Holy Cannoli! I Received the Liebster Award!

Ladies and gents, today is a jolly good day! During my absence from WordPress, I was nominated for an award by the kind Aussie behind Mistakes and Adventures! It’s about time that I accept it! I’ve been reading James’ blog for quite some time, and he’s been following mine for a while too. In addition to posting about his exciting travels, James also writes short stories and poetry, which is how I found him!

According to James, the purpose of the Liebster Award is to promote small blogs. After I answer the questions James asked me, I have to come up with my own 11 for the fine bloggers I nominate! Without further ado, let’s do this! Let us Lieb!

1. If you had to recommend one country you’ve visited to a brand new traveler where would that be? Bonus points for also recommending somewhere within that country to visit.

It seems I must begin with a confession…I have never traveled to another country.

*gasp* “But J.J., how could you possibly be so uncultured?!”

I have no excuse for you this time, disembodied voice. I have never left the United States. I do plan on travelling in the future, though! I want to visit Bruges (literally only because the movie) and Paris to start.

Would I recommend the U.S. to those who haven’t been here? Visit New York City is all I can say. Otherwise, join me on my travels outside the US!

2. What is the main purpose of your blog?

First and foremost, the purpose of my blog is to document my journey on the road to attaining published authorship. Secondly, I aim to entertain.

3. What is the most exotic/culturally different thing that you’ve ever done to date?

Does eating this sweet bale of hay count?

4. What are your plans for the future? (Travel, written word, general survival etc)

The future? I can hardly tell you what I’m having for dinner. Even still, I do have some goals! I’ll hit on those you asked about.

Travel: As I mentioned before, I want to travel to Paris. Bruges too, I guess, partly as a joke. But definitely Paris! If I don’t find myself in a well or kidnapped by the end of either trip, I’ll probably travel some more!

Written word: I want to finish writing this first novel of mine. After that…well, let me finish the darned thing first!

General survival: I want to consume meat. And water. That’s all I need.

5. Where would you like to go if you had infinite cash for two months?

Chic-fil-A.

6. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging to supplement my novel-writing! Writing is a solitary thing. I’d like to have some good company around when I pursue this published authorship goal.

7. Have you ever experienced culture shock and if so where was it?

California. 2012. My father asked the man at the deli for a Taylor ham, egg, and cheese sandwich. The deli man’s face was seized by blank confusion. Little did I know that such a sandwich was foreign outside of Jersey. I did not enjoy my breakfast that morning.

8. What was the most naive thing you ever did on the road?

I presumed that the deli man knew what a Taylor ham, egg, and cheese sandwich was. That was naive.

9. What writing advice would you have for aspiring bloggers who might read this?

Before writing your blog, have a Taylor ham, egg, and cheese sandwich.

10. Classic deserted island question: Can only take 3 things with you, what are they?

Taylor ham, egg, and cheese.

11. Do you have a favourite book and if so what is it? (Feel free to list a top 3 if that’s too narrow)

Taylor h—kidding (kind of).

My favorite (I corrected James’ odd Australian spelling) book is Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan, the sixth book of the Wheel of Time series.

At this point in the post, I’ve switched to using my phone. Why? Because I’m currently in a whirlpool jacuzzi with good friends. The thing is, I feel compelled to finish this post and send it out! J.J. isn’t going disappear again! As it stands, I still have to leave 11 questions for those who I am nominating for the Liebster Award! Those would be A.S. Akkalon, M.L.S. Weech, and Eva Blaskovic. Given that I’m soaking in a hot tub right now with fine people, I thought it would be appropriate to involve them in the question-creation process. Thus, I present to you the questions the four of us came up with. Nominees, here are your questions!

1. During which moment of your life do you wish your enemies could see you?
2. If you could have dinner with one person who has died, from history or otherwise, who would it be?
3. Tell us about a time you ratted on somebody/something.
4. Can you speak another language?
5. Do you have any superstitions?
6. Renaissance or Baroque? (we wanted to be snobs)
7. Clear mornings or thunderstorms?
8. Hamburger or hotdog?
9. War. What is it good for?
10. What common food grosses you out/does not appeal to you?
11. What’s something you learned from your grandparents?

Good luck with those. Thanks again to James for this nomination! These questions warmed me up for my upcoming Q and A.

As always, stay classy.

~J.J. Azar