A big thank you to Payal Tyagi for nominating me for this award! You can find her fascinating blog here.

Here are the rules:

1. Thanks the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created.

1. Done!
2. Well, I guess I’m doing that now!
3. I began my blog in May last year (almost my anniversary!) simply because I had so many thoughts swirling around my head about language, and specifically English, that I felt I needed to let them out. I’d been working in the English-language industry for about six years, and often shared my thoughts about the language with colleagues, whether unsolicited or not, or in training new teachers. I realised that a blog might be a better outlet for such thoughts, if only that it might give people a choice in terms of whether they’re exposed to them or not.
4. First, write in your own voice. If you try to affect a certain style, the reader will pick up on this and what you write won’t flow well. Write as you think and speak, and your voice will come through. Plus, writing will come more naturally to you. But still, reread what you write to check for typos or passages that don’t scan so well. If something sounds strange in your mind, it’ll probably sound strange in everyone else’s as well. Writing in your own voice also means writing about what interests you. If you try to write about topics you think will get lots of traffic, it’ll feel forced. Second, follow lots of other blogs, and like and comment as much as you can. It’s the best way to get people reading yours, and also to discover other interesting blogs.
5. and 6! Well, 15 is a lot, so I think I’ll just focus on a selection of some of my more recent followers:

• Em, at How to Speak “Em”erican, a great blog about the adventure of learning English
• Joss at She-Who-Hears.Net: Not only Reflections and Poetry, but a host of great regular features too
• Escrim at Brit v. Yank: a great blog about English in general, and more specifically the differences between American and British English
• Siddie Bowtie (of Watercolour Orchestra Fame): a great collection of art, writing, and general musings!

Thanks again to Payal for the nomination, and keep up the blogging everyone!