One Lovely Blogger Award (Round Two) and Dragon's Loyalty Award

The marvelous Victoria @ The Endless Oceans of my Mind nominated me for the One Lovely Blogger Award. (Thank you, Victoria!) I’ve actually done this one before but the cool thing about this award is that I get to share seven facts about myself, so I could maybe do it a bazillion times without it getting old. At least, not for me. 

Source

On top of that, the esteemed Ashley @ [insert title here] nominated me for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. (Thank you, Ashley!) Since both of these awards involve listing seven facts about myself, I’m just going to combine them and give you fourteen facts. You could challenge me on this, if you wanted, but Ashley’s award says I’m a dragon, so you might not want to get on my bad side in case I decide to eat you. Fair warning. Also, why wouldn’t you want to read fourteen facts about me? 

Fact one: In order to get stuff done, I need to be in a brightly lit area, especially if I’m reading or cleaning. If it’s a rainy, overcast day, I’m fine to work on the computer with the light a little lower than usual because it’s cozy and all. But otherwise, poorly lit rooms deeply bother me. Often the overhead light doesn’t cut it, and I need to supplement. 

Fact two: 50% of my current projected TBR pile for this year (at the very least) consists of books I want to reread. And a lot of those planned rereads will be stuff I read last year. As a part of my mental system, I’ve always found that I process everything better the second, third, (and so on) time around. Last year, I read a lot of new-to-me books, so I’m eager to experience those again this year and analyze them more thoroughly. 

Fact three: I will always love Star Wars, to the ends of the universe and back, but first and foremost, I will always be a Trekkie. In fact, when I got home from watching The Force Awakens, I sat down and watched an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. 

Fact four: By the time I finished editing my first complete novel, I had spent about eleven years working on various writing projects (I started way young). During that time, and in the year since, I have come up with so many story ideas that if I were to suddenly stop thinking of anything new, there’s a good chance I would still be set for the rest of my life. This is one of the main reasons why I write so quickly—I have to keep up somehow. I’d hate to let any of those ideas go to waste. 

Fact five: I have a minor obsession with trilogies. While I love stand-alone books, nothing grabs my interest quite like a trilogy, and as a testament to that great love, I just bought three trilogies I’ve never read and have no clue if I’ll love or not. I actually prefer the all-in approach over buying the first book to see if I like it before committing. Even if I’m not a huge fan, like with MATCHED and UNDER THE NEVER SKY, I will still eventually break and buy the whole trilogy, just because. My brain will bug me non-stop unit the day I do. Also, if a book is disappointing, I am more likely to forgive it and reread it if it is part of a trilogy. I honestly have no explanation for this—it just is. 

Fact six: I can’t write well if I’m not surrounded by books and coffee (preferably both). I can function without those, of course, but not with the same depth of comfort, concentration, and consistency. My stress levels immediately lower and my contentment levels immediately rise in the presence of books and coffee. So you could say that spending loads of money on books and coffee is justifiable, not just for energy and entertainment, but for medicinal purposes as well. After all, I have to maintain my sanity somehow. 

Fact seven: I enjoy swimming, and I was even a certified lifeguard for two summers, but I’m scared of the ocean and I can only swim in lakes if I don’t think about what might be underneath me. When I was younger, I also used to be afraid about going outside because I was certain an animal was going to jump out of the woods and get me. Actually, to this day, I’m still not a big fan of being outside alone—I’m just generally less of a wimp about it. But my fears are more reasonable now because, when I go for walks, I usually come across a small herd of deer that likes to hang around in the woods by the side of the road and stare at me as I pass by. Obviously they are plotting my demise. There is no other explanation. 

Fact eight: In school, I had a love/hate relationship with math. There were times when I would genuinely enjoy it (especially algebra), and I even wanted to take calculus at one point. But my biggest frustration was that I could happily spend a whole hour solving equations, only to find out that I had answered everything incorrectly. And then I would lose confidence and get a mental block and it would be all downhill from there for a while. After taking physics in high school, I had always planned to take advanced physics and astrophysics but I never had the time. I still might study those some day (when I was eight I watched a documentary or two or on quantum physics and string theory, because I could, and I think that’s why I love physics so much now). But I was very bad at the math part of physics. So that was fun. 

Fact nine: I pace like a caged animal testing its boundaries when I’m waiting for my coffee to heat up. And I tend to do it without even realizing it. (Also, thanks to Geico, this is what I think of when I’m using the microwave.)

Fact ten: I’m less fond of libraries now than I used to be. I’m a huge fan of the idea of libraries, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t like borrowing books and then having to return them. If I’m going to read something, I like to own it so I can enjoy the story knowing I’ll be able to reread it whenever I please. Also, sometimes library books have gross stuff on them, and they’re rarely in as good condition as my books, so they’re not as much fun to read. They don’t even smell as wonderful. But, this year I’ll try to do more with libraries because, let’s face it, I can’t buy all the books in the world so I have to make compromises sometimes. 

Fact eleven: I am a book dragon, and I hoard books. If you touch my treasures, I will breathe fire at you. Grr. I’m also super picky about how I shelve my darlings. It’s a strange, idiosyncratic system involving how much I love the authors, the stories, the colors of the books, and the genre, as well as size and smell. (I kid you not. I shelve my copy of BATTLE ROYALE differently than I otherwise would because it seems to be made of some sort of strong-smelling cedar, and strong smells give me migraines so I try to keep the cedar smell from spreading into my other books.) This means that when I buy new books, as fun as that is, I have to go through the trauma of reorganizing my ENTIRE book collection to make everything look just so. 

Fact twelve: My childhood nickname was Little Miss Morbid. In case you were wondering, it still applies. 

Fact thirteen: I have an obsession with heights. Where normal people look up celebrities to stalk their gorgeous faces, I just look them up to see how tall/short they are. Maybe this comes from being taller than most people I know, which means that when people comment on my appearance, (and they do, quite frequently), it’s usually about how tall I am. So I find it a little comforting to know that the average female celebrity height seems to be 5’7”, which is my height (actually, I’m technically 5’6” and three quarters, but my driver’s license says 5’7”, so we’ll just go with that). This is a clear indication that all I need to do to fit in height-wise is become famous, and that was already on my agenda. Isn’t it neat how that works out so perfectly? 

Fact fourteen: Rats are my favorite kind of animal. I used to keep pet rats, but they all died, and I’m not really allowed to have any in my apartment, so I’ll have to wait till I’m living somewhere else. *sad face* They make excellent pets because they are social, affectionate, and wicked intelligent. Imagine, personality-wise, a hybrid between a dog, a monkey, and a hyperactive pig, plus maybe a smidge of octopus—that’s pretty much what you’re getting into if you buy a pet rat. Hamsters would be my second favorite, and I would actually be allowed to keep one here if I wanted. Which I might, eventually. I love hamsters because they are anti-social, neurotic, and introverted—like me. Only, if I were locked in a cage with my fellow kind, I wouldn’t kill them (probably). Not so with the adult hamster. Other animals I want as pets include: mice, sugar gliders, hedgehogs, and skunks (I’m not even kidding on that last one). 

There you go, little coffee beans, fourteen wonderful facts about me that I’m sure you were dying to know. (I’m not going to tag anyone, because I’m lame like that, but you are welcome to tag yourself—just make sure to drop me the link in the comments so I can read your post.) What about you? Do you have any interesting obsessions? Any telling childhood nicknames? Do you reread books? What are some of your fears/phobias? Oh, and the most important question of all—Star Wars or Star Trek? (Just kidding, you’re free to love them equally.)