obsessions: Pinterest and Polyvore

One reason I've been absent is that I have a new nerd obsession that has been taking up A LOT of my time: Pinterest. If you haven't heard of it, it's a kind of social networking site where you can post pictures of inspiring things that you see on the internet, and pin them to your own virtual corkboards according to theme. There are loads of craft tutorials, funny pictures and ecards, gift ideas, style inspiration, unique home designs, beauty ideas, recipes, wedding ideas and other creative things. For someone like me, who loves aving a visual medium to display and share ideas, it is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. I have spent far too many hours this month obsessively staring at pictures of unusual bookcases. So while I would definately recommend this website to like-minded individuals, I suggest you use with caution as it has the potential to take over your life. My profile can be found here.

Initial Impressions of Pottermore

Thanks to my lovely thoughtful sister, I finally managed to get into the beta version of Pottermore last week (I'm BludgerMarauder143) and now I've completed the first book I thought I'd write a post about my impressions so far and explain more about what it's all about.

What is Pottermore?
That's a darn good question. The hype of Pottermore was very mysterious and J. K Rowling described it as 'an interactive reading experience'. Essentially it is a cross between a social networking site (you have a profile, can add friends and post comments) and a game (you can play your way through the Harry Potter books).

Blogversary contest at SusanneWrites

Susanne Winnacker is holding an awesome contest over at SusanneWrites called the Blogversary contest. It's in honour of her blog reaching a year old on March 5th. Two lucky winners get to choose one of a great selection of 2011 debut novels including Across the Universe by Beth  Revis and A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford. The contest is open intenationally and ends on March 5th. You can earn entries into the draw by commenting on her post, becoming a follower, following Susanne on twitter and facebook and tweeting about it. It's so easy to enter and there are great prizes, so what are you waiting for? Head on over and enter today!

Awards, Yay!

Out of the blue today I discovered that two fellow bloggers had bestowed upon me some fabulous awards! This may not be the Oscars but I'm pretty thrilled as it's the first time I've got an award for my humble blog.

This one was from Brooke over at Paper Mountain:


Requirements:
1. Link to the blogger who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 bloggers recently discovered.
4. Notify the blogger recipients.

I Write Like Stephen King

My friend Brooke at Paper Mountain pointed out an awesome website called I Write Like. You can paste an excerpt from your novel into the box and it uses a statistical analysis tool to compare your word choice and writing style to that of numerous favourite authors.

Here was my result for the first chapter of my NaNoWriMo piece, The Hole Within.

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

The Alliterative Allomorph's awesome giveaway!

Okay, so I've never dedicated a post to another blog before, but this one definately deserves a mention. Jessica Bell, at The Alliterative Allomorph is only 45 away from a whopping 400 followers! To celebrate this massive achievement she is holding a truly generous giveaway that closes on the 2nd December. Unlike many other giveaways, there is no hard work required. You don't have to send in any writing, all you have to do to have a chance of winning is to become a follower, and there are other things you can do to boost up your points too.

Sources for Writing Advice and Tips

Here are some useful links to sites and articles that offer some general writing advice and tips:

Publishing Process Resources

Here is a list of links to articles, blog posts and sites about querying and publishing that I found really interesting and informative.