Randomness About Me

My blogging buddy Catherine A Winn awarded me with the Liebster Award.  Thanks Catherine!  I am supposed to answer the following questions she posed to me about writing and then write 11 random facts about myself.  So if you want to know more about me, then keep reading, 'cuz without any further ado, here we go!...

1. What is the working title of your WIP?
Right State of Mind

2. What is the genre?
YA sci-fi.

3. When did you first want to be a writer?
I think around high school when I wrote a short story that my teacher LOVED and made me read to the class. I was embarrassed about that, but pleased that so many people liked it.

4. When did you take writing seriously?
Around the time I finished graduate school. I was teaching middle school English which inspired my first manuscript and my current WIP.

 
5. Describe your writing room/area or upload a picture.

Oh, a writing area sounds divine!  Right now, it's wherever I can go that's quiet or can snatch a few minutes to write or blog: Starbucks, dining room table, the couch, family office, and most recently the car.  (Weird I know, but if both kiddos are asleep after we've driven home from an appointment or a playdate or wherever I'll get my laptop and write in the passenger seat until at least one of them wakes up).

6. What writers influenced your writing?

Oh my goodness, there's so many!  Shakespeare, Francine Rivers, Susan May Warren, Lisa Samson, Renee Swope, Melanie Dickerson, Louis Sachar, Lois Lowry, Suzanne Collins, Brian Selznick, J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, Laurie Halse Anderson.....

7. Are you published? If so share with us.

Uh, I wrote three articles while in high school for the area newspaper as part of an internship thing I did for one of my classes.  I have the articles somewhere...  ;)

8. Do you work in a variety of genres or just one?

Two: I write both YA sci-fi and also Christian non-fiction.  They may seem like a contradiction but I like it, since they allow me to stretch as a writer as I pursue both genres and passions.

9. If you could be mentored by one successful writer, who would that be?

Tough question.  I think I'd go with Susan May Warren, since she's written both adult and YA fiction and also non-fiction and she seems like such a friendly, down-to-earth lady.

10. Who is your favorite author?

I don't think I could choose one from that long list in number 6.

11. Which book do you remember reacting emotionally to as a child?

I remember LOVING Holes by Louis Sachar in middle school.  I remember thinking it was so awesome how everything fit together in the end and I would love to be able to write something that cool someday.  I think I read it like three times in a row and told all my friends they had to read it.  

And even though the movie came out while I was in college, I had my parents go with me to watch it because I wanted them to enjoy it and I was so sad that my mom fell asleep during the movie.  And I bought it the day it hit the stores.  On VHS.  :)

11 Random Facts About Me:

1) I only write with black pens.  When I was a teacher I corrected all papers with green pens, since black didn't work so well, and I'm totally against using red.

2) I went to kindergarten in England, elementary and middle school in the States, and high school in Japan.  Loved that my dad's job gave me the ability to see the world.

3) My oldest son communicates mostly in sign language due to a speech disorder, and so we're learning new signs every day.  It's been fun learning a new language. :)

4) I have random hiccups.  As in, I'll have one loud hiccup, then about 20-30 minutes later another one.

5) I love cupcakes.  Don't know what it is about them, but just seeing a cupcake makes me happy.

6) If I'm writing, I like to have a frappe to help me along.  Either a Java Chip from Starbucks, or I make my own and experiment with different flavors. (Thanks Mom and Dad for the frappe maker!)

7) My favorite movie is Dead Poets Society. That movie is what inspired me to become a teacher.

8) The hubster is the first and only guy I ever dated.  I was 21 when we started dating.  He's still my Prince Charming.

9) I read about 3-5 books at a time.  All different genres/topics. 

10) I worked at a movie theater for 5 years while I was in high school and college.  I made, bagged, swept up, dreamt about, smelled of, and am no longer a fan of popcorn.

11) Each year I have 3-4 TV shows I can't miss: sometimes they carry over from the year before, sometimes it's a new show I've become addicted to.  This year it's Bones, Castle, Big Bang Theory and Parenthood.

Thanks for sticking around, hopefully you learned a few new things about me. :)