And the Very Inspiring (Fairy Tale) Blogger Awards Go To...*drumroll*

Six Swans Triptych by Rovina Cai

It's awards season, and Once Upon A Blog just got handed a lovely Very Inspiring Blogger Award by lovely fantasy author, Katherine Harbour. Thank you Katherine!

Katherine Harbour is the author of the spellbinding novel Thorn Jack (a Tam Lin inspired tale) and, as a special bonus for OUABlog, has agreed to treating us to a guest chat in the near future, as we look forward to the paperback release of Thorn Jack and the upcoming sequel Briar Queen, (stay tuned!).

Today's award, however, is a way to spread love and appreciation for bloggers we are inspired by, as well as to give you a sneak peek behind the scenes of the people who write to make the blogosphere a good place to roam. To do this I get to share seven impossible things before breakfast.. wait, no seven things about me that maybe most of you don't know. Then I get to nominate up to fifteen bloggers to send you all to appreciate, who are then invited to do the same - pay it forward, pass the appreciation, and spread the awesome!

By the way, Katherine Harbour's intriguing list is HERE. (I am especially looking forward to our chat after reading it!)

So, seven things about me you might not know:

1) I love many, many of the aspects of the Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass stories and I love the merchandising (from Disney through to indie products), but the original books disturb me
2) Despite a bunch of good reasons to feel otherwise, I still love Disneyland
3) I wish I could read German fluently so I could read the original-text German editions of Household Tales, written by The Brothers Grimm
4) I rewrote The Six Swans for animated film, including storyboarding two sequences of it, long before I ever worked in animation (no has ever seen them, nor ever will!)
5) I was an actor and writer for a Children's Theater Company for about a year, touring schools and libraries
6) I love the rain and am creatively energized by thunderstorms
7) My dearest wish since I was small was to talk to animals (completely influenced by fairy tales). This eventually led me to getting an Advanced Certificate (2 yrs pre-veterinary) in Animal Care with an emphasis on Marsupials!



Inspiring Bloggers on my personal MUST-READ list for Fairy Tale News & Thoughtful FT Discussions:

• Kristin of Tales of Faerie (amazing armchair fairy tale scholar with awesome research skills who writes very readable informative posts, that are also very inspiring)
• Heidi Anne Heiner of SurLaLune site and blog (fairy tale study today wouldn't be the same without her and she remains as relevant and insightful as ever)
• Tahlia Merrill Kirk of Diamonds & Toads & editor of Timeless Tales Magazine (& OUABLog's new partner-to-be! Perhaps obviously, we think she's awesome.)
• Adam Hoffman of Fairy Tale Fandom (a very welcome male voice in the fairy tale blogosphere - regular news and wonderful articles)
• AFTS (Australian Fairy Tale Society) with Reilly McCarron currently leading the charge (very regular fairy tale news with an emphasis on activity in Australia)
• Megan Reichelt of The Dark Forest (she doesn't get to blog much these days  - she's busy performing stories! - but there are many wonderful past posts to delve into, if there isn't anything new. I love her witty writing style!)

Other Inspiring Bloggers I love to visit (in alpha order):

• Christie of Spinning Straw Into Gold (fairy tale blogger with a treasure trove of posts)
• Belinda Calderone of The Monash Fairy Tale Salon (fairy tale scholar who writes in a fresh accessible way, in touch with pop culture)
• Cate Fricke of Something to Read for the Train (writer, thoughts on folklore and fairy tale)
• Midori Snyder of Into the Labyrinth (author/artist of many a lovely myth-based and fairy tale work)
• Maria Tatar's Breezes From Wonderland (Harvard blog on children's literature, folklore and storytelling, fairy tale scholar extraordinaire)
• Terri Windling at Myth & Moor (author, folklore and fairy tale writing legend and advocate)
• Kate Wolford of Enchanted Conversation: Fairy Tale Magazine, teacher and author of Beyond the Glass Slipper. She also has a lovely stable of regular contributors to her blog.
• Kristina Wojtaszek of Twice Upon A Time (author with strong folklore and fairy tale leanings and great sense of humor)

If you have been awarded and wish to continue passing on the inspiration (there is no obligation to do this), here's what you need to do: 

- Link to the person who awarded you (me!) 

- List seven things about yourself your bloggers may not know (yet) 

- Grab the award pic and post it on your blog post for all to see 

- List - and link to - up to fifteen bloggers who inspire you and award them! (And let them know so they can get involved if they want to.)