The rules are as follows:
- Each nominee must link
back the person who nominated them
- Answer the 10 questions that are given to you by the nominator
(and don’t be shy). Scroll to the end of this post for your questions from me.
- Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award.
- Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
Let the nominees know that
they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.
* * *
Even though this might be a slight bow to Mr. Ponzi,
combined, we are a force, and we proudly
acknowledge each other, our strengths, our genres, our very different
approaches to writing. All are valid in
their own right. All are commendable. All are to be celebrated.
* * *
Here are Christoph Fischer’s questions to me. I
answered them as honestly as I could. Now, remember, I am a writer. I have been
suspected to make things up!
1. If you did not blog about books, what would you
blog about?
Animals
-- and their besotted human writers.
where I often feature
authors with an interest in animals and/or their pampered pets (from cats,
dogs, to fish, water buffalo and elephants). You are all invited to send me your
stories with pictures of your “best ever friends.”
2. What is [was] your strangest hobby?
Scooping poop.
Let me explain: I innocently
went to our little animal shelter to volunteer. A couple of hours max. I was to “socialize
the cats,” stroking and cooing. Yeah, that got buried in cat litter real fast.
I can joke about it now,
as I do in “Pasha, from Animal Shelter to
a Sheltered Life” (the cat’s life, not mine) Although I sadly do lead a rather
sheltered life now. And, I still scoop being owned by two cats. Of course, they
are from the shelter; a volunteer’s occupational hazard.
3. What makes you laugh?
A good joke. I am gullible
(see no. 2 above).
4. What is your favorite song?
“Warum hat jeder Frühling, ach, nur einen Mai?”
Huh? Relax, you don’t have
to repeat it. But, as an Austrian expat, I do love my Viennese operettas which
I still listen to on my old records (those round, black, vinyl things; you remember?
Well, maybe not.)
5. Where would you like to live if it
could be anywhere at all?
Maui. Specifically,
isolated Hana. Of course, I’d need a helicopter pilot to ferry my supplies over;
that winding one-lane road is too treacherous. (Christoph, are you listening?)
That reminds me: I once sent
an RVer friend directions to my house here in the foothills of rural Arkansas, cautioning
her about the “windy roads.” She told me that there was no wind at all. Geesh:
Not windy as in Indie. But as pronounced
in, I, or whatever—can’t come up with
a rhyme.
6. Celebrity Crush?
Sorry, not my thing. (Except
for Clive Cussler. He ranks right
after “Mr. Smith.” See my question no. 3 to you.)
I guess, I’m getting too
old to gush over our present-day “Celebrities,” unless they were my favorite
writer-friends. So, hurry up and get famous so I can initiate said gushing and
crushing. (Charlie Bray has an
opinion about that).
7. Do you prefer books with a message or
are you happy to just be entertained by a story?
Actually, both, depending
on my mood. I do love exotic locales, though – the more tropical, lush or
remote and dangerous the better. I guess that’s why I can’t abide “country”
music, all too popular in this southern rural setting I chose as my exile.
All that moaning and
groaning about the outhouse (been there, done that), the lame horse (never had
one, lame or otherwise), and the grubby hubby “who’s done gone run off with
Lilly-May.” Luckily, I never had one of those either.
8. Do you have a pet “hate”?
You better believe it. It
took me a long time to master the English language. (And according to some – my
above RVer friend included - I am not done yet.) I am not talking accent here;
that’ll never go away.
But now, I find that they have abandoned conjugating verbs in
schools. “I should have did this,”
or “I should have went,” etc. It
raises havoc for a writer. Y’all agree, aren’t ya?
9. The world ends tomorrow, where would
you go if you had one plane ticket free?
Waste my last day on a
plane? Squashed in the middle seat? You must be kidding.
I am driving to the liquor
store and blow my money on the best bottle of wine they have.
Now there is a challenge. This
Arkansas county is as dry as a ghost ship’s last barrel of rum.
10. Do you have a motto you live by?
“Avoid ladies’ lunches.”
Sorry, but I moved to a small
community where almost everyone is retired. I find old people really selfish.
They won’t talk about my books. They won’t gush over my writing. And they won’t
buy my darn novels (my fault. I furnished the library with free copies). All
they talk about is themselves.
The next time I have to meet
someone for lunch, I’ll take my books along. And I’ll talk about them!
* * *
Here are my nominees:
Jim Bennett (Poet Extraordinaire with strong opinions; that's okay, he is Canadian)
Russell Blake (His thrillers bolster my tough-girl delusions)
Charlie Bray (Don’t get him going on “Celebrities” – actually, he did, in his last parody)
Lexa Cain (She doesn’t just write about Egypt, she lives there)
Clive Eaton (A newly discovered—by me—“Ancient Egyptian Ba”)
Julie Flanders (A ghost. An island. You have a thriller)
Kay Hadashi (Talk about exotic)
Robert M. Roberts (Loves felines as much as I do —that’s “felines” you speed readers!)
Marnie Robertson (Her novel sent me to Belize. Every winter, I threaten to move there)
Cathy Unruh (Animal advocate with a sense of humor)
And my questions for you:
This will take some
thought – and perhaps a glass of wine - because 1) a lot has been asked and
answered before, and 2) I am not an overly curious gal to ask personal
questions. Doesn’t mean I don’t care; just that I want you to dig deeper into
your writer’s soul.
Now, if you let me be a
little bit wicked about this, we can have some fun (I hope I don’t have to
change my nominee list. Naw! You’re game for a little irreverence, aren’t you? This
from someone who is generally burdened by “The Importance of being Earnest” (misspelled intentionally, lest
you get the wrong idea).
1) Do you talk to your computer?
(No, not that. We know
what you fling at it when it swallows your manuscript).
I mean, do you thank it
for being there, day after day, in the middle of the night when you have that
epiphany; and when it helps you spell epiphany?
2) After
someone introduces you as “an author,” people sometimes (mostly at ladies’
luncheons) dismiss your meteoric little moment by saying “Oh, I could write a
book.”
a) What is your answer?
b) What do you think to yourself? Remember, this is a GA-rated blog.
3) If you
use a pen-name, what was your primary reason?
(Since we don’t have any
erotica writers here that I know of, this should be educational, rather than
obvious. I give you a hint: My real name is too long to fit on my covers, and
too complicated to be remembered, or ever being spelled correctly; yes, I do
have an Umlaut; it’s an ö. When the
immigration lady asked me too suddenly if I wanted to change my name, I sputtered
that I was still looking for Mr. Smith. She said, she was too, and stamped my
US-citizen certificate. That was long before I tried to sneak into Wilbur’s domain).
4) How lenient
are you with people who answer their own questions?
5) This is hard. Let’s see: Why don’t you get something off your chest.
No, it can’t be the cat, nor
your Labradoodle or pet-elephant. It has to be about – your Love of MARKETING. That should open some floodgates.
6) Did you
ever change the original cover(s) on your book(s) and why? (I can answer that. Oops, it’s not my turn – but
for Khamsin,
it was Russell’s blog article even though I loved the other cover).
7) Someone of your not-so-good
friends (at the ladies’ luncheon) insists that the lush in your novella “sounds
like you.”
How do you tell them: Hell no! It’s a MADE-UP STORY
(as you order another glass of Merlot).
Still, this pillar of the community righteously declares "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Note that I gave her credit to get it right (which she won't).
8) The best advice you received
from a successful colleague.
(Other than to get lost)
9) Did you
have the fortitude (otherwise referred to as guts), and humility, to follow it?
10) Do you
blog to get added exposure, or do you really feel a connection with your
fellow-bloggers?
* * *
Whew. That’s done. Now, is there some Superior
Being to select a Winner in all of this? I have no idea. As far as I am
concerned, we are all winners here, supporting each other, and giving the
three-up cheer: “Hip, hip, hooray.” Because—levity aside—we are all passionate
about our writing. We believe in it. WE ARE GOOD AT IT...yeah, darn right, we
are! So there!
Smile, and Remember: "Life is a ....
