The Versatile Blogger Awards

I’ve been lucky enough to have received a generous recommendation for a ‘versatile blogger award’ from the wonderful Anne Stormont. The rules – in case, like me, you didn’t know – are that I have to reveal seven things about myself, and recommend a number of blogs for your consideration. The second bit, at least, is easy.

1. Once at a creative writing class, I was challenged to write a six-word story in less than a minute. I wrote ‘I should have done things differently.’ I surprised myself, since I’m not one for regrets. But I had in mind a particular incident involving a trampoline.
2. One Christmas, I stumbled across a Hayao Myazaki movie called 'Laputa, Castle in the Sky' being screened at some late hour. It was astonishing. He’s been my favourite director since.
3. During my time as Beers Wines and Spirits manager at a scumbag supermarket chain, I memorised all the wine-making regions of France and could draw you a pretty good map from memory. I hated that job, but I’m earnest and I take things too seriously even when I shouldn’t. That map is a case in point.
4. 'Oblivion' swallowed hours of my life and I loved it. The future of interactive narrative entertainment like that is bright.
5. It’s taken me a long time to learn not be distracted from my genre. I wrote angsty wideboy fiction before I learnt I wasn’t wide enough for it, being the sort of person who memorises wine-making regions. I wrote bad beat poetry before I realised I couldn’t drop out ‘cos I needed the money. I wrote a terrible detective story. Tried my hand at food writing. I’ve still got the notes for a screenplay called ‘The Danny Loss Payday Party Manifesto’ somewhere. Nowadays, at least I know my area and do one thing at a time.
6. Inside me is a fat man fighting to get out. He’s always hungry.
7. I love making lists. I’m not in the same league as a pal of mine – let’s call him Argyle for the purposes of this post, though his real name is, disappointingly, Dave. He’s got a book of lists way longer than mine. Once, leafing through, I happened across a page titled ‘Top 5 Dry Sherries’. Hell, that’s one obscure list. My lists tend be of books, films, CDs and so on. Once I made a list of every CD I bought for a whole year, thinking I might write a Hornbyesque account of the year in music. There’s that distraction thing again.

My nominations for the versatile blogger awards are:


Mr London Street http://mrlondonstreet.blogspot.com/

Matt Hill http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/

Anne Stormont http://annestormont.wordpress.com/

Joanna Cannon http://joannacannon.wordpress.com/

My pal Laura, who's in Singapore... http://singadraw.wordpress.com/

...and just some guy called Philip Reeve. http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/