It was such a lovely surprise to be nominated by the wonderful Joanne Phillips for Blog of the Year 2012. Love my gold star! (Click to find out how you can nominate someone for Blog of the Year 2012)
Here are the ‘rules’ for this award:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen — there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required — and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award — http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.
5 You can now also join the Facebook group — click ‘like’ on the page above ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.
6 As a winner of the award — please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award — and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…
For me, one blog really stands out as being funny, warm and full of amazing advice. That blog is Joanne Phillips. It is packed full of inspirational advice and tips, as well as information about her novels, Can’t Live Without, A Life Unpredicted and Other Stories and the eagerly-anticipated follow up to CLW, The Family Trap. She shares her experiences of self-publishing and writing, as well as giving advice for how to tackle writing issues. Hope you like your star Jo! 
congratulations on your award and thanks for sharing it!