Woo! I just noticed I'm at 500 followers -- very timely, as my overdue September contest will be ending on Monday. Thank you so much, everyone! And thanks to all who've signed up to my December 1
Take On Amazon Web Splash. I'm now up to 366 people! Bloggers rock.
I'd love to say that people in my hood are awed -- or even interested -- in the fact that I'm a writer. The truth is, where I live, we're a dime a dozen. There's no way I can compete with my neighbourly literary greats... even if they are way past their prime (i.e., dead!).
Down the street from me is the former home of Agatha Christie. Metres away is James Joyce's old residence. Cross a few more streets, and you'll hit Ezra Pound and TS Eliot, not to mention William Thackeray. Everywhere I go, I run across a Blue Plaque proclaiming a past great. It has a way of bringing me back down to Earth with a thud, if ever I exhibited any hint of ego inflation!
Still, I wouldn't change my hood for the world. Let's just hope some of that greatness rubs off!
Any famous people in your neck of the woods?
I'd love to say that people in my hood are awed -- or even interested -- in the fact that I'm a writer. The truth is, where I live, we're a dime a dozen. There's no way I can compete with my neighbourly literary greats... even if they are way past their prime (i.e., dead!). 
ha ha when I was growing up I had one of those stare at me everyday, maybe when I die I'll get one of those.
ReplyDeleteI always think it's so great that Eliot made so much of his life, what with him being born and living half way up a wall.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting 500 followers! :) I'm happy to say that I am one of them now, hehe.
ReplyDelete~TRA
http:/xtheredangel.blospot.com
If you ask me to single out one thing that I love most about London, I will probably pick those blue plaques. I do envy you for actually living there!
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on hitting 500 followers.
Congratulations on hitting 500 followers.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of blue plaques round my area too.
Congrats on the 500!
ReplyDeleteWhen I left the UK, I asked them to take down my blue plaque. I didn't want to leave knowing others would cry, each time they saw my name. *smile*
You are keeping great company there, it's nice to rub elbows with the masters, even just with their essence left behind. Mark Twain lived in Hartford, close by to where I am.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on hitting 500 followers!
ReplyDeleteI've from a super small town, and there are absolutely no blue plaques around here. :(
Unfortunately, my hometown isn't one for plaques. If it was, I might be more inclined to live in a way that required one...
ReplyDeleteBeing in small city nothern Ontario, all the famous folks from our neck of the woods are hockey players! :)
ReplyDeleteWow 500?! Look at you!! Climbing like a mad woman! Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea you lived so close to such great people!! Talk about a reality check for sure! Though I believe Talli Roland (Marsha) has certainly made her mark there and will only continue!
Oooo, that's so cool!!! There were great writers who lived in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states, but it's still quite a drive for me to visit. But Philadelphia isn't too far, and Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson used to reside there! So that's something. :)
ReplyDeleteToo cool that you live so close to the former homes of those great writers!
Congrats on 500 followers, Talli!!!
Thanks for commenting on my contest! I really liked your recent posts, especially your 8 count list of writer issues :)
ReplyDeleteAuthors in Bangalore, um, we re a very literary bunch, but historically its been more Kannada (local language) authors. Anita Nair is from here though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Nair)
Neil Gaiman lives close. Prince lives here. Uh...that's all I can think of.
ReplyDeleteNo--except Bobby Clark who used to play for the Philadelphia Flyers YEARS ago. :)
ReplyDeleteAwwwww Talli!! Soon your hood will have two more plaques - side by side! One for the famours chiklit author Ms Roland the other for that Marsha woman - traveller extraordinaire!! :-)
ReplyDeleteTake care
x
There must be magic in the air round there, Talli.
ReplyDeleteLeicester is quite an area for children's authors. Funny how that sort of thing happens.
No one famous that I know of...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 500 followers, Talli!
Thanks for chiming in everyone - and for helping me get to 500 folloers, too! :)
ReplyDeleteI see you have 501 -- that's wonderful. Celebrate w/ a cupcake & a glass of wine.
ReplyDeleteYou sure are surrounded by great writers of the past! Yes, it can & will rub off on you.
Ahh... those mighty Londoners! You are certainly in good company, Talli. Here's to the ghosts of their haunts rubbing good luck on you! :o)
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of well known writers in my "hood" also. However, most of them do their writing on walls with spray paint...
ReplyDeleteHow AWEsome to live in such close proximity to literary giants. Do you go stand by the walls or in the doorways of their homes and breathe in their energy?
ReplyDeleteWhere I live at Boscombe Bournemouth, the land of the area also the Manor just further along the road was owned by the SON of Percy Byshee Shelley and Mary Shelley. Although Percy Senior died when Percy Jr. Mary who wrote Frankinstein passed away in London but is buried in St. Peter's Church Bournemouth. alongside her parents, the heart of poet Percy senior and her son and daughter-in law.
ReplyDeleteThe Manor has just been renovated into a medical centre but they have kept the theatre that was there over 200 yrs ago.
Yvonne.
I'm so jealous of where you live...
ReplyDeleteAnyways, congrats on the 500!
CD
Congrats on your 500 followers! :)
ReplyDeleteAs for famous people around here... they're everywhere. Not that I've seen them, but they are here. Some of the famous people that live, sometimes live, or lived in Dallas: Chance Crawford--Gossip Girl (yummy!), Luke & Owen Wilson, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Urie--he's mark, from Ugly Betty. Lots of famous Texans. :)
Oh yes, there's a few plaques down my neck of the woods, mostly mariners but I did spot a writers name - which of course eludes me now!! ;)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your 500 followers!!
Congratulations on getting all of those followers!
ReplyDeleteIrving Layton and Mordecai Richler come to mind. There're many others of course... :-) Go Montreal!
ReplyDeleteNot in my immediate area, but Stephen King does have a place a bit farther south. He also has a place in New England, where I'm originally from. I've never met him, but being that he's one of my all-time favorites, it makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteHAHA! I get a bit of that and Ann Arbor isn't nearly as old as London, but in an academic community EVERYBODY fancies himself a writer. My friends from home are easier to impress. (congrats on the followers and WELL DONE on your promo)
ReplyDeleteA big congrats on the 500 followers!! Definitely nothing to sneeze at and quite an accomplishment!!
ReplyDeletehere's what you do: get yourself a blue plaque and have it done up with you name and such - make it look like the official ones to a half degree. Put that up outside your residence and always know that being great is simply a matter of time and taste.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on hitting 501 followers Talli!
ReplyDeletePerhaps one day there will be a blue plaque with your name on it. :)
On Dec. 1st will we be able to preorder your book --the paper version???
I live in the middle of nowhere, so no competition for me;)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on all your followers! Most impressive. ;]
ReplyDeleteNo famous people where I live (I think?) but it's cool how many used to live around where you're at! Britain is home to I'd say most of the great writers and I'd love to check out those spots...
Congrats on 500 followers! That's awesome. And no one famous, at least not that I know of.
ReplyDeleteLucky you! Our local talent is the cast from The Hills.
ReplyDeleteThe Duchess of Lauderdale, the subject of my current wip lived just across the river from me - no blue plaque but a great big 17th Century Mansion!!!! Definitely worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteBTW-I am No 503 - sorry I didn't do it before.
Now am jealous of you but really you lucky girl xo
ReplyDeleteDon't talk to me about Dublin writers - there are just too many!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great place to write! =)
ReplyDeleteSounds like an inspirational neighborhood! Just think, If you are lucky many years from now an up and coming writer will be walking past your blue plaque thinking the same thing!
ReplyDeleteHi Talli .. another three in the two hours I've been away (now 506) .. do they have exponential infinity mathematical figures for blogging friends?
ReplyDeleteNow I'm back I can finish .. yes Dickens was here apparently, Lewis Carrol, Shackleton .. and a few others ..
But I agree the Notting Hill Kensington area is full of stimulating blue plaques ..
Have a great weekend .. Hilary