I want to extend my thanks to Medieval Otaku of Aquila et Infans for nominating Lady Blade Blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. Be sure to check out their site as he and his partner in crime have interesting posts on writers and writing.
Here is a short list of the rules:
- Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
- Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
- Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
- Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
- Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
So here goes. Blogs that are interesting and informative and that tickle my fancy. My list of nominees for the Versatile Blogger Award:
- Growing Great Writers from the Ground Up
- We Didn’t Come Here for the Grass
- The Old Foodie
- Know San Jose
- Interesting Literature – Yeah, that
- Parmenion Books
- Indie Authors and Books
- Blood Red Pencil
- Novel Rocket
- English Historical Fiction Authors
- Passages to the Past
- Writer’s First Aid
- Ja Konrath Blog
- Book Banter
- YA Highway
Okay, seven things about me in no particular order…
1. I was a competitive sport fencer for over ten years. It’s been a number of years since I wielded my foil, but I always play around with the idea of going back to it. Some day. The fencing Maestro in Lady Blade is based on my own fencing Maestro, John DeCesare.
2. My husband Tom and I spent part of our honeymoon in Tuscany, Italy and I fell in love with the landscape and the decor. Hence, not only did I set the beginning of Lady Blade in Tuscany, I redecorated our house in a sort of “Tuscany meets Napa Valley” style. Lots of warm colors and dark wood moldings. It may not be a Tuscan villa, but it’s our little bit of heaven. (Or it will be ours in 30 years when the mortgage is paid off.)
3. I am a belly-dancer. I especially love sword dancing. Which means, not only can I beat most people with a sword, I can dance with it balanced on my head afterwards. (or before, I’m not particular.)
4. Tom and I recently did our first Kickstarter. It was a great success, we reached well over 200% of the funding we asked for. I have a degree in art and I drew a map of Silicon Valley done in Lord of the Rings style. You can see the Kickstarter here – including a video of Tom and me talking about the project. (We both hate seeing ourselves on film!) The map is now on sale on our website, Urban Realms and on Amazon. Currently I’m working on a map of Columbus Ohio for one of our backers, and we’ve got a new Kickstarter in the works. I’m not saying what that is since I don’t want to jinx it.
5. Tom and I recently started a business selling Dungeons and Dragons related art and stuff called Urban Realms. (I did all the web design as well as creating most of the products.) Tom’s been a gamer for close to 30 years. I’ve been gaming for about 15 years. Some of my favorite characters to play; Bruinhilda, a tough-as-nails female Dwarf, Sapphire, a stealthy human thief with a penchant for long thin blades, Felazeal, a gay bard with a flair for the dramatic, and The Wall, (based on the Tick) who’s dense, both mentally and physically and who’s battle cry is, “Evil doer, you face, the Wall!”
6. I love power tools. I do a lot of work on our house including designing and building built-in cabinets and seating, remodeling most of our bathroom, and re-plastering all the walls. I own and use on a semi-regular basis a table saw, router, saws-all, miter, circular and saber saws, drill press, dremel, orbital sander… Okay, you get the idea. My pet peeve; when I go to Home Depot with my husband and the guy in the tool coral insists on talking to Tom instead of me. (He’s more of a car guy.)
7. I was a glass artist for over 15 years. I worked mostly in fused glass, firing it my kiln. I had a line of jewelry, sun-catchers, and yard sculptures called The Goddess Collection based of 15 goddess from around the world. You can still see my artwork at Bella Lumina.com. I closed down my business to go back to writing. I wrote my first book when I was eighteen. It is available on Amazon as well. It’s called Quest of the Faes. (Okay, that’s sort of two things.)
Probably a lot more than you ever wanted to know, but them’s the rules. 🙂
Awesome blog. Congrats on the success. I hope to take my medieval blog up to your level but realize it will take a great deal of time. How long have you been at it on your site?
How did you get into fencing btw?
Thanks Matt!
I like your blog too! Your post on Medieval torture devices reminded me,I just finished reading the Hunchback of Notre Dame and there was another torture device used in there. something you put on the feet to crush them. I can’t remember what they called it. (it was considered mild at the time.) They sure put the evil in Medieval didn’t they.
I’ve been blogging about a year and a half. I’m up to 572 posts! I’m trying to find time for longer posts, but life does get hectic.
My brother fenced when he was at Purdue and he got me interested. There are local clubs all over the place. It’s a great sport and really keeps you in shape! Not to mention the adrenalin rush when a sword is coming at you at a high rate of speed.
Thanks again!
Cathy
Cathy,
That is awesome, I will have to check it out. I know I can add tons more devices.
Wow that is consistency. I’m pretty new.
That is awesome. Would be crazy.
Matt