The Sunshine Blogger Award!

Hello, all my wonderful bookworms and writers!! ^^ And a very merry Christmas to you all! Goodness, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted a long chatty post. I blame on Christmas. Indeed, Christmas is most glorious, but it is also very busy! It is currently December 23rd and nobody has their presents ready yet. Alas, alack.

Editing Isabelle here: It is no longer December 23rd. Which is…… obvious, I guess. XD And everybody got their presents ready, so no worries! We all just rush-buyed them on Christmas Eve.

But today, I am most honored and incredibly grateful to have been nominated by Ava @Always Ava for the Sunshine Blogger Award!!! ^^ Thank you so much, Ava!! (And many, many thanks to all my dear blog readers! It’s been more than a year since I started this blog, and I am amazed by how much it has grown! I am insanely grateful to each and every one of you!!!)

Die Rules…

• Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog. (Down below!!!)
• Thank the person who nominated you. (Thanks, Ava!!)
• Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
• Answer your nominator’s questions.
• Nominate up to eleven bloggers.
• Ask your nominees eleven questions.
• Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

It really does feel very, very odd to be doing a Sunshine Blogger tag/award in the middle of winter.

Then again, I suppose it is fitting, seeing as I’m currently in Thailand, which I have hence dubbed the Land of Eternal Summer.

1. What is your favorite poem?? Why??

Hurrah!!! No one ever asks me about my favorite poems… I adore poetry with all my heart, and I need to read more of it!!! But as of now, I think my favorite poem really has to be Dreams by Langston Hughes. I believe I saw this poem somewhere in Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (a brilliant middle-grade book told in verse, go read it), and since then, it really has just stuck with me so much.

Hold fast to dreams 
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

It’s a shorter poem yet one that carries so much depth and that means so much to me. As someone who has some wild dreams (which I intend to chase, no matter where they lead me), I really love this poem.

2. What fandoms are you a part of?? Which is your favorite, and why??

Ooh fandoms!!! I would surely have to say The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (EMMA FANS, UNITE!!! *raises flag even though I’m pretty sure this fandom doesn’t have a flag*), Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Lord of the Rings. I was a part of the Skandar and the KOTLC fandom for a while, but I fear I’ve left those behind. *sigh*

As for my favorite…

*stares* Well, of course, it must be Lord of the Rings!! I truly cannot tell you how much I adore these movies!!! They are simply the greatest fantasy film trilogies ever made!!! How beautiful the landscape is, the depth and history of the world, the battles, the fight between good vs. evil, the heroes, the adventures, and just… it’s beautiful. Not to mention how they filmed the movies!! (Truly, if you can snurch a fan magazine, then I simply must implore you to!)

It’s just such a beautiful story, and one that has inspired me so much!!

3. If you have Pinterest, what does your feed currently look like?? (if you don’t, what do you think your home feed would look like based on your interests and current obsessions??)

I use Pinterest occasionally to gather illustrations and pictures to build moodboards with in Canva. It has so many inspiring pictures!! (Not to mention the sheer amount of quotes you get if you search “inspiring quotes”!!)

Mine looks like this!! ^^

Inspirational quotes, writerly stuff, illustrations, and a bunch of clockpunk and seampunk stuff!!! (And flowers. And a pirate ship. Because I was making a moodboard for a friend who has this — very cool-sounding — book about pirates.)

4. You have to go to a boring work party. What three fictional characters are you taking with you to keep from going insane from boredom while all your (much older) coworkers engage in small talk??

As a writer, a ‘work party’ would involve me with a book and a cup of orange juice, silently celebrating finishing chapter one!!! But let us assume I were at an actual boring work party… hm… let me see…

I suppose we have to include Merry and Pippin here!!! They’re just the best!!! I love them! They’re so fun, and I think the three of us would get along grandly! As for the third fictional character, I might choose Rachel Klein from The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr — she’s so brave and such a wonderful character, and I think I should very much like to meet her!!!

(Are you sure I can only pick three?? There are so many characters I want to meet! Emma M. Lion, Joon, Ess, Marigold, Aragorn, Gimli, Eowyn, and just… so so many.) Though if I didn’t pick Rachel, I’d probably pick Eowyn! She’s one of my favorite characters in Lord of the Rings!!!

5. If your life was a movie, what song would play over the credits??

…

I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. XD I’ve wanted to create a LOTR meme for so long now!!! (And it’s true! One does not simply ask me to ever choose only one song!) I adore music with all my heart. I have over 1,000 liked songs on Spotify!

*sighs*

Well, if I were to choose one, I might choose Follow Your Heart from Unicorn Academy on Netflix. It’s so whimsical and sweet and magical, and I adore it. Or This is Me by Demi Lovato (from Camp Rock! Which I’ve never watched!). It is just so me, and it inspired me to keep writing during the tough times. Or Stand By You by Rachel Platten!! (Rachel Platten is the best!)

6. If you could name yourself, what name would you choose? First, middle, and last names please.

Isabelle Lydia Knight.

:DDDD

This is one of the perks of a pen name, folks!! You basically get to pick a name for yourself!! I picked Isabelle Knight because it felt very fantasy-author-like, and Isabelle just feels like such an elegant name! Followed by Knight, it is perfect for a fantasy author.

But if I were to pick a name to use in real life, perhaps Catherine Rose Wong. I adore the name Catherine, and I just think Rose as a middle name is so pretty!!! Wong because… well, I just like the last name Wong. (And since I’m Chinese, I do think having Wong as a last name would be less confusing than Knight…. Knight isn’t exactly a Chinese last name. XD) And for those wondering why I picked Knight instead of a Chinese last name, I did not ever plan on showing my face on the internet ever.

I planned to stay an anonymous author.

…

Didn’t quite work out that way, seeing as I have a YouTube channel. 😀 But I adore the name Isabelle Knight nonetheless!! And now that we’ve rambled on too much over pen name logistics, let us move onto question six!

7. Why do you like your favorite book??

I feel like my favorite book changes all the time though… I suppose it really all depends on my mood at the time. I adore so many books!!! But I think… my all-time favorite might have to be Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It was the first novel I’d ever read that I loved. I loved Ella’s character so much, and the land and the world and Frell and Areida and just all these charming characters… The adventures Ella got up to were amazing, and I loved how it was a Cinderella retelling with a twist!!

I remember just re-reading and re-reading and re-reading this book over and over and over again. At one point I started keeping count and ended up with 56 re-reads…

I think I love Ella Enchanted because it’s sort of the book that has a timeless feel to it. There is magic and there are fairies and it’s a fresh twist on Cinderella and yet it just really has the feel of this… fairytale or this classic book that you’re reading. It’s also written in a way that just hooks you in and pulls you right into the story so you feel like you’re just right there with Ella. The amount of depth given to the world is fantastic as well, and it truly felt like I was just in the story, in the world, right there with Ella. (Not to mention Hattie and Olive!!!)

It’s also in a medieval world!! Which I love! And has princesses and princes and all those classic things. And I loved reading about Ella’s adventures with the ogres and at finishing school!

And also the food……

I must admit, the food described in this book made my mouth water.

What I wouldn’t give to have Mandy as our family cook….

I was lucky enough to be able to interview Gail Carson Levine via phone call (which was an absolute dream come true for me!!! She’s one of my favorite authors ever!), which you can check out here!

8. What random objects have you used as bookmarks that weren’t actually bookmarks??

Receipts and scrap paper, mostly!! If I find a receipt lying around somewhere, I’ll probably just stuff it in one of my books as a makeshift bookmark. I prefer to dog-ear my books though.

9. What do you want for Christmas?? (it’s nearly here, y’all)

So many things!!! But to narrow it down to three, probably a dagger, a quill set, and Evenstar from LOTR.

A dagger because I’m a fantasy author, and it is literally my dream to be able to have a sword or dagger to cosplay with!!! (And to test out sword moves with!!) And wouldn’t it be cool if you walked into my writing shed and just saw this deadly-but-very-cool-looking dagger just propped up on the shelf??

Not that I’d allow anyone into my writing shed/space.

At least not without a good amount of tidying up……

A quill set because, again, I am a fantasy author. It would be so cool to have one!!! I gifted one for my friend for Chinese New Year last year, and it was so cool!!! (All the inks and the pen tips and the little blocks of wax you could melt it to stamp!!!) So I think I’d like to have one of my own one day.

And Evenstar!!!!!!!!!!

It looks so cool, y’all!!! So pretty and sparkly and silver!! (I adore elves in the LOTR books. They’re so fun and whimsical and full of laughter and music.) And if I had Evenstar, I could totally cosplay as Arwen! (She’s the only character in Lord of the Rings I can cosplay as. *sobs* Curse my dark hair and dark eyes. Well, I mean, I like my hair color… but it makes it dreadfully hard to cosplay as a very blonde Eowyn.)

What is the last song you listened to?? Tell us about it…

O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant…

Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Carrie Underwood!! ^^ It’s such a beautiful song, and I absolutely love it! It’s so perfect for the Christmas season, and I really think it’s a reminder of the true meaning behind Christmas — celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And also, I’m a sucker for any Christmas carol, really…

11. Why do you think eleven was chosen as the magic number for this tag?? (this is me running out of inspo lol)

Hmm… I think 11 was chosen as the number for this tag because, it’s, well, eleven. It has a most unique and wonderful sound to it, and it’s a double one. It looks nice and it also sounds rather intriguing. Eh-leh-vehn. It’s fun to say!! (Better than twenty-two, in my opinion!!!) Not to mention it’s the perfect amount of questions to get lots of info from, yet not overwhelm the poor blogger!

The Tagses

I hereby tag:

Lola Mae @Lola Mae Writes — she’s such a fun blogger and has wonderful posts filled with faith, books, writing, and wolves, and it’s always wonderful to read her posts!!!

Autumn Grace @Shades of Art — I thiiink she’s done this tag before, but I would love to see her answers to the questions I have!!! Besides, her blog is so lovely and full of art and writing and it’s just… such a wonderful blog for any creative person!

And JOURNEYYY!!!! You have now been double-tagged. 😀

Die Questions

(yes, I’m using German, but Ava already used French for ‘Le Questions’ so what was I meant to do??)

(Well, I mean, I could use le as well, but…)

1. What brings you hope?
2. If you could meet any character, who would you pick to meet and why?
3. Who’s your favorite villain? (I want to know…)
4. What’s your favorite flower?
5. If you could meet any person in the world, who would it be? 🙂
6. What’s a word you overuse way too often?
7. If you could go on any adventure/quest — anything. from a book, from your imagination, anything — where would you go? How might this quest change you?
8. If you were a bird, where would you fly?
9. What’s your favorite instrument?
10. What’s the craziest dream you’ve ever had?
11. What is your dream? (like, the kind of dream you chase)

Till next time!! And a very Happy New Year’s to you all!!! ^^ May 2026 bring lots of joy and books and writing!

-Isabelle