In Which I Am Nominated for a Blogger Recognition Award

After a hot-as-blazes day and a night of torrential rain, it is with delight that I’ve discovered I’ve been nominated for a Blogger Recognition Award by 18 Cinema Lane, who shares my love for all things Hallmark, and who is often a LOT nicer than I am. She is extremely positive and upbeat, and I want to be her when I grow up.

Check out her excellent work here – https://18cinemalane.wordpress.com/ and THANK YOU SO MUCH!

The rules of this award are simple:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and feature a link to their blog in your award post.
2. Post the award banner somewhere on your blog.
3. Share the reason why you started your blog.
4. Share two pieces of advice that could benefit new bloggers.
5. Nominate a maximum of fifteen other bloggers.
6. Tell your nominees about your award post so they can participate!

1and 2 are done, so onto the next.

I started the blog because I had been emailing two friends with up-to-the-minute thoughts on my Hallmark obsession, and one of them (or both) maybe because they were annoyed that I filled their inbox on a weekly basis, or maybe because they are awesome human beings and care about my creative outlet, suggested that I start a blog. I am a writer who doesn’t work in a real writery / creative field, plus, as readers know, I have 2 boys, so I don’t get a lot of time to work on my own stuff. Often I can only squeak out just enough time for me to watch and comment on a 100-minute movie (without commercials). I know one of these delightful friends wishes I would work on my still-in-progress (for 7 years) novel, but sometimes it is just easier to react to something and be funny and creative, then sitting alone trying to be funny and creative with just my brain, some Twizzlers, and my iTunes playlist.

Advice: Don’t be afraid to write about something that means something to you because odds are, it’ll mean something to other people. I am FLABBERGASTED that, after I took about a 6-month hiatus from Hallmark movies (watched a lot of Dr. Who during that time) there were still readers who found my blog every day. And they’re from all sorts of different places – which goes to the power of Hallmark movies and how they just want to be a cozy blanket for you when the world is a dumpster fire.

Another piece of advice: don’t be afraid to branch out from your core to do some things that are a little different. Started this with Hallmark in mind, but the post that has the most views is the one from Netflix, with nary a Hallmark card or strategically placed Folger’s Coffee Can in site. Do what you want, and people will come.

Embarrassingly, I don’t have a lot of time to follow a lot of blogs, but the ones I do, are fun, and helpful. I’m nominating:

Harlequin Junkie: https://harlequinjunkie.com/

Red Lemonade: http://redlemonade.blogspot.com/

Jane Austen Variations: http://austenvariations.com/

So thank you, again, 18 Cinema Lane. And thanks to all the people out there from everywhere who are reading my crazy thoughts about why set designers put Christmas trees up without tree skirts, and why prop people out there never remember to put things in purses, and all the many, many, many Sad Times characters encounter on their way to happiness. I love doing it, just so you don’t have to.