Melissa Robitille is just a delightful person; author, editor, blogger, wife and Mom. Her blog is at http://robitille.wordpress.com/ and really and truly, I think you should get over there and check out some of her tales. She’s also the author of a couple of books, In One Year’s Time (1998) and Blackstone Gate (1999), and is working on her latest one called Smuggler’s Justice.

Now, hear this. With all Herself has going on, she found a minute to bestow the Very Inspirational Blogger Award on yours truly! Now, I’m just pickled tink by all this. Just recently, I’ve been having trouble inspiring myself, let alone anyone else. So, you can imagine how gratifying it was to open my mail and find this astonishing award!

First and foremost, of course, I want to thank Herself, Melissa Robitille for this award. Without her generosity I wouldn’t be standing in front of you thousands of adoring fans, stumbling about for words. And naturally, my biggest debt of gratitude is to you, Gentle Reader. You come here regularly and read my cogitations, leave a few kind words, and share my posts with your friends. For that, I am both humbled and grateful!

Now then. There are rules attached to this award. Oh yes, it doesn’t come without a few strings. Excuse my fumbling as I try to gracefully open this damned envelope… Ah, yes, here we are; the rules! <cue ominous music>

• Display the award logo on your blog
• Link back to the person who nominated you
• State 7 things about yourself
• Nominate 15 bloggers for this award and link to them
• Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

Okay, I’ve linked back to Herself. Check.

Here’s the award. Check.

Now, ain’t that just prettier than two speckled puppies under a washtub?

Seven things about myself. Now, that’s tricky. There are some things about me I’d rather not have floating about the Blogosphere. Yes, yes, I know. You’d never breathe it to a living soul. But, you never know when some scallywag is going to come through and go off yakking like his tongue is hinged in the middle! So, let’s keep this fairly benign, shall we? Now let me see…

I have the worst case of Social Anxiety! The hours leading up to weddings, family dinners, and barbecues are fraught with nerves as my poor brain offers excuse after excuse for why I just can’t make it. Somehow though, after I push myself to attend, I usually end up having a great time. Strange, odd, and curious, isn’t it?

I’m an expatriate. An American citizen, living in Amman, Jordan is a dream-come-true for me as I walk in the footsteps of the ancients to whom we can all trace our roots.

Last year, I published my first book New Yesterdays and am now working on a sequel to that tale. I’ve been fortunate enough to have received very good reviews.

I’m the product of a small country school that only went through the 9th grade. Three of us from that school are published authors. One, Rick Bragg, is also a Pulitzer Prize winner and another, Tim Childers, is publisher of his own monthly magazine!

You may have noticed by now that I have a tenuous grasp of the English language. I can also speak, with varying degrees of facility, Spanish, Latin, and Arabic and can read Ancient Greek.

Two items on my “Bucket List” are to spend a few years down under, in Australia, and to end my days in Ireland.

After smoking cigarettes for forty-one years, I finally quit four months ago!

And, here are my nominees for the Very Inspirational Blogger Award!

• Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
• The Original Genevieve Dewey
• Jackie Jones
• Carrie-Anne Brownian
• Joanne Phillips
• Haley Coates
• Shawn L Bird
• Coco J Ginger
• Tony McMahon
• Lada Ray
• 400 Days Til 40
• Wendy Siefken
• Jess at A Lot on Your Plate
• Bob R at Piran Café
• Sisyphus at Of Glass & Paper