Double Feature

So, I realized the other day that the lovely Opal @ Opal Swirls tagged me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award last month and I never noticed (because I am numb like that). Sorry, Opal. She also nominated me for the A Writer’s Life for Me Tag a few weeks ago, which means I have some catching up to do. Thanks for the tags, Opal!

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their site.

Put the award logo on your blog.

Answer the ten questions sent to you.

Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.

Nominate ten blogs.

Opal’s Questions (both bold and italic):

 

Motto to live by? Silly or for real.

Well, I don’t exactly have a motto, but my family often quotes one from Robots—“Never try, never fail”—which seems like an excellent axiom.

Favorite type of cookie? The most important question.

TOO MANY OPTIONS. But if I had to narrow it down, I’d say pretty much anything with both chocolate and mint.

 

 

Do you dance in the rain? Please tell me you at least jump in puddles.  

YES. I do dance in the rain. In fact, when I was a counselor at a summer camp, most of my campers probably assumed I’d lost my marbles because I went mud sliding and jumping in puddles and all that fun stuff. (What do you mean, I set a bad example?)  

 

What do you know about New Zealand? I always have a NZ question.

I know New Zealand is beautiful, and I’m pretty sure you call people from New Zealand kiwis (which is easier than saying New Zealandishers, or something like that). I want to live there someday, and I’ve already established that, when I’m dictator of the world, I will allow NZ to continue as a free state. Also, fun fact: Of the people who visit my blog, kiwis have taken third place in number of page views since they bumped out France. (Aussies come in second, and Americans take first, in case you were curious.)

 

What do you find the hardest about blogging? Be honest.

Remembering to blog. It’s not that I have a bad memory, it’s just that I have difficulty with the concept of time (days and weeks—I’m fine with minutes and hours). A month can pass, and I might not even notice. So I’m always worried I’m going to skip a week’s post because I’ve lost track of what day it is (it’s almost happened a couple times—shhh, don’t tell).

 

Strangest thing you’ve seen in public? Yeah…

When I used to live in Africa, I went to a restaurant that had a tame deer hanging out near the tables. I also went to a gas station that had a zoo attached (but it was a really depressing zoo because the lion was dead and the giant tortoise was sick).

 

One word that describes you? A word you would use to describe you.

Coffee (don’t even question this—it’s totally an adjective).

 

Do you have a favorite poet? A poem, a poem is good too.

I’m a big fan of Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Edgar Allan Poe, but I also like Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Time Does Not Bring Relief; You All Have Lied” and Robert Frost’s “Bereft”.

 

Last book you read and enjoyed? To steal from Heather (again).

This is a hard one because I usually read (and consequently finish) more than one book at a time. So I’m going to cheat a little on this question and tell you about one I’m currently reading and enjoying. (Sorry, Opal.) I’m working on MONSTERS OF MEN by Patrick Ness (in case you were wondering, it’s the sequel to THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO and THE ASK AND THE ANSWER).

 

The best sport in the world is… soccer/horsebackriding.

Sorry, neither. I choose cross-country. I wasn’t a big fan of team sports when I was a little person, so I liked the freedom of cross-country. I could just ignore everyone and set my own pace.

A Writer’s Life for Me Tag

Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you (and link back, because that’s just good etiquette.)

Answer the ten questions.

Re-post the picture.

Tag 5-10 bloggers.

Questions:

What kind of writer are you?

An obsessed one. When I was in high school, I’d finish my work and then rush to the laptop to work on my book. I didn’t do much else (socializing, sports, eating, sleeping? Who needs all that?).

 

When did you start writing? What made you want to try it?

I started writing when I was a little seven-year-old living in Africa. My teacher was this great Northern Irish woman, and she taught the best writing curriculum ever. (Side Note: Comparing that to some of the experiences I had in American schools, I can safely say I’m not sure I would be as into writing now if I’d been first exposed in the United States.)

 

What inspires your stories?

This is a difficult question to answer because it’s a bit personal. So I’ll just put it this way: each of my stories characterizes something I’ve lost.

 

What themes do you like to explore in your writing?

This ties in with the last question. I write about loss and grief in its varying forms (loss of family, loss of friends, loss of trust, loss of country, etc…) It’s how I figure out what’s going on in my head. I also write about interesting things like psychopaths, dragons, and xenophobic cultures.

 

Are you a panster or a plotter or a bit of both?

It’s funny—I used to be strictly a panster, hands-down. I only needed to know the starting and ending points. But last NaNoWriMo, I found I needed to work up a rough outline of everything before I could write (and by rough outline, I mean very rough). Now, as I’m hurtling toward another NaNoWriMo, I’ve been getting even more into the planning mood, so I may be evolving as a writer—or I might just be going through a stage. I’m not sure yet.

Where are you at in your journey? Querying, agented, published?

I’m currently querying and working on other projects to distract myself.

 

Have you ever entered any writing contests? Finaled? Won?

I made it to semi-finals in two essay-writing contests when I was a wee little tyke.  

 

Who are your writer heroes?

Ray Bradbury. Bet you didn’t see that one coming. (And I also have to add Nova Ren Suma because she is a master hypnotist when it comes to her prose.)

 

Have you been to a writing conference? Share your best or worst conference experience.

Never been, unfortunately. Hopefully I’ll make it to one someday.

 

Top 3 tips you’d give to newbie writers?

Disclaimer: These are just tidbits I needed to hear along the way, so please take them all with a grain of salt. They may not work as well for you as they worked for me.

One: You may feel heartless and cruel, but if you can’t summon the strength to kill off or torment your characters when it’s necessary to move the plot along, you might want to think about choosing a nicer, softer profession, like botany, whale-watching, or professional croquet (if they have that). Okay, so that’s a little harsh. My point is, to be an effective writer, you have to be at least a little cold-hearted.  

Two: If you were to eat a cake made almost entirely of frosting, you’d probably feel a little sick—you might not even make it all the way through. In writing, adjectives are your frosting. And while they make a great accent, you don’t want to give your readers upset stomachs. So you’d be doing yourself a great favor if you avoided sentences like, “The girl with flowing blonde hair and rich emerald eyes flung the large, half-way deflated, orange rubber ball toward the small, tow-headed, mischievous toddler with brown streaks of crumbly, chocolate cake smeared carelessly on his rounded, apple cheeks.” If you were dressing up to go out, you wouldn’t try to wear a dozen necklaces at once (well, I certainly hope you wouldn’t)—so don’t make your reader suffer a similar experience. Make every word pull its weight.

Three: Shoot your inner editor. I’d never even finished writing an entire first draft of a novel until I participated in NaNoWriMo and just wrote like a crazy person with a posse of angry lawmen on my tail. Race toward that finished draft as if your life depends on it because—trust me—it does.

 

And there you have it. Since I’m pretty sure most of the bloggers I follow have been tagged for one or both of these already, I’m not going to nominate anyone. But if you haven’t, and you’d like to, just let me know and I’ll link back to you. (Also, just as a heads-up: Next week is my first blogversary, and there will be a giveaway!)