Yay We Were Nominated!!

Both Jen and me have individually been nominated for the Liebster Award for our personal blogs, but now we have been nominated for the blog we co-author. We would like to thank Marisa Reichardt from one of my favorite blogs Young Adultish. Thank you so much Marisa, we are so honored.

The rules of the Liebster Award are as follows:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you.

2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees;

3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen. (No tag backs)

4. Copy and Paste the blog award on your blog.

11 Questions From Our Nominator

1.    What made you want to start a blog?

We basically started this blog because both Jen and I were horrible about blogging on our own blog and thought if we had to share a blog with someone else we both would have to blog.

2.   Did you like high school? Why or why not?

Maria ~ No I hated high school. I always felt out of place. I had a lot of friends, but it was hard to be me. I had to pretend to like a certain style and certain music to fit in. I didn’t really want to wear the baggy jeans or listen to rap music. If my friends knew I loved rock music they would say I was trying to be “white.” It was very frustrating. I also could not stand my teachers. If you didn’t live in the right side of town and your parents was not part of the PTA you were pretty much ignored.

Jen ~ I actually adored high school. I was friends with a lot of people and a major social butterfly. My music tastes were almost the same as they were now - I hated boy bands and loved rock, rap and especially all the grunge bands that were so hot. My senior year I went at the fun a little too hard and did some things I regret, but for the most part it was a really happy, carefree time for me. I'm planning our big high school reunion this summer out on my farm and can't wait to reconnect with old friends!

3.   How does reading a good book make you feel?

Maria ~ I love reading a book. Every time I start a new book it’s like I’m starting a new life with new friends and a new guy to swoon over.

Jen ~ I totally get lost in a good book and actually separate myself from reality. It's a great way to escape. But I also fall into a little funk every time I finish one and it sometimes takes me days to recover.

4.   How does a good writing session make you feel?

Maria ~ It makes me feel so good. It’s just like when you finish working out. I feel like closer to my goal.

Jen ~ there's nothing like it. I feel invincible, like I could accomplish everything. It puts me in an amazing mood and I have a hard time stopping!

5.   Name one song that instantly takes you back to a memory and describe that memory.

Maria ~ Candlebox’s song Far Behind. It reminds me of Woodstock 94. They were on stage singing that song when I arrived. It was my first real concert. Every time I hear it I remember the night sky, the smells and the excitement I felt being there.

Jen ~ I'm laughing at Maria for picking a memory from 1994. Every time I hear Nirvana's 'All Apologies' I remember when they played it at Lollapalooza also that year (when I was still young and dumb). Nirvana was supposed to appear but Kurt had just killed himself a few months earlier. The whole crowd sang and cried together. It was a brutal time in history for my generation. Seriously, imagine how today's teens would lose it if Justin Bieber killed himself. We were totally shocked.

6.   Quote one of your favorite lines of writing--a book, a poem or a song.

Maria~ “Don’t you ever quit, Don’t you ever stop” from the song That Was a Crazy Game of Poker by O.A.R. I always thinking about it when I do want to quit.

Jen ~ So I have to go with The Beastie Boys on this one. When MCA (Adam Yauch) became a Buddhist and realized how they degraded women earlier in their career (which did not offend me as I take song lyrics with a grain of salt), he wrote a line in 'Sure Shot' that said, "to all the mothers and the sister and the wives and friends: I want to offer my love and respect to the end". That line has stuck with me over the years. After MCA died I had "love and respect to the end" tattooed on my foot to remind me that's how I want to live my life in general, plus I felt it paid proper respect to MCA.

7.   Where is your favorite place to write?

Maria~ I have this amazing office with a big comfy couch. I hate sitting at a desk.

Jen ~ I'm with Maria on this one. After I quit my day job I vowed never to sit at a desk again. We have a large master bedroom with a comfy arm chair in the corner. It's so serene in there...I never write anywhere else.

8.   What one moment in your life do you wish you could relive?

Maria ~ My wedding day. I had the best time parting with family and friends. I loved the feeling I had when I looked at my husband and knew I married my best friend.

Jen ~ Having my 10 and 13 year-old as a baby and a toddler. They were so sweet and adorable for the most part back then. Now they talk back and sometimes don't like me.

9.   What music do you listen to when you write?

Maria ~ Mostly rock music and jam bands. Right now I’m writing a story about your first love so I’ve been listening to a lot of love music. Mostly 80’s love songs.

Jen ~ It all depends on what my WIP is. With my last one it was really creepy music, like the soundtracks from Supernatural, Se7en and Fright Night. Otherwise it's a lot of alternative music like The Black Keys, Citizens!, Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, etc.

10.  What are your top three favorite books of all time?

Maria ~ Going Too Far and Forget You by Jennifer Echols, and Forever by Judy Bloom.

Jen ~ This is a tough one! I would say 'Warm Bodies' by Isaac Marion, 'Full Dark No Stars' by Stephen King and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' by J.K. Rowling.

11. What are your top three favorite books of 2012?

Maria ~ All three of them come from three great authors I’ve met on Twitter. Not because she’s my blog partner but because I really loved this book The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life by Jen Naumann, Painted Faces by L.H. Cosway, and Heart Waves by Danielle Sibarium.

Jen ~ Ha, Maria, you're a dork. Most of my answer is a bit mainstream, but I seriously enjoyed them: John Green's 'The Fault in Our Stars' and Isaac Marion's 'Warm Bodies' and honestly, Maria's 'Hold on Tight'!

11 Random Fact About Us

• We met on Twitter when Jen told Maria the title of her book 'Hold on Tight' was a tattoo on her arm.
• We are both huge fans of The Beastie Boys & The Foo Fighters.
• We both like to party like twenty-one year olds at concerts but pay for it the next couple of days.
• Jen's birthday is February 15th while Maria's is May 15th of the same year!
• We have never met in person, or talked on the phone. Hopefully that will change this fall when Jen plans to travel to New York!
• Jen loves rap music, while Maria can't stand it.
• Jen designed all her book covers and all of Maria's too.
• Maria's an author and a pre-school teacher while Jen's an author and a photographer.
• We both love our beer.
• We both have an addiction to tattoos and want more.
• And finally, we both need our sugar free Red Bull to start the day.

Now it's our turn to nominate. Our nominees are:

Danielle Sibarium @ http://www.daniellesibarium.com

Emma Meade @ emmameade.com
C. J. Sullivan @ cjsullivanauthor.blogspot.com
Katrina Monroe @ authorkatrinamonroe.wordpress.com
KellyAnne Blount @ kellyblount.com
Shanah Wooldrage @ risurockets.blogspot.com
Laura Diamond @ lbdiamond.wordpress.com
Faith Sillivan @ http://faithsullivanwrites.blogspot.com

Our questions for our nominees

1. Which book do you wish you would of thought of first?
2. What is one thing you really love about yourself?
3. What is the best thing about blogging and what is the worst?
4. Do you prefer to talk on the phone or text and why?
5. What do you do to avoid distractions from writing?
6. If you could travel anywhere were would it be?
7. If you could "live" in a movie, which movie would it be and why?
8. What's one book character you wish could be your real life friend?
9. Is there an author that really influenced you/your writing career?
10. What's one thing you can't live without?
11. What's do you dream of happening in your writing career that would make you feel like you've made it big?