Greetings, Friends!

Liebster means "friend" in German.   I don't speak German (despite having a German maiden name) but am honored to be nominated for a friendship award, in any language!  Many thanks to Jen McConnel for this honor!  (I am also VERY late in posting this thank you here.  I've known Jen less than a year but unfortunately, she has already learned that I am always late.  I'm working on that!)

This award is intended to connect bloggers, specifically those with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, I must:

* Show my thanks to the blogger who gave me the award by linking back to them.
* Reveal my top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
* Post the award on my blog.
* Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
* And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

I want to thank Jen McConnel again for the lovely nomination and she is also my first "pick."  I met Jen at a writing conference last October and she has been very encouraging here, on this blog, as well as in reading and commenting on some of my writing.  I sent her a confusing, mess of an excuse for a "draft" and God bless her, she still read it!

I am also nominating Tracy.  I've never met Tracy in person but we became online friends when we were both Kansas writers.  (She still is but I've moved over to Indiana).  Tracy always has an encouraging word here and inspiration on her site.

I'd like to introduce you to Caryn Caldwell.  Caryn is another writer I've never met but always so encouraging!  She is another mom-writer but is further along in her journey than I am--I love reading success stories!

Renee shares some wonderful ideas about getting into the world of your characters--as well as real survival stories about trying to balance writing with being a mother and wife.  Renee is yet another "friend" that I've never met in real life but I knew I'd like her as soon as I saw the title of her blog!

Aaron is the other friend on this list that I have met in person.  In fact, I'm sure we met before the internet existed!  He's an excellent writer and we attended a writing conference together 14 years ago but we'd been friends for years before that.  I decided to take the plunge and begin writing my own blog after reading his.  So, who knows?  If not for Aaron, I might not have started a blog, would never have met so many writers online and would never have learned the German word for friend. :)