The Mystery Blogger Award was created by Okoto Enigmas whose last name means mystery. She created it as a way to connect with and discover other awesome bloggers. I like the fact that her blog is about lifestyle, beauty, fashion and travel and mine is about writing and books. That means this is meant for any kind of blogger so long as you want to have fun and make new friends. Or in Okoto’s words, “Mystery Blogger Award” is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion. I should mention that the lovely Maya Joelle nominated me. So thanks for that, Maya!

the rules

1. Put the award logo/image on your blog.
2. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
3. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well (this award was created by Okoto Enigmas).
4. Answer the five questions you were asked.
5. Nominate ten – twenty people.
6. Notify your nominees by commenting on their blogs linking to their most recent posts.
7. Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice with one weird or funny question.
8. Share a link to your best post(s).

Now that you know what it is, I’ll attempt to answer Maya’s questions. I’m assuming she nominated me because of my last blog post based on an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery which was totally a coincidence.

1. What is your favorite mystery book?

Oh man. That is a tough question. For one, I have a very hard time choosing a favorite anything. I love so many things. But if I have to choose only one, I’m going to have to choose The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I was going to say Harry Potter last week when I started writing this post, but I started rereading The Mistborn Trilogy. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy this heist mystery sort of book. The Final Empire (book #1), also, happens to be my book of the month, so you should go read it and we can talk all about it in my next post!

2. What is your favorite mystery movie?

Again, the favorite dilemma: there are so many good choices. But I really do like Sherlock, the British television series (sorry, not a movie but I think it counts).

I love all things Sherlock Holmes so of course I loved the modern day Sherlock just the same if not better. They did an excellent job with his and Watson’s characters. Although I say this with the caveat that there was one episode that I would rather skip but other than that if you haven’t watched it, go watch it!

3. What is the most mysterious thing about you?

Am I mysterious? I think I’m an open book. But there is a great mystery in my life: and that is how Jesus Christ died for a sinner like me and calls me His own. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians, “And you, who were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him (which is) the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:21-22, 26-27) And I suppose that my belief in Jesus may be a mystery to some of you and if you want to know more about my faith let me know and I’m happy to talk about it with you.

4. Why do you think this tag is called “the mystery blogger award”?

It’s plain to see that the mystery is in the blogger. And if you want to know who else is blogging that you might enjoy following this is the perfect award for you. Go check out the bloggers I’ve nominated below! Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover what you were missing before.

5. This question is a mystery. React to its mysteriousness.

I’ve got nothing. Which I guess proves how mysterious this question is.

Now for my questions posed to the wonderful bloggers below:

1. What do you have to offer as a blogger? Why do you blog?
2. What do you enjoy most in life?
3. What about life is a mystery to you?
4. Why do we like mysteries so much?
5. If you had to chose between living in a murder mystery novel (not knowing who you are: murderer or detective or nosy neighbor) or living in a true crime novel (knowing you were close to the victim) which would you chose and why?

I nominate…

• Janelle Schmidt (A blogger who shares a love of fantasy and has great advice for fellow indie authors.)
• Christine Smith (The first blogger I started following in my writing career! Still her blogs keep inspiring me.)
• K.M. Weiland (Weiland’s blog is in another league above my own, so much so, that I debated including her in this chain letter of sorts, but because her blog is so amazing and has helped me so much in my own writerly journey I had to extend this award to her. Thanks, Weiland for helping writers become authors!)
• Nicholas Kotar (I stumbled on Nicholas’ blog quite by accident. His was the first one I discovered by simply asking a question on google and amazingly he addressed that exact question in one of his blog posts. But don’t ask me now what that question was. I can’t remember. None the less, I’ve enjoyed following him ever since.)
• The Skylight Kicker (Not written by one individual author but by many, all from my public library. I love what our library is doing to connect our community through writing!)
• Tales of the Lonely Sun (To the wonderful women who introduced me to Blog Tours!)
• Doorways to the Writing Life (I consider Nancy Rue to be one of my mentors. She put this blog together to help fellow women who want to write connect and ask the hard questions whether it’s about writing or life or both.)
• Tarja Joy Knudsen (Her blog inspires me to learn more about the world and all the people in it.)
• Tracey Dyck (Tracey’s last blog post was very inspiring and helpful to me as a writer maybe she’ll do the same for you.)
• Anyone else who loves to blog and is looking for a way to interact with fellow bloggers!