My First Award

Thanks to children's book author Stacy Nyikos over at Out There, I've been nominated to receive this lovely award. . .the lemonade stand!

The award is for great gratitude/attitude, and it wouldn't be right to accept it without showing some of my own gratitude. First, I am really thankful for Stacy being so thoughtful to nominate me, and to be patient with all of my novice-author questions. I love listening to her stories about writing and especially enjoy the "you might be a writer if..." posts every Friday. Stacy's also an avid traveler, and I find myself drooling when she tells a traveling story and talks about the stories she finds while traveling. Ahhh, I need more of that (traveling) in my life!

This is my first ever blog award, so I think it's appropriate to share some blog tips I've learned as I work to develop this blog. If you're looking to expand your group of followers, here are some tips you can use:

1) Follow other people's blogs and comment! This will inevitably bring people back to your blog.

2) I just read today that lists are one of the greatest things you can use that will bring people to your blog. 

3) Find a specialty or niche and stick to it. (I'm currently toying with the idea of starting a second blog, so I don't accidentally "mix pleasure with business." Perhaps a blog for author/editor stuff, and this blog for health and motherhood stuff. We'll see).

4) Post regularly. Readers will come back when they know you'll have new stuff. I've also found that since I started my Wednesday Walkthroughs, it's become a source of accountability. Even if I don't post the rest of the week, I make sure to get my Wednesday post in!

Finally, to make this award official, I am supposed to share Lemonade with 10 other bloggers by doing the following:

1. Post the logo on my blog.
2. Nominate 10 blogs with great gratitude/attitude.
3. List and link my nominees.
4. Alert them of their nomination on their blog.

Paying it forward, here are my 10 nominees:

1) Ally at Ally's Diary. Ally is always doing fun writing things, and she's great at regular posts. Plus, I love her voice. She's always fun, engaging and personal. 

2) Gabrielle at Design Mom. I'm pretty much a lurker on her site, but I love every single one of her posts! 

3) Farmhouse Musings. The products and thoughts on life here always make me smile. And this is one of the first blogs to comment on my blog and make me feel special. Thanks.

4) Tiffany at Lundeby's Baby + Kid. Go local! I love this place. Possibly one of my favorite places in Tulsa to shop. The more I get to know Tiffany, the more I realize I can learn from her. 

5) Resa at resadesign. Resa's been a great encourager as I continue to develop my entrepreneurial skills. Plus her products are super fun!

6) Kristin at On Writing, In Repose. Kristin is a former student of mine, but I take no credit for her incredible writing skills--she had all of those before she met me. She's going to be big one day. Just watch.

7) Matt at Life in a Newsroom. Also a former student of mine. He's already doing way more than I've done with my writing career, and I'm so impressed. I'm hoping this also encourages him to post more often because I love his stuff.

8) Amy at Seeking the Schmidts. A personal friend, and a personal crafting inspiration. This girl's craft room and paper collection will catch your breath.

9) Steph at Steph Lloyd. Again, go local! I love her photography and her new products that she's creating every day. 

10) Lisa Yee. Another big author. I love reading/looking at her posts. She always has a fun photo journalistic approach to her entries. And I'm a big fan of Peeps--the candy and her mascot. She's always doing fun author stuff. I want to be big like her one day :)