Rosemary West, author of the wonderful relationship blog For Better – or What? was gracious enough to nominate my blog for The Liebster Award. When I was just starting to blog, Rosemary posted a glowing review of my blog on her list of marriage blogs she’s been reading. A mention like that is invaluable when starting out with a just handful of followers, most of whom you either know or are closely related to. Please check out Rosemary’s site.

Liebster is the German word for sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, endearing, and welcome. The Liebster Award says, “Hey, I like what you’re doing. Let me mention you on my site so that that others will discover you, too.”

As I understand it, The Liebster Award is a bloggers equivalent of “pay it forward”: a way of recognizing up-and-coming bloggers for the quality of their work and asking them to introduce their readers to others whose work is worth looking at.

As part of accepting the award, I am asked to nominate five bloggers whom I think deserve to be noticed and to answer a set of questions about myself as a blogger so that my readers can learn a bit more about me.

My nominees:

Olivia – We Got So Far To Go
Evelyne – Evelyne Holingue
Jay Blevins – Awen Therapy Blog
Lisa Arends – Lessons From The End Of A Marriage
Samantha – Repairing Shattered Pieces

Rosemary’s Questions To Me

1. How long have you been blogging?
I started my blog in late July.

2. What do you like best about blogging?
Blogging is really different from the other writing I do. Blogging is actually its own genre, with it’s own rules that I’m just learning. Catchy headlines, artwork, short and to the point paragraphs, powerful last sentences designed to leave the reader with something to mull over. What I like best is the challenge to come up with something fresh and thought provoking and to take it from start to finish in a few hours. I also really like hearing from my readers and look forward to the dialogue.

3. Do you consider it important to post blog articles frequently?
I post every Sunday evening. Any more frequently would dilute the quality and would take it from fun to arduous.

4. What kinds of blogs do you like to follow?
I follow several blogs about marriage, a few about people’s experience after divorce, recovering from infidelity, one about coping with anorexia, one amazing blog about raising a gender non-conforming child, and a handful of blogs about what it means to be a writer and the struggles writing entails. Another favorite is one about the expression of opinions.

5. Have you written a book? If not, would you like to?
I am in the process of completing a book. A simple description is that it’s a book about how in the course of learning to be a couples therapist, I came upon the tools to repair my own wobbly-but-worth-saving marriage. Self-help meets memoir meets stand-up comedy routine as I invite the reader to watch me be architect and carpenter of my own marriage remodel.

6. What was the last book you read?
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.  Exceptionally good.

7. If money were no obstacle, where would you go on your next vacation?
To South Africa to see the big animals in Kruger National Park.

8. If you could be famous for something you’re not already famous for, what would it be?
Fabulous pumpkin pie, but I may already be famous for that, at least in close circles.

9. In general, do you think you’ve learned more from your successes or from your failures?
No question, I’ve learned most from my failures. My philosophy is that we learn from practice and from being wiling to courageously fail and be willing to try again.  Not just about persistence but about curiosity and an enthusiasm for experimenting.

10. Seen any good movies lately?
Brooklyn Castle, a documentary about middle-schoolers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and their winning pursuit of the national chess championship. Inspiring, funny, touching. Left me amazed by what people can do when they’re encouraged to aim high.