It seems that a dragon of the hidden variety from The Book of the Seven Forbidden Wisdoms has nominated me for The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. As with other WordPress awards, there are never any winners, only nominees. And I like that because when a WP blogger says, “I’m happy just to be nominated,” we really mean it. It’s not about pretending to be humble while calling on the universe to pleeeeaaase let you win. It’s about writers recognizing and appreciating each other, which is about the highest compliment we can pay to our fellow wordsmiths.

And so I offer a sincere “thank you,” to HiddenDragon for the raging case of warm fuzzies she gave me.

While The Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award doesn’t have winners, it does come equipped with a number of rules, which are as follows:

Rule #1 – You don’t talk about The Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award.
Rule #2 – You don’t talk about The … Wait. Wrong rules. Sorry about that!

Rule #1 – Thank the person who nominated you. Check.
Rule #2 – Add the award logo to your blog. Done.
Rule #3 – Answer the questions asked by your nominator. See below.
Rule #4 – Nominate five other bloggers. Also below.
Rule #5 – Ask 10 questions of your own. See above about seeing below.

1. Who is your favorite book character?
Eloise

2. Why that character?
She’s the first character I remember relating to. Her room was a mess, her hair was a mess, her toys were a mess … She wasn’t a perfect little princess in a party dress and neither was/am I.

3. What’s your favorite subject to write about?
Myself. But I’m just one of those fascinating people who, whether by themselves or others, seem predestined to have their story told. And for anyone who doesn’t feel interesting enough to constantly write about his/herself, please feel free to write about me instead.

4. How would you define strength?
Being your authentic self without excuses or apologies. Unless you’re a murderer or a bank robber or wear black socks with sandals or have some such other inexcusable and unforgivable trait.

5. Do you get jealous easily?
Sometimes I’m envious, but my DNA chain seems to be missing the jealousy link.

6. What would make you jealous?
I wish I knew. When my Ex, who I was with for almost two decades, left me for a mutual friend, I was  bummed that they didn’t want to be friends with me anymore and rather annoyed about the alimony settlement I ended up paying. But jealousy wasn’t really a part of the whole divorce clusterfuck.

7. What do you like the most about women?
Aside from the whole being soft and smelling good thing? I suppose it’s that despite how unique and complex we all are, we still understand each other and what makes us tick. I think we’ve all had straight friends say things like, “Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian” or “If I was gay I’d go out with you.” [Note to straight women: a good many of us don’t care if you’re not a lesbian, we’ll still happily take a walk on the wild side with you.] On the occasions I’ve heard that, I know it was mostly because of my sparkling wit, devilish charm and rock-hard abs. But it’s also because of the attachment that naturally develops when someone understands and relates so well to another person. Hahaha! Just kidding! It’s totally because of my wit, charm and abs.

8. What do you dislike the most about women?
I don’t like hearing a women say all of her friends are guys because women are such bitches, phonies, back-stabbers, etc. Short of having just been incarcerated, I can’t imagine where they find all of these bitchy, phoney, stabby women.

9. Which country would you like to visit the most?
Scotland, the home of my people.

10. How do you drink your Martini?
Dirty, two olives.

For me, the hardest part about these awards is picking my nominees. There are so many to choose from I and feel bad about the one’s I didn’t include. We writers are a sensitive bunch.

My nominees are:
Adele Archer Writes – Aside from producing an uber-readable blog, from what I can tell, she’s also an active commenter who seems very supportive of other writers. I’m hoping to be just like her when I grow up.
Family Values Lesbian – Always a good read, she’s also one of the rare cases of a person who’s gay and very strong in her faith, proving that those things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Lesbian Like Me – Thoughtful and thought-provoking, her always-interesting posts don’t pull any punches
Tales From the Gay Bar – With a focus on her experiences managing a gay bar, her stories are so good you’ll be tempted to claim them as your own.
Tantrum Interrupted – An amazing writer, she introduced me to blogging; something for which I’m terribly grateful. It’s been months since she’s posted anything and I miss reading her. I’m hoping this award will make her feel guilty or inspired enough to picking up the pen again.

I’m going to veer of course a bit here and nominate Drinking Tips for Teens for an honorary award. I know this is a sisterhood thing, and Drinking Tips isn’t written by a woman. But like Adele Archer, he’s a blogger who’s supportive and an active commenter. Based on the regular encouragement he provides via his always entertaining comments, I think he deserves to be recognized. Oh, and did I mention that he’s also hella funny??

And that brings us to the last item on the rule list — the ten questions for my nominees to answer. I hope they have as much fun answering them as I did with the ones HiddenDragon supplied.

1. Should Jello ever be considered a dessert? Why, or why not?

2. What song did you happily sing, all loud and proud, before realizing you’d been singing the wrong lyrics all along?

3. If you weren’t such a brilliant and awe-inspiring writer, what other skill/ability/talent would you want to have?

4. Holy crap! What the hell is that thing?

5. What movie are you most embarrassed to admit you like?

6. If you were given the opportunity to go back and re-live one experience from your past, which would it be?

7. If you have a nickname, what is it? If not, what do you wish yours was?

8. Please take this opportunity to give a shout-out to the best teacher you ever had.

9. Is there any single belief, opinion, practice, etc. that can ruin a whole person for you? Like someone being a baby harp seal clubber would pretty much be a deal-breaker to a PETA activist.

10. What is your favorite word, and why?