I’ve Been Nominated for a Liebster Award!


What an honor to be nominated for a Liebster Award by my cyber friend Rosemary of cystaract.wordpress.com – thank you, Rosemary, for your sisterhood and support these past many months and now for your nomination!

 The Rules:

  1. Acknowledge the blog that nominated you and display the award.
  2. Answer 11 questions that the blogger gives you.
  3. Give 11 random facts about yourself.
  4. Nominate up to 5 blogs you think are deserving of the award that have less than 200 followers.
  5. Let the blogs know you have nominated them.
  6. Give them 11 questions to answer.

 Rule #2: Answers to Rosemary’s 11 questions:


  1. What is your favourite quote?

It’s always hard for me to pick a favorite anything; I feel much more comfortable with “one of my favorite” or “my favorite this week.” So, “one of my favorite quotes,” which has been taped beside my bed these last many months and feels an appropriate choice for this particular blog and community is:

“I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.”

– Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark

  1. What have you gained from writing your blog?

My blog has given me:

  • An online community of women going through similar challenges and transformations.
  • A focus and a purpose and a passion during my year of intensive breast cancer treatment.
  • A place to reflect. Writing about my breast cancer experience has been one of the most important pieces of my survival, healing and spiritual/emotional growth.
  1. What’s your favourite post on your blog and why?

One of my favorite posts is “On Grief and Gratitude” (https://writingbreastcancer.com/2015/11/07/grief-and-gratitude/) because it feels timeless and full of important reminders for myself. Re-reading it now, it is a good reminder that everything shifts in life; that I can carry my emotions with me without being ruled by them; and that practicing gratitude is an effective way to lift myself out of the darker places. It is also a good reminder of how strong I am, even when I don’t feel it, and that my strength will carry me through anything.

  1. What’s your focus for 2016?

joy and space

To nurture joy as well as simplicity and space.

To keep exploring the questions I’ve pondered deeply since my diagnosis in October 2014: Who am I really? What kind of life do I want? How can I honor my answers to those questions?

  1. Five blogs you follow?

1. Woman in the Hat http://www.womaninthehat.com/

2. Laundry Line Divine http://www.suzibanksbaum.com/blog/

3. My Little Bs Have the Big C https://littlebsbigc.wordpress.com/

4. The Cult of Perfect Motherhood http://cultofperfectmotherhood.com/

5. Cystaract: Leading #TeamPositive from diagnosis to all clear https://cystaract.wordpress.com/

  1. What’s one thing about you few people know?

I’ve always felt watched, even in the privacy of my home – which is just one reason why current technology and social media freaks me out: it makes me think that people might truly be watching me, through my phone, through the camera in my computer, through some secret hole in my ceiling. (But I’m really quite stable, not paranoid!)

  1. Where is a special place for you?


Tuckernuck, an island paradise where I can simply be

  1. If you could have dinner with five famous people, who would they be?

1. and 2. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, together

3. Pema Chodron

4. I know it’s cheesy, but Jesus—for the historical, political and spiritual conversation

5. Elizabeth Gilbert, because I just fell in love with her when reading Big Magic

6. Nelson Mandela (oops, that’s 6)

  1. What advice would you give your 18 year old self?

Notice and then seek out what inspires you and what grounds you. Everything else will fall into place from there.

  1. What type of music do you listen to?

I break out in a cold sweat if someone asks me to pick something to play. Okay, it’s not that serious, but even though I love music (and dancing), I’ve never been able to hold onto the names of musicians, albums, songs. I love dancing to hip-hop. I love listening to just about any genre… when it happens to be a song that I like. (A few of my favorite musicians whose names actually have stuck: Bon Iver, Gillian Welch, Jeff Buckley, Adele, Jay-Z, Dylan)

  1. What would you like to know more about?

Myself, always more to learn there

What goes on in the inner workings of my children’s minds and hearts

Facts that would help me further back up my values and politics when talking with someone who does not share my values and politics 

Rule #3: 11 Random facts about me:

otters sleep  (Okay, that random fact has nothing to do with me, but how sweet is that?!)

  1. I almost always speed when driving, feels like I’m beating the clock and getting a little more time in my day.
  2. I’d rather be too hot than too cold.
  3. I’ve always had a very active nighttime dream life.
  4. I’ve always wanted to travel the country in an RV and to go on a cruise. I think it’s the turtle in me who would love to carry my home on my back.
  5. I inherited a terrible sweet tooth from my parents (though I generally try to avoid sugar).
  6. I love Mexican food.
  7. My idea of a great vacation is sleeping in and then lounging by water (beach, river, I’ll even take a pool) with my book.
  8. I don’t like spending much time in actual water (unless it’s a hot tub). I like to jump in, cool off, and then get back to my reading/lounging in the sun.
  9. I get easily over-stimulated and have trouble with loud noises and commotion—which is one of the more challenging parts of parenthood for me.
  10. I got terribly homesick as a child.
  11. I was raised by politically active parents committed to social justice and gave my first speech when I was 8 at a benefit for Central American children. 

Rule #4: My nominees are:

There are so many blogs that I think are worthy of an award! But I’m thrown by the “less than 200 followers.” I imagine some of the ones below might not qualify, but since their numbers aren’t posted, and since I think more people should read what they have to write, I’m nominating them!

Rule #6: My 11 questions:


  1. What do you fear?
  2. What inspires you?
  3. What would you tell your childhood self?
  4. What’s something you’ve always wanted to do in life?
  5. What do you think happens when we die?
  6. What’s something few people know about you?
  7. What’s one thing you would change about yourself?
  8. What’s something you’re proud of?
  9. What are 5 blogs you follow?
  10. What have you gained from writing your blog?
  11. What is your hope/intention for 2016?

12 thoughts on “I’ve Been Nominated for a Liebster Award!

  1. Hooray!! You’re back. I love this peep into what’s important, treasured and cooking. Congratulations on your induction into the Liebster circle. This is yet another rich, tender, humorous and honest post. I for one could not love you more ; > )


  2. OMG Jenny! Thank you for all of this. You are such a beautiful person! The otters, sleeping and floating on their backs while holding their loved one’s hand will stay with me forever! -Beth


  3. I love this post! It was like finding a treasure box of you – so fun to read.
    I want to take a week away with you in the sun, with late mornings and Mexican food and endless reading on the beach …. and float in the ocean holding hands 🙂


    1. Thank you, Mariejeanne, it is exciting. And I am still writing, but I haven’t been drawn to writing so much about cancer. But I do miss having readers and interacting with people like you on a regular basis, so I’ve thought about re-doing the blog a bit to have a broader focus–to just be a place to post whatever I happen to be writing. I’m thinking on it!…


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