I am somewhat speechless to have been chosen for this so I will do my best to pass it on. Thanks to Shruti http://shrutiinsights.wordpress.com for this opportunity to share a little about myself and to pass on the blogger love. Please, if you want to read some soul stirring poetic work, you need to check out her blog. She is a joy to read.

There are set RULES for this Award and they are:

Put the Liebster Award logo on your blog.

Thank and tag the blog who nominated you.

Answer their questions and come up with 10 new ones for you nominees.

Nominate 8 blogs with less than 200 followers, let them know you’ve nominated them and link them in your post.

No tag-back.

So, thanks to Shruti once again and here are my answers to her questions:

1. Among your blog posts, which one is your favorite? – This is a hard one for me as I do not post often and each post is intentional. I would have to say that the one that brings up the most emotion for me is my recent post on my grandmother’s birthday “Bittersweet Valentine’s Day” https://andrewmferrell.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/bittersweet-valentines-day/
2. At what time of the day do you usually write a blog post? – I do a lot of posting in the mornings or the weekends when I have free time around my family/work schedule. As far as poetry, there are times where I jot down the lines or a few words and then I revisit it later so I can really expound upon the topic that flitted through my imagination.
3. What is your favorite word in your native language? – Well, English is my native language but I would have to say that a word I use a lot is “groovy”. I was born in the early 80’s so I cannot claim to be some 70’s flower child but there it is.
4. What do you eat in the morning? – I do not generally eat breakfast right away so depending on whether I am at work that day or at home I might not even eat breakfast till 10am or so. This means it could be some leftovers from dinner the night before, a sandwich, some grits with cheese, cereal, all sorts of things.
5. Choose one: tea, coffee, milk, hot chocolate. Why do you choose it? – I grew up in the American Southeast where Sweet tea is a staple of our diet. It always makes me think of home.
6. Do you have a close friend? Is there one thing that you can only do with that friend? – I have a few close friends, that even if we do not talk every day, or sometimes it may be a week or more. I know when I pick up the phone and confide in them, I will get solid advice and support. My closest friend would have to be my wife though. She is my rock and without her I wouldn’t be who I am today. She grounded me while still being supportive of my dreams of being a published author.
7. What is your favorite book and why do you like it? – How do you pick just one amongst all the great writers I have had the pleasure of reading over the course of my life. If I have to pick one, I would have to go with Tolkein’s “The Hobbit”. It opened my eyes to the realm of high fantasy that has held my imagination my entire life.
8. What do you really want to learn but you haven’t got the time to do it? – I would really like to learn the guitar I bought over a decade ago. I probably could make the time to learn it, but I just haven’t prioritized it yet.
9. What do you miss from your childhood? – The friends. Some of us are still in contact somewhat, but since I moved several states away since high school, those relationships are not quite the same as they once were. Now we all seem to have kids, mortgages and other responsibilities. I miss just hanging out and talking about life, love and whatever struck our minds at the time.
10. Where will you go if you just feel bored at home? – Hard to be bored when there is always something new to read, or a tv show I haven’t caught up on, or something to write. If my wife and son are home as well there is always something going on. We also have two dogs that are constant attention hogs.

I would like to nominate the following blogs whose posts have touched my life in some way, be it thought provoking, made me laugh, or just showed me something to appreciate in their words. I am going to cheat on this just once, because the first blog I thought about has much more than the 200 followers, but I greatly enjoy her posts and interacting with her. I guess shoot me if that isn’t allowed.:

1. http://KelzbelzPhotography.wordpress.com
2. http://johannamassey.com
3. https://lafloralie.wordpress.com/
4. http://roamingatlarge.wordpress.com
5. http://anniewat.wordpress.com
6. Http://gridthusto.wordpress.com
7. http://amyvanya.wordpress.com
8. http://breakdownchick.wordpress.com

I enjoyed Shruti’s questions but I am changing them up a bit for my nominees.

1.Among your blog posts, which one was the most painful to write?

2.When do you feel the most creative? Not just time of day, but is it when there are people around or when you are by yourself with just your inner voice?

3.What language would you want to learn if you could learn it in a day?

4.Where is your favorite place to write? (and do you write on paper first or strictly digital?)

5.What person, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional would you say inspires you to be a better person?

6.What was your family/friends reaction when you started your blog? Were they supportive or did they think you were crazy?

7.What is your favorite book and why do you like it? If you cannot choose one favorite, then pick one that touched your life and tell why/how it did so.

8.What hobby, other than blogging, brings you happiness in life?

9.What do you miss from your childhood?

10.What do you want to be remembered for when you are gone from this life?

Hope you have a fantastic day and keep fighting the fight bloggers.

All the best,

Andrew