Very Inspiring Book Blogs Award

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award is flying like an angel around the blogosphere, touching down on many of the dedicated and inspiring people out there dedicated to books and writing and sharing the word on literature.

Very Inspiring Book Blogger Award

I’m very proud to be nominated for this award.

A big thanks to Claire, over at the wonderful Word by Word, for nominating me for this award. Claire is a book reviewer extrordinaire, and I often rely in her excellent recommendations for my reading lists. But Claire is also a talented author, and someone I’m eager to catch with up one of these years at the annual Matera Women’s Fiction Festival.

If you want a preview of the beauty of this cave town in southern Italy, check out the amazing Matera Happy video Claire posted on her site. Oh, I forgot to mention that Claire’s a down-under expat now living in beautiful Provence, France. Envy, envy.. : )

The award has the following rules:

  • Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
  • List the rules and display the award.
  • Share seven facts about yourself.
  • Nominate other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
  • Optional: display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

Seven things you may not know about me:

B17

  1. I live in a soccer mad country (Italy), yet I ignore it half the time. But I tend to be a bit Dr Jekyl/Mr. Hyde about the sport during the European Championships and the World Cup, when I‘m often sleep-deprived from watching all the exciting country-against-country matches… like the recent, amazing Germany-Brazil slaughter match.
  2. After years of living in Italy, I’m fluent in talking with my hands
  3. I suffer from acute travel addiction, and I have absolutely no plans for treatment programs on the horizon
  4. I’m studying Chinese (great fun!) and I once thought I was doing quite well in a class oral presentation about skiing. My classmates were following along, but my professor was confused. Turns out my tones were wrong. Seems I was talking about the excitement of studying chemistry (rather than skiing) during the winter season, and the relative merits of studying chemistry in the Alps or the Apennine mountains. *Zheesh!*
  5. Drinking good wine on a sun-drenched Italian piazza is pure bliss
  6. Love, love, love cracking open a new book (the Kindle’ll never do it for me)
  7. Favorite ‘conquering sexism’ moment: As a young TV journalist, I had the (amazing) opportunity to take a flight on an old WWII plane, the B-17 (the Flying Fortress). All my fellow journalists on the flight were men, and when the vomit bags were distributed in the non-pressurized cabin, they all teased me mercilessly that I’d spend the whole flight sick. Turns out they’d gotten it all wrong. I got my revenge hanging out in the cockpit with the pilots, laughing along with them while all the macho male journalists were turning green  in the hold, filling up bag after bag with the contents of their stomachs. I don’t think one dared look me in the eye when we landed, but I certainly made a point of approaching all of them and asking how they enjoyed the flight.

Book bloggers who inspire me:

  • Amber Paulen at Descriptedlines – Editor and author Amber is a Rome writing group buddy, and always has great book recommendations, alongside takes on life in Italy
  • Acting in English –Terianne and Frank are amazing Rome critique group buddies, who also bring their acting talents to the page. They’re also teaching a new acting class aimed primarily at writers.
  • The Writes of Women– This is the place I go to keep up with all the amazing women authors out there who are getting far, far less coverage than their male counterparts. Thank goodness there are bloggers out there helping to level the playing field.
  • Nicola Layouni – Talented author Nicola blogs about her writing life on her site, and she’s just released a fabulous romance/adventure/fantasy/battle epic series.
  • Evelyne Holingue – French transplant in California Evelyne blogs about life and writing, and is an author of YA novels. Even more amazingly, she writes in both French and English. Brava, Evelyne!
  • Divorced Companion’s Guide to Living in Italy– Matera buddy Catherine hosts an amazing blog musing about life in Italy and writing. An impressive woman of talent, she’s also a pro at maneuvering steep cobblestone Matera streets in vertiginous heels. Each year, I’m impressed.
  • Ashlinn Craven – I love Ashlinn’s writing. This Irish author living in picturesque Switzerland chronicles her writing journey on her site
  • My Greece, My Travels – A new discovery for me, author Marissa has a great web site about her writing and her fabulous expat life in gorgeous Greece. I look forward to meeting Marissa in Matera!

Happy book blogging to all!

7 Comments

  1. ledrakenoir on July 18, 2014 at 9:10 am

    *I’m fluent in talking with my hands* 😀

    • kimberlysullivan on July 21, 2014 at 10:31 pm

      Haha. One of the ‘dangers’ of living in Italy.

      • ledrakenoir on July 21, 2014 at 10:35 pm

        “hehehe” – years ago, some friends tried to give me the nickname “The italian dane” for the same reason… 😀

        • kimberlysullivan on July 21, 2014 at 10:37 pm

          Okay, the Italian Dane is just too cool a nickname. I’ll have to use that from now on. : )

  2. evelyneholingue on July 19, 2014 at 5:25 pm

    Congrats, Kimberly! You deserve the attention. The quick facts about you are funny. I like that you can speak with your hands. When I was new in the States, I did it too and people knew that I was from France. I do it much less now and notice it when I return to France. I also like good wine, with our without pizza. And yes, opening a new books is bliss.
    Thank you for highlighting my little blog, too. And thanks for the links to more good blogs to check out and follow.

    • kimberlysullivan on July 21, 2014 at 10:34 pm

      Thrilled to highlight your blog, Evelyne – I love it! Ha. Love the fact that many American politicians have to learn to communicate in a less wooden way – they learn to use their bodies and hands more when they speak or debate. Can you imagine a Frenchman or an Italian paying an expert to teach that skill? : )

Leave a Comment