Tuesday, June 21, 2016

"Stop the planet, I want to get off!"

 This is me


 No, really. You want to take someone, keep them running around for ten hours a day, studying and writing for five, and then attempting to sleep for six..(that doesn't make 24 but give me a break), when in reality they only get about two or three good hours of sleep on a good night. Do that, and you get me these last two months.

 I hate to complain about having bad days, weeks, but especially months. But May and June were just that. There were nice bits. Beaches, reading, book shopping...tiny bits of relaxing between the running around and almost falling over from lack of sleep.

 Basically, I'm kind of done with life right now and I refuse to let my summer pass like the spring. 

 Summer is too short and fabulous and I MUST do summer things. Dig in the sand, swim, mountain bike, pet wild bears...sit outside in the evening in my little garden.

 I just need a long holiday. I plan to start it in July. All I have to do in July is play with little kids and go and get my eyes checked. I can handle that. No more tests, no more applications - I am praying - no more rushing across town for interviews. Just me, my insane pets, sunshine, and good books. (BECAUSE STEFAN BUCHMANN'S NEWEST BOOK IS MINE AND IT IS GOOD!)

 I am not going to just vanish from the blogging world. But I do need to relax. At the moment I am a coil of on edge nerves and am more jittery than a cat. I need to find a way to start sleeping, to get some time to myself, to unwind, and to stop stressing about all the things which were piled up on my head. I plan to do just that this week. Thanks to my best friend I have good books to read now, pretty chimes to listen to, and just snug little homely things which make me feel I'm not just staying in my flat over the winter.

 Because of how hard life hit, among other things, I got behind on a special blog award tour I am taking part in. I am sharing with you all the lovely and fun information and hope you will like joining in! It is going to be a ton of fun, and it is all about Tolkien, so even better.



 Welcome to the first ever Silmarillion Awards!



The Silmarillion Awards have been created by DJ Edwardson and Jenelle Schmidt as a way to honor J.R.R. Tolkien as the Father of Modern Fantasy, open up a discussion about some of our other favorite fantasy works, and to have a ton of fun this summer.

When we started thinking about creating a sort of “Fantasy Oscars,” we found it difficult to fathom any award that wouldn’t be won by a character or item from The Lord of the Rings... so, to make things a bit more interesting, we decided to call them “The Silmarillion Awards” and have characters from LOTR and The Hobbit present the awards as examples of the ultimate standard for each award. Hopefully that will even the playing field a bit.

Joining our team are eight other bloggers and authors who will each be hosting one of these awards, called Silmarils, on their blogs towards the end of July.

But before we get there, we need YOUR help! Starting today, June 20th and proceeding through July 1st, the nomination period for each award will be open. Please visit the participating bloggers (found in the list below), read the descriptions of the awards and make your nominations!

Nominate characters in the comments of each blog post. If someone has already nominated the character you would have nominated, you may either second that nomination, open a new nomination, or do both. We will be picking the 5 characters with the most “seconds” for the final voting period that will take place between July 4th - 13th, so you may also “third,” “fourth,” “fifth,” etc any nominations you particularly like.

Fine print:
  1. Please do not nominate anything from one of your OWN books!
  2. You may nominate a character AND second, third, fourth a character... but please only vote once. You can nominate and/or second as many characters as you would like in each award (i.e. You cannot nominate a character and then also second that same character)
  3. Please share about the Silmarillion Awards on social media to spread the excitement far and wide across Middle Earth. Use the hashtag: #silmawards2016 wherever possible!
  4. Don’t nominate a Tolkien character for the awards, as the characters presenting the awards are already the standard for each award
  5. Don’t stress if a character you nominate doesn’t win this year. We are hoping to make this an annual tradition, and these awards are LIFETIME AWARDS, meaning that they cannot be won by the same character more than once!

Official Schedule:
Phase 1 - June 20-July 1: Award nominations open
Phase 2 - July 4: the final nominees will be announced and voting will open and last through July 14th
Phase 3 - July 16-28: Presentation of the awards, 1 per day, each award will be hosted on a different blog each day
Phase 4 - Celebration! July 29th was the official publication date of the Lord of the Rings back in 1954. We invite you all to celebrate with us the 62nd birthday of this masterpiece of Fantasy Fiction. Congratulate the winners, take and post a photo of yourselves with LOTR paraphernalia, write a blog post about your favorite LOTR moment, scene, character, quote, or memory... get creative and have fun!

List of Participating Blogs:

 And now for me. I have with me Eomer....YES! Horse Master. Nephew of King Theoden, brother to Eowyn. He stayed for tea...be envious. He will be presenting the award for Best Fantasy Mount. 

 *Stands up, peers at the microphone, frowns, clears throat, removes helmet, looks fabulous.*

The Best Fantasy Mount Silmaril should go to a creature who is loyal, steadfast, noble, and fleet of foot or wing. This steed should be something special and play an important role in his or her story. 

Let the voting begin!!


Photobucket
Posted by at
Reactions:  

83 comments :

  1. I hope you have a nice summer, and are able to relax and get some much needed sleep. :D

    ReplyDelete

  2. Hope your summer goes better!

    Best Fantasy Mount, hmm... I nominate Strawberry/Fledge from The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (because flying horse!!!).

    I also nominate Falada from The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and Niton from The Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight. If dragons count, too, then I also nominate Gem from The Ilyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    3. Dragons definitely count!

      Delete

    4. Falada! I second

      Delete

    5. I second Fledge. :)

      Delete

    7. I was just thinking about him today! I second Fledge!

      Delete

    8. I second Fledge! :D

      And I also second Niton! (Jace would think it's so weird and be so shy if his horse won something. XD XD )

      -The Princess of Dol Amroth

      Delete

    11. I second Fledge!

      Delete

    12. Ooh, yes! I've always loved Fledge (or Strawberry, as I like to call him). I second him!

      Delete

    13. I second Strawberry/Fledge. :)

      Delete

  3. I hope you'll have a relaxing summer, Jack!! Take a breather darling. <3

    For Best Fantasy Mount I nominate:

    Bree from The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis

    &

    Llyan from the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. LLYAN OH MY GOODNESS YES. That just made my day.

      Delete

    3. I second Llyan and Bree!

      -The Princess of Dol Amroth

      Delete

    5. I second Bree and Fledge!
      ~Priscilla White

      Delete

  5. I third Bree! The Horse & His Boy is my favorite of the series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. @Sparks of Ember: The Horse and His Boy is my favorite Narnia book too! :)

      Delete

    2. Bree!!!! Yes, I second!

      Delete

  6. I fourth Bree!

    And I will nominate Saphira from Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I fifth Bree. Man, I need to read that book again.

      Delete

  7. Thorn from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I second both Saphira and Thorn.

      Delete

    2. I second Thorn. :)

      -The Princess of Dol Amroth

      Delete

  8. Sounds like you certainly need a break! Best of luck in your sleeping endeavors.

    I fifth Bree.

    ReplyDelete

  9. *HUGS* Get a break and some sleep and fresh air! It will make a world of difference! <3

    ReplyDelete

  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

  11. I second both Bree and Llyan. And may I also nominate Hwin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Yep! You can nominate and second/third/etc as many as you'd like in as many of the award categories as you like... the only limitation is you only get one vote per character!

      Delete

    2. I second Hwin too. I think i actually like her more than Bree :)

      Delete

    3. I second Bree and Hwin - I love them both!

      Delete

    5. I second Hwin! I like her more than Bree as well, though I love them both. :D

      Delete

  12. I nominate the magic carpet from Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede! :) (maybe not the most noble or swift... but it tries... and it's not carpet's fault that it has bright pink teddy bears on it)

    ReplyDelete

  13. OH MAGIC CARPETS I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT!!!

    I second the magic carpet from Searching for Dragons.

    I now also nominate the magic carpet in Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones (sequel to Howl's Moving Castle) BECAUSE IT HAS SO MUCH PERSONALITY AND LIKES TO BE FLATTERED AND BECAUSE OF YOU-KNOW-WHAT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. THE MAGIC CARPETS. THIS IS PERFECT.

      I second the magic carpet from Searching for Dragons.

      And also second the carpet from Castle in the Air for obvious reasons. *wink, wink*

      Delete

    2. I SECOND BOTH MAGIC CARPETS BECAUSE YES.

      -The Princess of Dol Amroth

      Delete

  14. Jack, I hope you get your chance to relax. You desperately need it. Or you will be as crazy as your pets.

    ReplyDelete

  15. I nominate Tsornin (Sungold) from the Blue Sword. That moment when he jumped over the wall--priceless!
    I also nominate Graven from the Galleries of Stone Trilogy.

    ReplyDelete

  16. I most definitely nominate Tug from Ranger's Apprentice! Incredibly faithful, courageous, clever, loyal, and so much more! :)

    And thanks so much for hosting this award, Jack! This is so fun and awesome, and of course I love that it is named after the Silmarillion in honor of Tolkien's genius. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Tug! Someone should nominate him for the best friend award too, i should think XD. I second!

      Delete

    2. Tug, of course! The horse that became more and more a person throughout the series. I third him.

      Delete

    4. You beat me to it! I second Tug.

      Delete

  17. I'm sorry life has been tough on you, Jack. I so very hope you get to RELAX and enjoy the rest of the summer. You deserve it. *huggles*

    ReplyDelete

  18. I nominate Dikaios from the Oracles of Fire series by Bryan Davis.

    ReplyDelete

  19. I also nominate Blackjack from Percy Jackson and the Olympians. You've gotta love good ol' Blackjack!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I second Blackjack! He is quite awesome, actually! XD

      Delete

    2. I third him! :)
      -Chloe

      Delete

  20. i nominate Nugget from the Wingfeather Saga!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. OHMYGOSH NUGGET!!!! I KNEW there was a dog mount somewhere in my brain and I couldn't figure out who or what it was... *facepalm* I cried so much when he died...

      Delete

    2. Nugget! All. the. way. I second. :D

      Delete

  21. I nominate Falkor the Luck Dragon from never ending story.
    -chessi Gunter

    ReplyDelete

  22. I nominate Shardas from Dragon Slippers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. TUG!! I fourth him! Haha, yes, he could totally be nominated for the best friend award. XD

      -The Princess of Dom Amroth

      Delete

    2. SHARDAS. How could I forget about him? I need to reread that book. I second him!

      Delete

    3. I'm so sorry! I put that in the wrong spot...And also had a typo in my own name. Oops. XD

      I SECOND SHARDAS!! He is such a cool dragon!

      -The Princess of Dol Amroth

      Delete

  23. I nominate Blizzard from Tricia Mingerink's Blades of Acktar series. How could he not be nominated already? ;)

    ReplyDelete

  24. Sleep. Rest. Recuperate. Yes. The Lord made the Sabbath for a reason.
    Also, I almost petted a wild bear this month. In fact, not watching where I was going, I almost ran smack into it. And now the whole area has been shut down by the park service due to "aggressive bears" in the area. I am grateful to the Lord for His protection. ;)

    ReplyDelete

  25. I hope you have the relaxing July that you need, Jack. <3 Enjoy summer. :)

    ReplyDelete

  26. FLEDGE. I second Fledge - he's the reason I wanted a flying horse when I was little!

    And I also nominate the hippogriff from Ariosto's ORLANDO FURIOSO.

    ...Flying mounts are a thing.

    ReplyDelete

  27. I definitely second Tug from the Ranger's Apprentice series. Such a loyal and smart little horse. :D

    And I really have NO idea who else to nominate for this category. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of memorable mounts in books I read.

    -Josiah

    ReplyDelete

  28. I nominate Grackle from the Oracles of Fire series by Bryan Davis! (I'm assuming dragons count? Because they *do* have wings. Besides, who doesn't love purple dragons?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Grackle, oh yes, I second him too! Love that awesome dragon. <3

      Delete

  29. I nominate the castle in Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones, or does the vote go to Calcifer as the true source of faithfulness?

    ReplyDelete

Do you want to leave a comment? Come on, it will be fun. I want to get to know you and know why you stopped by my site. Don't worry if you don't know what to say, I will reply with something fun. Do you want to leave a comment? It doesn't have to be a long one.

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )