Ex-journalist / novelist / paperback writer / etc.
19. Five fears that you have
Honestly, the only thing that really gives me pause these days is anything that would cause harm to my children (or husband, I like him too). Given that, my fear of heights and being the chunky woman kicked off the plane are pretty lame.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
17. A quote you try to live by
Some days, my quote is “Damn the torpedoes!” When confronted with something that I really don’t want to do, it is “Never been a better time than right now.” And anymore, the quote I aspire to live by is Ghandi’s “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
12. Two words/phrases that make you laugh
Hmmm … this one is going to take some thought. What words / phrases make you laugh?
Read about my 30 Day Writing Challenge here!
11. Your current relationship; if single, discuss that too
My husband’s a pretty private person, so I think if I ended up prattling on and on about him, he’d get annoyed with me. Suffice it to say – I’m married, I’ve been married for over six years, and we’ve known each other for nearly 15 years. I am one of those ridiculous people who literally married my best friend. He’s a good and attentive dad. He is ridiculously attractive. He supports my writing dreams by letting me follow my arrow – I am so very lucky to have that in my life.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
10. A fruit you dislike and why
By and large, I like fruit and will eat almost anything that’s put in front of me. However, I tire easily of cantaloupe and honeydew melon. They are watermelon’s ass-y brothers.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
8. A book you love and one you didn’t
One of my favorite books is Tregaron’s Daughter by Madeleine Brent (a pseudonym for British writer Peter O’Donnell). It’s a book that came out of a box of books my dad bought at an auction when I was a kid. Tregaron’s Daughter was published in 1971 and is a gothic-type mystery/romance set in Cornwall. I cannot tell you what brings me back to that book, but I typically re-read it every year. There’s something about the setting and the characters that keeps me coming back, like visiting with an old friend.
A book that I didn’t love … I tried to get into J.D. Robb’s “Death” series (and again – Robb is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts, who I typically adore). I couldn’t get past the first few pages of Ms. Roberts’ futuristic suspense novel. I’m a sci-fi fan, but that’s something I’d rather watch than read, I guess.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
Ugh. Can I just take a pass on this one? I’m talking about the first love part, not the first kiss. My first kiss wasn’t that bad – that counts for both of them, the first grade snow bank snuggles and then making out with one of my brother’s friends behind one of the buildings at my county’s fairgrounds.
So there you go on the first kisses. They were both sweet.
My first love? Eh, not so much. I’m not much of a late bloomer (he-llo, first kiss was in first grade … go me!), but I was pretty late to the game when it came to acquiring my first official boyfriend. I was in my mid-20s and was working as a reporter in Wisconsin when one of my co-workers offered to set me up with a friend of his. We met, we dated, we nearly got engaged, we crashed and burned … and that was in less than six months.
While it took me a little bit to recover from the whiplash I got from that emotional experience, I moved on. And to be honest – karma has been good to me. My husband is gorgeous, he’s my best friend (and not in the sappy “oh I married my best friend” sense. I did marry my best friend … one of my college drinking buddies.). Even more attractive – we split much of the housework and he’s a better parent than I am. Insane bonus round? We made really gorgeous, intelligent children. And although there are certain facets of my twenties that I would GLADLY skip, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without that really craptacular dating experience from when I was in Wisconsin.
As I’ve pondered this writing prompt, I had another realization: When I think about my “first love,” I don’t think of my ex very often. I actually think more about some of the guys that I grew up with and knew in high school – some of those old crushes I had. Unrequited love (or lust) is a real bitch, but I’ve adored and I’ve befriended some incredible guys over the years. I think of those guys and I think about how they treated chunky, awkward, teenage me … honestly – I knew some exceptional guys who grew up to be pretty decent men. And other than the toads I’ve encountered on this journey, I feel pretty lucky to have had my heart temporarily abducted by some of these men. It’s all a part of how amazing and nuanced my world has been.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
I’ve been the mother of boys for three years now and the longer that I’m at this parenting challenge, the clearer a particular memory is for me. In this memory I am probably three or four years old, it is naptime, and instead of sleeping I am fascinated by the sound that my hands make as I sit on the floor beside my crib and push at the carpeted floor by the doorway. The sound that I’m creating … it sounds like footsteps coming up the stairs! My memory ends as I was scooped up off of the floor by my poor, beleaguered mother.
What I like about that particular memory is that I actually remember the thought process that was going through my head at the time. How astonishing it was that my hands were creating such sounds! I don’t remember being scolded when my mom busted me, I don’t even remember feeling dismay … I just remember the wonderment.
I think that memory comes back to me now because of my own children. Because of some of the astonishing things that they do. They make no sense to me, but they are world building … the sounds that they make, the things they see – it’s everything to them right now.
Towards the tail end of October, The Writer’s Circle posted a photo on Facebook that contained a 30-Day Writing Challenge. I liked the questions and I liked the idea of sharing a little bit more information about me (as opposed to my strange Internet reading habits), I decided to join in! If you’re participating – go ahead and leave a comment with your links below!
1) Um … it is the vortex where all ambition goes to die? Maybe that’s a little harsh, but seriously – I’ve had plenty of moments where I’ve planned to just take a quick peek at my Facebook page and come out of my trance 15 minutes later (erm, probably more like 45) totally disoriented as to where the time went.
2) My Twitter feed is currently capped at 2,000 followers. It pisses me off and at the current time, there’s not an easy solution. Darn you Twitter!
3) Internet trolls and their adoration of the comments section. After 37 years of life and at least most of the past seven years spent with social media in my life, you’d think that I’d know better than to read the comments that people leave on posts. But no – I click. I read. I get depressed at peoples’ stupidity and at how they think they are all superior to everyone when they can’t even spell.
4) Too Much Information (TMI). And I’m not talking about the time that there were two of my family members fighting on the Facebook and one of them posted something totally raunchy about their sex lives. (Yes, that happened. I’m from a small town and I swear that everyone I graduated with saw that particular post. It was terrible.) I’m talking about the fact that before Facebook and other social media, I probably didn’t know the political leanings of 75% of people that I know. Then I go on there and see a former teacher of mine saying something disparaging about LGBT people. COME ON TEACH! If I was a queer student and I saw the Bible verse you just quoted, I would know damn well that your class isn’t a safe environment. That’s the kind of thing that kills me.
5) I admire my husband and his staunch refusal to have a social media presence. (Other than the forums that he participates in to track his board game stats … yes, I love that man and his nerdiness.) I’d like to think that I could just go dark and leave Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest behind. (Pinterest and Twitter probably wouldn’t be too much of a challenge …). But I keep reading stuff about authors cultivating their social media presence and how agents look for that sort of thing.
I like social media. I appreciate the ways that it brings people together. As an author, I love the idea of how it will allow people access to my books, my thoughts, etc. But I like leaving it behind on weekends. I think that it’s something best consumed and experienced in moderation.
November may be all about National Novel Writing Month, but since I’m going to be doing more editing than world creating, I thought I’d participate in this challenge recently posted on The Writer’s Circle Facebook page. Stay tuned – this challenge starts on November 1!
michellekubitz 