Good morning world!

It’s a chilly winter morning here in the south-east corner of mainland Australia, but made a little bit warmer by the fact that my blogger friend Jenny Lynn has nominated me for a Sunshine Blogger Award.

I hadn’t heard of this until yesterday, but it sounds like a little bit of fun (and lets be honest, my blog is usually about sort of serious topics so its a lovely patch of levity). The Sunshine Blogger Award is given to bloggers by other bloggers who believe them to be creative, positive, and inspiring.

Once nominated, a blogger is required to 1) thank the blogger who nominated them and link back to their blog, 2) answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated them, 3) nominate eleven other blogs and 4) give them eleven questions to answer, 5) notify your nominees and display the rules and The Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post.

So thanks Jenny Lynn! I love reading your stuff too. The 11 questions she asked are as follows:

1. What are your main sources of inspiration for your blog posts? Long car trips with my husband. I guess you could say he is my muse. We’ve always loved throwing around ideas, and truthfully it was his brain that I fell in love with first. We have undergone a lot of change in the last couple of years, and it has lead us to really examine a lot of things about life, faith and happiness. Where we used to nerd-out over politics and such, we now nerd out over things like belief, doctrine, contribution to society, and how to express our faith best in todays world.
2. Do you have to work around kids or family while trying to create content and run your blog? If yes, then how do you do it?  This is a hard question, given my wonderful nanny called in sick today! I have two incredible kids, a son aged 2 and a daughter aged 7 months. We’ve just moved into a new house with a study that I’ve set up to make that a bit easier. Usually, supernanny is here while I do my paid work (under my other name so as not to confuse my Christian commentary/fiction readers and my neurology-communication clients) and I take a few hours a week to blog as Kit Kennedy. Its a juggle, but writing is what makes me tick. And its  not a healthy thing if a mother stops ticking, right?
3. Do you prefer coffee, tea, or neither? Coffee. All the coffee. And then when I’ve consumed enough of that to make my adrenal glands HATE me, all the herbal tea.
4. What are you afraid of? Losing people, or relationships, over silly things. Once you’ve faced a loss of community over something that should have been just an uncomfortable conversation, its hard not to fear that. The people I’ve got around me now are just wonderful though, and I think that in truth its an unfounded fear. Still, its a case of once bitten twice shy.
5. What is one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime? I’d like to get my momentum back in fiction writing and be signed to a major publishing label. I’d also love to write a book in Lake Como, Italy. Not about Lake Como, Italy. Just, you know, in Lake Como.
6. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Happy, and managing life with two tweenagers with as little stress as possible. I’d also love to be connecting with a tribe of like-minded people who grapple with faith and modernity like I do, and perhaps inspiring them through what I do – fiction-wise and otherwise.
7. What are some short term goals you have for yourself? The old, classic “get fitter and healthier” goal applies here. I’m measuring this goal in a drop in blood pressure rather than a drop in weight though. I’ve also just moved into a house with a garden I can do something with, which enthuses me greatly. Its just that I don’t know a thing about gardening. So “learn a thing or ten about gardening” is also a goal. I also want to learn how to ferment gut-healthy foods like keffir, kombucha and such.
8. What are you passionate about? An examined faith. Centuries ago, people didn’t know the Bible because literacy was low, or because only the clergy had access, or because it was hand-written by scribes. We now have Bible apps on our phones, and we can read it (well, a large percentage of people can). Yet, still, we don’t. We don’t examine our faith, we don’t know which doctrines we believe and the implications they have on others. I love examining all of that, because I believe an examined faith is a strong faith. I strongly believe faith is relevant in modern society, but we need to know why and how to present that.
9. Tell us something embarrassing or silly that you’ve done/that’s happened to you. Once, as a young spring chicken on a work trip, I was trying to impress two state managers of the company I worked for while we walked down the busiest street in Sydney during peak hour. I stepped off the curb in my sky-high heels, and into the cuff of some poor strangers pants. He was walking fast in one direction, and I in the other. He lost his pants, as my heel yanked them down. I lost my dignity as I almost face-planted in Pitt Street. *Almost. Turns out I’m quite the acrobat.
10. Dark Chocolate, Milk chocolate, or white chocolate lover? If I have to choose, milk chocolate. But I believe there is a place in the world for them all!
11. What is a food that you think is disgusting/unappealing that most other people like? Mushrooms and avocado. My husband is a devotee to both.

My Nominees are: 
1. Jenny Lynn (but I don’t expect her to answer my questions! I do want to acknowledge that I enjoy her blog though)

2. Beauty Beyond Bones 

3. Christian Fiction Girl 

4. Help Me Believe

5. Rachel Held Evans 

6. Perfect Chaos

Okay so I have to confess here…these are the six I carve out time to look at. Its hard with ALL THE CHILDREN. I’m going to have to pledge to find another five bloggers to love by the time the next awards come around.

In terms of questions, I’d love to know:

• What drives you as a writer?
• What is your biggest pet peeve (in terms of writing/philosophy/doctrine or culture)?
• Was your earliest memory positive or negative?
• Is God actually a republican?
• What are your favourite topics to write about?
• What are your favourite topics to read about?
• What was the first book you remember buying?
• If you could have anyone in the world to dinner, who would you invite?
• Do you have any writing rituals (things that get you going)?
• What would a perfect day look like for you?
• Night owl or early bird?

This is all just a bit of fun, so I don’t expect you to play along! But I really enjoy reading your stuff, so I wanted to acknowledge that. Thanks! And keep doing what you do. It matters to people, and I’m one of them.

Cheers

Kit K.