This week in Exciting Author Things, I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Alice Gristle, a fellow author and artist whose witty observations and dedication to her work are as admirable as they are entertaining. As stated here, the Liebster Award is a way to spread the word about the small-scale blogs that we enjoy to those who might not hear about them otherwise. Thank you again for the nomination, Alice!
On that note, I’m glad that readers are enjoying this blog so far. It’s nice having a place where I can ramble about writing theories, creators and works I enjoy, pop culture, and whatever else happens to catch my eye each week. The fact that it’s giving others something to think about is icing on the cake, so thank you all for reading so far (and if this is your first time here, thanks for checking it out)!
Now for the fun part: I get to answer Alice’s three questions, then ask my own nominees three questions of my own. Without further ado…
The Casual: What’s going on at the moment? What are you working on, writing-wise?
Right now, my main focus is on editing; “Bones and Bourbon” is about to release (currently slated for April 23rd) and needs its final rounds of editing, and I’m simultaneously working on my unnamed space novella for NineStar’s “Lost” collection, which is due April 30th. Once those are done, I’ll get back to work on writing the first draft of the third “Deadly Drinks” book, and then start the second draft of book two. Plus brainstorming for all the other projects I have on the backburner, such as the space setting that the novella is technically a prequel to, plus the tentatively titled “Chimera,” “Nightmare Twin,” and “Fracture” projects. My mind’s a busy place to be.
As for what’s otherwise going on, my birthday is this Friday (when good food shall be devoured and much Magic the Gathering will be played), and I get to catch up with family a week afterwards as I bring my brother home from college for Spring Break. I have a Changeling: the Lost campaign I’m preparing to run, and I’m hoping my day job stabilizes and stops being on metaphorical fire for a bit.
The Conan: What is best in life? But we’ll make this harder – you’re not allowed to say “writing”, which would be a cheap cop-out, nor are you allowed to mention the lamentation of women!
Perhaps this stems from being a mountain hermit in my youth, but I’ve realized there’s nothing quite like getting out and experiencing the world. Have you ever stopped to think about how impressive it all is? There are so many lives and intricate ecosystems going on around us all the time, from the animals running around in the woods to the civilians passing through the city. There are so many stories and experiences waiting to be born from the girl who climbed a tree outside the downtown restaurant you were eating at, the time you went on a hike and a coyote pup followed you home, from weird facts about how your favorite fruit evolved or the odd customer you had during the holidays.
Our world inspires so many stories because it is truly stranger than any fiction could ever be. And in the end, isn’t that what’s wonderful about it?
The Conniving Communist: What is most unjust in life? Again, Alice denies cop-outs! “Not having enough time to write” is not acceptable.
Time to get serious for a moment. The way I see things, most of the problems in this world are connected with a lack of empathy and respect. The rich slashing the budgets of necessary programs for the underprivileged in order to save a buck, the gunmen who want to hurt others as much as they can on their way out, the newest fad diet ingredients leading to the destruction of habitats and backbreaking labor in order to farm them…none of these things would happen if the perpetrators could bring themselves to care about the pain they cause others. The fact that such greed and selfishness can run rampant in our world is…disheartening, to say the least.
As for the questions I will ask, they are:
The Deep Thought: What story has made you think the most? Doesn’t have to be your favorite or least favorite, but a story that stuck with you and dwelled in your thoughts long after it was over.
The Empty Space: What is something from your youth that you don’t encounter nowadays? Do you miss it?
The Starman: What’s a hobby you once had that you’ve since left behind, and would you ever consider picking it up again?
And while I’m not the sort to tag people in things, I do have a number of blogs I enjoy enough to nominate, and if they choose to accept, most excellent! I nominate the blogs of the following awesome individuals:
Thank you five (and all the other blogs I follow, of course!) for making my days brighter with your witty words.
Speaking of words, time to bury myself in editing again. Until next time, dear readers~
~Dorian
Dorian Graves 
You’re welcome. And you were seriously the first person I thought of. 🙂 Great answers, to boot! I agree on both the good and the bad. Economic inequality has occupied my thoughts a lot recently. On a related tangent, I learned that Noam Chomsky is quite the political activist! Always thought the old fella was only a liver clenguist…
Also, also! Have you ever played Changeling: The Dreaming? That’s a thing I always wanted to try!
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Aww, thank you again, then! ^^
Haven’t had a chance to play Changeling: the Dreaming yet, just Changeling: the Lost, which was my first tabletop RPG ever. I’ve heard good things about it though, so I’d love to give it a whirl sometime. (I’d probably spend hours trying to figure out how to convert all my characters between the two systems, especially since from what I know of Dreaming, it sticks closer to traditional faerie archetypes, while Lost is a bit more freeform…)
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My problem would likely be that it’s not the kind of game my group would want to play. 😀
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Omg! How am I just now seeing this? Thanks and congrats on the nom.
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Thank you as well! (And proooooobably because I forgot to actually message the folks I nominated, woops.)
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