Saturday, November 27, 2010

In the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving...

Okay, well I started writing this in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving, but at about 2 am I gave up. All of my creative juices of the evening went into making a new blog titlebar picture or whatever you call it. I used pictures I've taken (well, one was taken by my husband) on different travels about the globe. Except for the sunset pic, that was from our front yard. Now that I've spent all the time making it, I can't decide whether I really like it or not, so if it comes down in a few days you'll know which side of the argument prevailed.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a lovely and delicious Thanksgiving. I did (my Tofurkey was scrumptious as usual). Speaking of giving thanks, I was honored and delighted to receive the Honest Scrap Award from Colene Murphy at The Journey! Thanks, Colene! I started out this blog with the intent of writing a completely honest account of my adventures in writing and trying to get an agent, and I'm glad that I'm doing my job. Colene's blog is super awesome. I haunt it with regularity. And if you need more reasons to visit, I put a link below to a hilarious Harry Potter interview she posted.  Check it out!

So, the award rules state that I am to share 10 things about myself. Here goes:

1) I like to talk about myself. I don't think I am overly narcissistic (for a writer), but I'm just an open book and like to share my stories (again, writer).
2) I live on five acres in the country with two horses, a pony, a dog and three cats, two children, and one husband. My neighbor has cows and a vineyard (interesting combo, right?).
3) My 'real' job (the full-time one that pays the bills) is for an educational non-profit corp. I'm a manager, and seriously hope I am not like Michael Scott in real life (like I was for Halloween).
4) None of my coworkers know how serious I am about writing. I amuse myself with the thought that it's my secret life.
5) I'm kind of like Garfield. I love food and sleeping. I don't cook much, but I like to eat the delicious things my husband makes, and could go nuts in Fresh Market or Whole Foods. I've never even been in a Whole Foods, but I am waiting for them to bring one to my city.
6) I used to bleach my hair blonde, and then accidently went pink for a weekend while I was changing to red, which lasted for a while, and then eventually I went back to my natural brown. Black hair has always been my favorite, but I've never been brave enough to go there.
7) I'm a major crier. I cry when I'm happy, sad, angry, or when something just makes me emotional (something beautiful, triumphant, sweet). Seeing other people cry makes me cry. Sometimes I really annoy myself with it.
8) One day, I'd like to become really involved in some sort of global project. I'm passionate about protecting the environment, and stopping animal cruelty, and women's rights. My degree in Sociology, while pretty much useless in my day job, added a lot of fuel to my save-the-world fire.
9) I am a certified equine sports massage therapist. When I was in my teens, I used to compete with my horses, and flew out to Colorado to learn how to massage them. I actually had quite a few paying clients at one point. I haven't done it in years, though I still get the occasional request.
10) When I was 15, I started working at this awesome cafe run by hippies and earned the nicknames 'Lex-Ann' and 'Lexicon'. I find the Lexicon one amusing since I am a writer and considered fitting that into my blog title, but then figured I wasn't really quite fantastic enough of a word smith to get away with it (I should be; but since we’re still being honest and stuff…).

So, now that you know 10 random things about me, I'd like to pass on this lovely award to five fellow bloggers that I think have honest and delightful blogs full of great writery stuff:

Lola Sharp at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Jai Joshi at Jai Joshi's Tulsi Tree
Melissa at Through the Looking Glass
Donea Lea at Queen of Procrastination
Shallee McArthur at Life, the Universe, and Writing

Check out their blogs, they rock!

Now, as a bonus for everyone, here are a few things that caught my attention on my blogging adventures this week. The Rejectionist is having a New Year's Pre-Resolution Uncontest, and she also had a hilarious Harry Potter music video that had me LMAO. For more on Harry Potter, check out this interview on Colene's blog. More LMAO. And, to wrap things up on an educational note, here's a really good post on query letters by the ever-awesome Nate Bransford. A cool way to look at writing them if you are in the mood to revamp yours.

9 comments:

  1. Yeay! Great facts! Super jealous of your horses and pony! I would love to have horses! And you massage them!? Cool!!
    AND I love your new banner thingy! I think it's beautiful and you did a really amazing job on it!

    Thanks for the shout outs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, thanks so much, Alexia. I'll treasure it. I love this award!

    Jai

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on the award- I love your facts. I am a HUGE crier too. I actually hate it. I listened to Wicked today and cried. I cry when I'm mad at someone, so I know if I ever march down to the school to give them a piece of my mind, I'll just cry while I'm trying to talk. Commercials make me cry. So annoying! Your "real" job sounds awesome, and massaging horses sounds totally awesome. Oh, and your new banner is awesome- you should keep it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It was great getting to know more about you! And thanks for the award. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats for your awards, Alexia. I loved reading the ten random things about you. I am a huge crier too, though now I am trying to break that habit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. By the way, in reading through ten honest things list yesterday I was struck that you are a certified equine sports massage therapist. If I put on a horses head will you give me a massage? Or I'll like puck in Midsummer Night's Dream and walk around with an asses head. Anything for a massage!

    Jai

    ReplyDelete
  7. First, CONGRATS on your award! ✩♡✩
    I enjoyed your 10 things.
    I also cry easily. That's okay. I think it's good to feel things deeply and be empathetic. :)

    And THANK YOU for passing the award along to me. I'm honored and grateful. ☼ You've made my day a little brighter.☀

    Oh, and I to like the new header. :)

    Love,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oops...I TOO like the new header. (I type faster than I should and never proof read comments...and I should!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Harry Potter music video is fan-freaking tastic!

    I LOVE your facts. You live with horses and on acre-ridge? I wish I had horses, I love riding and used to go to a camp for two weeks every summer where I got to ride every day. And then I got too old. I miss it SO much.

    I think experiencing emotion in a deep and meaningful way (moreso than others) is a trait NEEDED by writers in order to properly convey the emotions of our characters. You know what I mean?

    I doubt you're actually like Michael Scott. I truly believe he is a unique individual.

    Congratulations on your award and thank you so much for passing it along to me. It's so sweet and thoughtful of you.

    Your new header is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete

I love talking with friends new and old! What's on your mind?