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Where I interview various Writing.com members - let me know if I can interview YOU! |
These questions were asked of me during a newsfeed challenge in July 2018. You are a Moderator who has built a massive catalog in eight years while working hard on both the Anthology and the Quills, just to hit the high spots. What keeps you from throwing it all over? ~ runoffscribe ![]() Just to clarify, I don't assist with the anthology. I've submitted to it before, and I have a copy of one that a poem of mine appeared in, but it's not one of my projects. I think there's a combination of things, and it really depends what you meant exactly. Why am I still here on Writing.com? Why am I still a moderator? Why am I still doing community activities? I suppose in some respects the answers are all the same. I love the people here. I've made some lifelong friends. Some of them aren't around anymore because real life has taken them away from Writing.com, but we're in contact through other means. Some are still here. But each year brings new friends too. Recently I've met the hilarious Jayne ![]() I get a certain amount of fulfillment out of running community activities. It makes me feel like I'm contributing to the site. The site gives me so much, I like to give back to it. Plus, if we all just wrote our own work and never reviewed, ran contests, wrote newsletters, etc., the site wouldn't be the amazing place it is now. I know that some people feel like the emphasis here is more on socialisation than on writing, but that's fine by me. If I want to write, I can write. If I want to read, I can read. And if I want to spend time with crazy amazing people that have similar (or in some cases completely different!) interests to me, I can do that too. I feel like this site offers something to everyone. For me, that socialisation is something that I need. So in turn, I try to contribute to it by running community activities like the Quills. Does that answer your question? What is your most and least favorite thing about running the Quills? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() My favourite thing is the surprise and awe that people exhibit. Everything from 'Wow, I can't believe I got nominated, that's so cool!' to 'I seriously won?! I can't believe it! I never thought I'd win!' That's my favourite thing. Before I was involved in running Quills (because it was started by Andrew ![]() ![]() ![]() My least favourite thing about running Quills is the controversy. We didn't really have any in 2017, which was awesome. But in previous years, there have been accusations that Quills is just a small group of people giving awards to their friends. That it's nothing to do with quality and everything to do with who you know on the site. ![]() ![]() What is your favorite thing to write? Poetry, short stories, novels, etc? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I find poetry easier to write, because you don't need a plot. I suck at thinking up plots. I enjoy writing short stories, and minimum word counts have never really been an issue for me (as you can see by my lengthy answers to every question!) but even my short stories don't really have plots. They don't have beginnings, middles and endings. They're more like vignettes, just snapshots of a scene. I have written one children's fantasy novel, which I self-published. It was never intended for sale, just as a gift to my own children. I think if I was one of those people who easily came up with ideas for storylines, my answer would be different, because I feel like I write prose more naturally than I write poetry, but alas, the ideas just aren't there. What is your favorite genre to write in? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() Um... That's a good question. I don't know. I don't even know what genres I most commonly use. Let me check... Oh, I like writing m/m short stories. Which I suppose is the Gay/Lesbian genre here on Writing.com. The only other trend that seems to show in my short stories is relationship and emotional. ![]() I think my poems tend to be either emotional or about nature. I have written more fictional poems than autobiographical ones, and I find that a number of my poems are about difficult relationships, despite my own relationship with my husband being very happy. *shrug* Have you ever been published? If so, what, where, and how? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I've had a poem published in one of the WDC Anthologies, and I self-published a children's fantasy novel. It's not on Amazon though, as it was never intended to be available for retail sale, it was just written for my own children. So...maybe the answer is really no, I haven't really been published. Not in the usual sense. Did you ever read to the kids, or have they ever read themselves, that novel you wrote for them? ~ Shaye ![]() Yeah, I gave copies to both my kids for Christmas, as well as my nephew and my goddaughter (who both play minor character roles in the story) and also sent a copy to the Storymaster and Storymistress's kids, Phoebe and Jack. My daughter read the whole thing on Christmas Day (and spotted a typo!). My nephew also read it pretty quickly. Not sure about my goddaughter or Jack and Phoebe, as they live overseas. My son didn't read it for ages, which was a bit disheartening, as it was all initially started on his behalf. The novel arose from a ride in the car when my son was little, where he said 'an orange dragon named Blue is chasing us. Go faster, Daddy, go faster! He'll catch us!' He couldn't tell me why the dragon's name was Blue when he was orange, and the story kind of rose out of that. He tells me that the 'real' name I gave the dragon, Thot, is a rude word in modern slang, and that's what put him off reading it for so long. ![]() ![]() Do you go back and edit items after you've written them? Why or why not? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() Editing is a major weakness of mine. I know that my work is better when I edit it, but ugh. I hate editing! One of the reasons I have so many projects on the go at a time is that I get bored easily. I get bored with one project or hobby and I move on to the next. Then, in due course, I come back to the original one. It keeps me motivated. But coming back to a completed poem or short story (or novel) and editing it or rewriting it, I find that boring. So I rarely do it. I strongly believe in the value of editing, and I encourage everyone to do it, but I just dislike it, so while a few of my poems have been edited or rewritten, most of my work (including virtually all my short stories) are effectively first drafts. Do you feel your writing style resembles anyone famous's style? If so, who? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() Um, no? I don't really read a wide enough variety of work and authors to know if my style resembles anyone else's. Maybe one of you can tell me if it does? How and why did you find WdC? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I've been reading since I was 4, and I've always been a voracious reader. I started journalling and writing poems when I was 14, and my friends and I would write what we called 'carry-on stories' which resemble the interactive stories that you can find on Writing.com now. I remember having an electronic typewriter that belonged to my mum, and I'd start typing up a novel that I was reading, so that I could write my own ending to it. After I switched to romance novels in my late teens, early twenties, I truly believed that one day I would write a romance novel. So that's kind of what I was looking for when I found Stories.com. I don't even know if we were using Google back then, but presumably some sort of internet search brought me to Stories.com. That was in 2001. Now it's called Writing.com and I still haven't written a romance novel. ![]() Do you find it frustrating/annoying/aggrevating that WdC is heavily an American site that runs on American time, etc? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I find a few things frustrating. #1 - The time zones. I get confused, not only with the time, but with the date. As I write this, Writing.com has only just started Sunday, whereas my Sunday is nearly finished. I'm nearly a day ahead of the site, and so I do get confused when it comes to contest deadlines, etc. #2 - I have had people correct my spelling from UK to US. That annoys me. Correct my spelling if it's wrong, but not just because it's not American! #3 - The site usually hosts seasonal activities that are in the wrong seasons for me. Such as summer activities when I'm in the middle of winter, and winter activities when I'm in the middle of summer. It's hard to answer prompts about snow when I'm in shorts and t-shirt enjoying the sunshine! ![]() I know it's impossible for the site to cater to every possible time zone and language though, so while it can be a little bit frustrating, I don't let it get to me. What do you do when you need to find inspiration to write? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() One of two things: #1 - I don't write. It doesn't bother me to take time away from writing, particularly if I'm taking time away from just poetry or just story writing. #2 - I use prompts. I mentioned above that I suck at coming up with ideas, so I find prompts incredibly useful. A lot of my poems and short stories have been inspired by prompts. Oh and #3 - I give myself a deadline. It's amazing what you can crank out when you're running out of time! Often if I just start writing, I end up with something reasonably coherent. I mean, it doesn't always work, but if all else fails... ![]() What goals do you have for your writing, both long and short-term? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I have goals? ![]() Um... In terms of my poetry and short story writing, I think my goals are just to continue improving and write as/when I want to. I don't really have any deep and meaningful goals, but I always want to get better and improve. For my blogging, I want to a) record all the significant and a number of the insignificant moments of mine and my children's lives and b) print them in books. I started blogging in 2001 when I was pregnant with my son, and I have blogged every year since. Sometimes weeks go by between blog posts, sometimes I write multiple posts a day. I also have a massive collection of memorabilia (things like concert or movie tickets, letters and postcards, photos, etc.) from 2001 to now, and I want to print the blog posts in books and add the memorabilia, to make it a sort of tactile scrapbook. I have a whole stack of projects I'm working on though, and so that one has been put on the backburner. In the meantime, I try hard to keep blogging regularly. And in case you're looking at my WDC blog and thinking 'Really? Seems pretty sparse to me!', I'd like to point out that the vast majority of my blog posts are not public. I started using Livejournal in 2001, so that's where all my entries are stored. I have the Writing.com blog for interaction here, and a public blog at Wordpress, but my personal entries are mostly at Livejournal and that's the 'master copy' that I'll use for the project. It will also include all my poems and stories. Why do you write? ~ Dragon is hiding ![]() I think I started writing because that's what teenage girls did. ![]() When I first joined Stories.com as it was back then, I had a rude awakening. I suddenly realised that I was no where near as good as my family and friends had made me think I was. ![]() I would give up writing before I gave up reading. I could never give up reading. But I do find that I miss writing when I take too long a break. The first thing I always miss is blogging, and that tends to manifest as a feeling of guilt that things have happened and I've not blogged about them, and therefore they'll disappear into the mists of time without ever being recorded. Sometimes I'll think of an idea for a poem, or compose a poem in my head as I'm driving or waiting somewhere, and that'll get me back into it. Generally though, I start missing the people here, and once I'm back I get sucked into contests and challenges, and that's what really gets me writing. So I guess it's a combination of things. I'm not sure if it's a passion so much as something I do because I like it, and I like the people I do it with. ![]() Have you ever thought about adding to an Interactive? If so, what do you look for before you add, or, alternatively, what keeps you from adding? ~ BIG BAD WOLF is 35 on June 3 ![]() I have. I've participated in one or two that were being run by "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" ![]() ![]() The main reason I don't contribute to interactives is a lack of time. Firstly, I don't write much fiction at all. I haven't written a single short story (or part thereof) this year. Secondly, when I do sit down to write fiction, I don't want to spend hours reading through all the previous contributions before I do. And I know that I could just read the previous chapter and roll with it, but I think if you're going to do something, you should do it properly. I haven't explored the interactives to see if there are any that would appeal to me. I'm sure there are, as they seem to have something for everyone. So yeah, that's why. Just a lack of time. It'd probably actually be a good way to break out of writer's block, because you're continuing a story rather than coming up with something completely new all on your own. Maybe I'll investigate them the next time I'm feeling stuck. Does it annoy you when people think you are British--Or worse, Australian? ![]() ![]() My parents are both British, and New Zealand's culture is very British. We use UK English, we use a lot of the same words as them (such as loo for bathroom), our food is very similar, and we get a lot of their media on TV. In fact, when I was growing up, we had waaaay more British television than American or even homegrown NZ TV. When we go to the UK, we feel right at home. There's no culture shock. There are some differences sure, but it's almost like an older version of NZ. Kiwis have been known to refer to it as 'Mother England'. ![]() New Zealand has a rivalry with Australia. It's similar to the rivalry between the Scottish and English or the Americans and Canadians. I find it's usually stronger on one side than the other. Like the Kiwis, Canadians and Scots are all more passionate about the rivalry than the others. ![]() ![]() ![]() What genres do you avoid and why? ~ Schnujo Enjoyed Colombia ![]() I avoided horror for a long time, because I can't stand horror movies. I just don't like horror movies. Or any scary movies. And there's a reason I read romance novels (hint: it's for the guaranteed happy ending!). But I have found that I can write and read horror here on Writing.com. I genuinely don't understand steampunk, but I also have to admit that I haven't spent a great deal of time trying to understand it. Comedy is so incredibly subjective, and on a site where the American sense of humour is more prevalent than the UK one (which is very similar to the NZ one), that's pretty risky. I've lately started dipping my toes into romance. You'd think romance would be my go-to genre for my writing, but it's not. I've actually read so many romance novels that I've put myself off writing romance. Not because I'm sick of it, but because I'm scared of it. Two things. Firstly, I struggle to come up with a unique idea, because I've read so many romance novels that I feel like everything I think of is just a revision of something I've read and therefore it's already been done. Secondly, I feel like I'm not going to measure up. Which is silly. You only get better with practice. So I have started dipping my toes into that genre. I've mostly written m/m romance, and that's probably because I'm reading more of that lately, but hopefully I can break through this ridiculous fear and start writing some decent length pieces in the romance genre. Let's call it a goal! ![]() Are you a planner, pantser, or somewhere in between? ~ kerrimiller Oh, definitely a pantser! ![]() ![]() I found doing the prep for "October Novel Prep Challenge" ![]() What's your favorite part of the writing process? ~ kerrimiller If the writing is flowing easily, I really like that. When I've started writing a short story and it's just basically writing itself. That's awesome. I don't tend to get that with poetry, as it is shorter and requires more deliberate thought. Other than that, it's the satisfaction of reading a completed piece. Actually, it's not even when you sit back and say 'Done, and not a bad job if I do say so myself!', it's more like when you find something months or years later and re-read it and think 'Holy shit, did I write that?' That's my favourite part. ![]() ![]() If you could go back in time and tell the you who first started writing anything, what would you tell her? Why? ~ Satuawany ![]() Ooh, tough question. I'm really not sure. I had a think about it, and I guess there are two things in my Writing.com history that I really regret. Firstly, I regret taking such a long break from the site between 2003-2010. It started because I didn't have a reliable (or any) internet connection for a long time, then I didn't write fiction or poetry for a long time. When I finally started again, I came back. I'd love to be able to go back and say 'Hey, don't give up. Even if you don't write much (or at all) other than your blogging, stop by when you can, to cultivate those relationships. You learn so much, and they inspire and encourage you in a way that no one else in your life will. It's worth it. Even if you can only pop in once a month or so and say 'Sorry, still no internet', that'll mean that when you do get access again, you don't leave it so bloody long.' Secondly, I had some issues with a troll here on the site. He used multiple usernames (often more than one at a time) and played on people's sympathies. We're such a close-knit community here that when one of our own is hurting or having real-life difficulties, we care. We reach out. So this troll insinuated himself into the community here, then lied about the issues he was dealing with. Just when you were all upset on his behalf, he'd leave the site, deleting his accounts. To my embarrassment, he got me not once, but twice. When he came back and tried a third time, I was prepared, and I didn't let him worm his way into my circle of friends again. I also warned others that I saw interacting with him. He tried a few times, under a variety of usernames. I haven't seen him for a while. Doesn't mean he isn't on the site. Doesn't even mean he isn't in my circle of friends. Might just mean that he learned from his mistakes and stopped using some of the traits that enabled us to identify him. It made me wary of new friends, which I felt kinda heartbroken about, to be honest. I love making new friends here on the site, but I had to reconcile that with the fact that people aren't always honest about who they are and what they're trying to achieve. It also made me wary of people who claim to be sick, or have personal dramas in their real life, or who go through traumatic incidents. Which is even worse. Those are the people that most need our love and support, and now I look at them and think 'Is this real, or is this just a ploy for sympathy?' ![]() ![]() Ugh, I hate drama. Why can't people just be nice to one another? Why do some people get a kick out of tormenting someone else, of manipulating someone else? People suck. Not all people, I know, but some people suck. ![]() What's your favorite thing about writing outside your comfort zone? ~ Satuawany ![]() Two things - learning and surprise. I shall explain. ![]() I love learning. I'm a lifelong learner. I suspect I get it from my dad. He's a teacher. He hasn't always been, because he was a farmer for years, but he's passionate about education. He definitely believes that all learning is a good thing. I love learning, and in particular, I love to learn new skills. I believe I once coined myself the title of 'perpetual poetry pupil'. ![]() The second thing is that sometimes you try something new and surprise yourself with what you create. I love that. My first prose poem, "Invalid Item" ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Who in your day-to-day life knows you're a writer? That is, how open are you about this part of yourself? ~ Satuawany ![]() My husband and kids know, but they don't read any of my writing. Not unless I make them. ![]() ![]() I have one friend in real life who knows. She recently joined WDC, but hasn't been very active yet. heyxie ![]() I did tell my colleagues at work that I blog. I even gave them the link to my Wordpress blog. They seemed impressed, but I don't think any of them looked at it more than that once. One of them says things every now and then like 'I bet that's going in your blog!' But I'm 99% sure none of them actually read it. Actually, it was a girl I worked with that put me on to Wordpress in the first place, but she seems to have disappeared from there now herself. One of my 2018 bucket list items was to share my Wordpress blog on my Facebook page. My colleagues had reacted well, so I guess I thought it was time to be brave and share it with everyone else. None of my writing links back to the name I use for work, and I'd never share it on LinkedIn. Last thing I need is a prospective boss reading my erotica. Or my angsty 'bad relationship' poems. ![]() So yeah, I guess everyone kind of knows now, but that's a super recent thing. I'm still trying to get my head round it. ![]() What do like to do in your down time? You know, besides writing and Quilling. ~ Lilli 🧿 ☕ ![]() Down time, what's that? ![]() ![]() Otherwise, I'm usually on my computer. I've had people (usually colleagues) ask me how I can be on the computer all day at work and then go home and be on the computer again, but it's different. I'm on Writing.com or Wordpress or Livejournal... Sometimes Facebook or Instagram. That's entirely different to being on the computer at work. And yes, I know I read on a screen too. I'll end up with square eyes. ![]() ![]() How do you keep yourself focused and motivated? ~ Cupadraig~The Remote Country ![]() Hmm... I don't know if I would call myself focused. I actually have a really short attention span when it comes to tasks and projects, which is why I have so many of them. I flit from one to the other constantly to keep myself interested. But in terms of motivation... I love lists, and I especially love crossing things off lists, so I do find that making a 'to do' list helps. It helps me to be more methodical about getting stuff done so that I can cross it off, and it helps to motivate me. Also, I find a way to challenge myself. If I know I haven't done any short stories lately, despite them being on my to do list (yes, this is currently the case), I'm likely to sign up to a short story writing challenge, or commit to entering a short story contest. Deadlines are a big motivation for me. I'm a procrastinator, so without a deadline, I just never get shit done. Most of my short stories are written a couple of hours (or less!) before the deadline of a contest or challenge. I've done it with blogging too, like signing up for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" ![]() Is that the kind of thing you meant? When (if) you do get into a funk, what tricks do you implement to reignite the spark? ~ Cupadraig~The Remote Country ![]() I take a break. I tell myself I'm not allowed to sign in to Writing.com for x days. By forbidding myself from even checking emails or anything, I'm just contrary enough to want to come back. Usually a week or two will do it, but I've done it for a month before. I was getting grumpy and people were annoying me, and I wasn't achieving anything here, so I took a whole month off. A sanity break. By the time the month was over, I was desperate to get back on. ![]() Have you ever walked away from a story, realizing it was never going to become what you'd envisioned? ~ Cupadraig~The Remote Country ![]() Yup. I don't think "Invalid Item" ![]() "Invalid Item" ![]() "Invalid Item" ![]() ![]() What has been your biggest writing disappointment to date and how did it affect or shift your outlook now? ~ Cupadraig~The Remote Country ![]() Wow. Hmm... Not finishing the Comma Sense ![]() I also refuse to attempt "October Novel Prep Challenge" ![]() I'm not sure about other writing disappointments. I've been disappointed when I've looked back at my blogs from previous years and I've written things like 'I'll write more about such-and-such tomorrow' and then never did. Or worse, just not written about things at all, like Christmas Day or a concert or whatever. Sometimes I can't even remember what happened. I've made notes like 'Remember to blog that conversation with Caitie' and then couldn't remember what the conversation was. Stuff like that really bugs me. I still do it though, so not sure I've learned anything from it. ![]() But overall, I tend to think of writing as a learning experience. If something doesn't work out, that's fine. Practice makes perfect and all of that. Who is currently "wowing" you in the writing world? ~ Cupadraig~The Remote Country ![]() Eek! I'm very out of touch with the writing world. Even on WDC, I haven't read much work lately. When something truly captures my eye, I tend to paste it in to my Livejournal. It's like pasting something you like into a scrapbook, I guess. That's how I see it, anyway. I always use a private entry so that I'm not re-sharing someone else's work on my blog. When I print my blogs (which won't be available publicly because they'll contain a whole shitload of private memories), I'll include these little things that caught my eye. So... These are the things that have most recently found their way to my journal. The Universe as Primal Scream by Tracy K Smith ![]() Some Answers You Never Considered by Robert Okaji ![]() State of the Union by Lorelai Kilmore ![]() imaginary dramas by Rowena McGregor ![]() In terms of new published authors I've read, I think my greatest new discovery was the Kingmaker Chronicles ![]() After eight years as a member/moderator on this website do you ever think about doing something different? ~ B. T. Lane ~ Writing Memoir ~ ![]() Firstly, to quickly answer your other two questions, yes, I did start off as a registered author. Everyone starts off as a black case newbie. And you can find out information about being a moderator by reading "Promotion to Moderator" ![]() Yes, I do sometimes think about doing other things. Sometimes I feel like it would be easier to restart as a newbie and just focus on my own writing. I know myself too well though, and I'd miss the social interaction and I'd eventually end up back where I started, except I'd have thrown away everything I've worked for so far. ![]() Is this a side career? Or is this a major hobby of yours? ~ B. T. Lane ~ Writing Memoir ~ ![]() It's definitely not a side career, considering I make zero money from it. ![]() Writing and Writing.com are just hobbies of mine. I dedicate a lot of time to them because I enjoy it. If I ever stop enjoying it, I'll leave. I'm here purely for selfish reasons, because I get a lot of enjoyment out of being here. That's it. What made you a continuous member of this site for eight years? Many people get busy with life or life intervenes and they must take a break. ~ B. T. Lane ~ Writing Memoir ~ ![]() Well, I may have been a continuous member of this site for eight years, but that doesn't mean I haven't taken a break. I first joined the site in 2001 when it was called Stories.com. You can see my original portfolio here: Elle's first portfolio ![]() And I do take breaks. Sometimes it's only a week here and there. Sometimes up to a month. I've taken breaks for family holidays, breaks because I've been busy at work, breaks just because I need a break from the site... I just can't seem to stay away that long anymore. I miss the people here. I have seen many changes and transitions to this website. I have seen many writers come and go. Some have even passed and acquired white briefcases. What are your thoughts and opinions on these changes and of the waves of writers over the years? ~ B. T. Lane ~ Writing Memoir ~ ![]() There are definitely people I miss. It was crazy when Gaby ~ Finding my way back ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Then I was hanging out with ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() There was the "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Then I somehow got mixed up with Cinn ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And I really miss Rhonda ![]() ![]() I'm still hopeful that the Cinn/Charlie/Norb/Kit circle will revive itself. I know Cinn and Charlie are both super busy with studying right now, but I miss them too. Man, this is such a depressing question! I do make new friends all the time too though. I already named Jayne. I'm getting to know Satuawany ![]() ![]() So yes, to answer your question, the site and the people within it changes enormously from year to year. People leave and new people come. But the people I interact with and the people you interact with are always going to be different. Sometimes I find it weird how someone will mention a close friend on the site or how much they interact with someone on the site, and I've barely even heard of the person. So for sure my circle of friends is slightly different to the next person's. I've found each circle of friends has given me something different at the time. I did a blog post about that, in fact, for a contest Gaby ran - "I love WDC" ![]() ![]() ![]() What down and dirty person, joke, book, movie, etc., makes you laugh out loud? ~ Seshat ![]() Michael McIntyre. He's a British standup comedian. I've seen him live twice, and both times I laughed until I nearly wet myself. Speaking of British comedians, I love John Cleese. He's #1. I got the chance to see him live recently and totally fangirled. I like a bit of Jimmy Carr. I definitely like Stephen Fry, he's brilliant. Jayne ![]() ![]() ![]() I'm usually not that big on American humour. I liked Robin Williams and I like a lot of Jim Carrey stuff (but not all of his stuff). I like some (but not all) of Adam Sandler's movies too. Like Grown Ups and Pixels, but not really Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy. Do you believe in the possibility of anything and everything? Known and unknown? ~ Seshat ![]() Um, yeah, I kind of do. I consider myself agnostic, which, believe it or not, is a term I only learned here on WDC. I think I was talking to Cinn about religion. She's an atheist, and so is my dad. I've been a Christian, but don't consider myself one anymore. I was explaining (I think it was to Cinn, but maybe it was a "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" ![]() ![]() How much of what you read affects what you write? ~ Dragon is hiding ![]() Oh, it definitely affects it. When I read historical fiction, I'm more likely to write historical fiction. When I read fantasy novels, I'm more likely to write fantasy fiction. And so on and so forth. Sometimes I have to stop myself and think 'Is this my work or is this more like fanfiction?' ![]() ![]() I don't read much poetry except on WDC, but that works the same way. The more of Cinn's poems I read, the more mine started veering in that direction. When I was in my teens, the only poetry I read was heyxie ![]() ![]() About the only thing I write that doesn't really change style depending on what I read is my blogging. I actually have my own unique voice when it comes to my blogging, thank goodness. ![]() A little birdie has told me that you enjoy reading romance. So what are your favorite tropes in romance? What are some of your least favorite tropes in romance? ~ kerrimiller I really like the beauty and the beast or ugly duckling trope. I've read multiple variations of both, where the roles have been switched, etc. My enjoyment of these probably comes from the fact that I've always had low self-esteem in regards to my looks, so I want to believe that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside. I hate the consanguinity trope. That's stepbrother and stepsister or stepfather and stepdaughter, for example. Ugh, no thanks. I also hate menage stories which include brothers or sisters. Family should never be in your bedroom! I like the anti-hero. My husband was a hard drinking, fast driving, tattooed loud mouth when I met him, who was lucky not to have been behind bars. Who'd have guessed he was also super sweet and romantic, and very good with babies? Ha ha! So yeah, I guess I like the reformed bad boys. He's still tattooed and still loud, by the way. I hate heroes who are sports stars. Ugh. No thanks. It's worse too when it's an American sport that I'm totally clueless about. I know it's silly, but I really like the ones where girls dress up as guys and win over the hero as a male first. I don't know why I like them. Maybe because I was a tomboy and often mistaken as a boy even well into my teens (I think I was 17 the last time it happened). Morganna by Jackie Ivie is one of the best books I've read with this trope, and I especially love how the hero falls for her while still thinking she was a boy. He is attracted to her while he thought she was a male (and even kisses her, thinking her a man), instead of respecting or befriending her and then being attracted once her gender was revealed. For a historical romance, that's pretty cutting edge. I was very impressed. These probably also led into me reading m/m books. I hate instalove, but if done well, I can enjoy the fated mates trope. If the match is fated, and they fight it, but eventually realise all the great things about each other and slowly fall for each other despite themselves, it can be a great read. But no instalove! I did a WDC site newsletter once on characters with disabilities. I love these. Both physical and mental disabilities, so long as the characters are equal. I read one where I felt the character with the mental disability was not in any way equal to the other main character, and there was a HUGE power disadvantage. It felt...kind of pedophilic. Ugh, no thanks. The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley and Song For Sophia by Moriah Densley both have great male heroes who have Asperger's Syndrome. Both are excellent reads. I'm sure Cole from Jaime Reese's A Restored Man is on the spectrum too. It's never said, but I think his inability to know what is appropriate for a particular conversation or situation is a good indication. Never Seduce A Scot by Maya Banks features a fantastic heroine who is deaf. That's a great book too. Moon Craving by Lucy Monroe features a deaf heroine as well, and I've re-read that book a number of times too. I've read some great m/m books that use this trope too. Speechless by Kim Fielding features a hero with aphasia which I've read multiple times. And there's Andrew Grey's Senses series too which is built around the trope. It's starts with Love Comes Silently, with a mute hero, then Love Comes In Darkness, with a blind hero. I enjoyed both those books (but warning, they're tear-jerkers). There are six books in the series, but the first two are my favourites. I used to really enjoy military-themed romance novels until I worked for two ex-military bosses. I no longer see military guys as a romantic ideal. Nope. I don't like second chance romances. If it didn't work out the first time, it wasn't meant to be. Not to say it can't be done well, but you'll have to have something really special to tempt me. I'm always a little leery of time travel romances. I've read books where this trope has been done really well, and I've really enjoyed them, but it's so easy to turn this into a sad 'been there, done that, got the t shirt' cliche. I do read virtually every subgenre of romance that exists. Contemporary, m/m, paranormal, historical, young adult, western, suspense, fantasy, science fiction... But all romance. I have to have my happy ending. When not writing, do you enjoy other creative ventures? If so what? ~ CJ and Muse ![]() Yes. I distinctly remember Gaby ~ Finding my way back ![]() Photography is probably my biggest hobby after reading and writing. I love it, but I don't devote enough time to it to be really good at it. I love taking nature photos, especially birds or macro (close-up) photos of insects and bugs. And flowers. I also like taking candid (unposed) photos of people. I particularly love capturing people in moments of genuine emotion, like laughing out loud, or gazing adoringly at each other. Or photos of people in their everyday lives, like cooking or working. I've photographed four weddings. Wasn't paid for any of them, although I did get given a bottle of port from one bride and groom. ![]() You can see my photos on Facebook if you want - ![]() ![]() I really enjoy family history and genealogy. I do the genealogy side of things on Ancestry and love adding new people to the family tree. My family tree currently has 3,456 people in it. Ha ha, I just realised that's such a cool number. 3456. It's almost a shame to ruin it by adding another person! ![]() ![]() I like to cook, but it's not something I experiment with often. I tend to get out my cookbooks when I'm on holiday. Sometimes the things we make become part of our everyday repertoire (like my rice risotto) and sometimes they're just something different to change things up. My husband also likes to cook. He's become known in the family for his slow roasted pork belly, and his slow roasted lamb. Both beautiful meals to have when you've got a bunch of people to feed. I enjoy scrapbooking. I started out with traditional scrapbooking and then moved to digital scrapbooking because it's less messy, takes up less room and costs way less money. But I kind of like traditional scrapbooking better because it's more tactile. I love being able to incorporate tickets, receipts, postcards, etc. My very favourite thing is having a page where you literally open an envelope and remove a letter, read it, put it back, turn the page. That kind of thing. Interactive pages, I guess. Love those. And I'm a huge fan of handwriting, which you don't get with digital pages unless you scan your writing (which I've done). I love people's handwriting. Especially little kids. ![]() ![]() ![]() Last time I wrote about my hobbies, I also included collecting, but is collecting really a hobby? Hmm, the internet says yes. ![]() My oldest collection is bookmarks, which I started collecting when I was 14. My personal favourite is actually not a bookmark at all (although that's what I use it for) but a 'solid gold money clip' that my dad received for going on the Sale of the Century TV game show. I'm not sure it's solid gold either, but that's okay. And I really like the leather bookmarks I've collected from historical places around the UK. I have two crockery collections. So when Steve's grandmother died, we inherited a set of four soup bowls in the J G Meakin Golden Court pattern, and a tureen in a very rare pattern (so rare that I don't even know its name) by Grindley. We've added extensively to the Golden Court setting and now have enough pieces to have a full meal. The Grindley one is rarer, so we only have a few pieces in that. I also collect figurines. I started with Royal Doulton ladies, then added some that weren't Royal Doulton, then added some Anne Stokes fantasy figurines... So yeah, I have a bunch of ladies and elves and fairies... ![]() Somehow, I've also ended up with an alcohol collection. ![]() I don't drink whisky. Actually, I hardly drink at all. If I do drink, I'll have a vodka with lemonade, a toffee vodka straight or a small glass of port. But I probably have less than one drink per month. Hence why the collection grows rather than shrinks! We have 8 bottles of wine. Mostly red. Only one is a particularly nice bottle of wine, and that's a bottle of Obsidian that we bought on Waiheke Island. One is sparkling feijoa which I bought just because it sounded cool. And it's made by Lothlorien Wines, which is cool too. I buy most of my alcohol that way - by name or looks, rather than by taste. My mother-in-law can't understand it, but oh well. If I was a bigger drinker, I'd probably be more inclined to buy the ones I like to drink, but I just like having the cool bottles in my collection. ![]() ![]() I have a couple of bottles of Purple Death, which are some of my favourites in my collection. I actually like Purple Death over vanilla ice cream, but it's the label that makes it such a wonderful addition. It's made locally (the vineyard is only about 10 minutes drive from us) and it says: 'An unusual "Rough-as-Guts" aperitif that has the distinctive bouquet of horse-shit and old tram tickets. It is best drunk with the teeth clenched to prevent the ingestion of any foreign bodies. Connoisseurs will savour the slight tannin taste of old tea leaves and burnt cat fur. Possessors of a cultivated palate will admire the initial assault on the taste buds which comes from the careful and loving blending of animal manure and perished jock straps strained through an old miner's sock. The maturing in small pigs' bladders gives it a very definite nose. Marketed under the Saviour Brand (9 of out of 10 people who drink it for the first time exclaim "Je-e-esus Chri-ist!"). Caution: Keep away from "naked flames" (both old and new). Bottled by the Mad Scientist - just for fun.' I think it tastes a bit like Irish Moss cough medicine. It's nice over ice cream, but I don't know many people who can drink it straight. I've got a few bottles of Taylor's port, because that's my favourite for drinking. I've also got a bottle of Graham's port which I don't like (it was a gift). I don't really like any Australian ports. Too raisin-y. And I have a bottle of Mazuran's port which is made locally. Steve has promised to buy me a bottle of Mazuran port that was bottled in 1980 for my 40th birthday. Will cost about $200, but how cool is that? Port as old as I am! They have port that dates back to the 1940s. ![]() I've got toffee vodka (yum!), feijoa vodka and two bottles of Royal Dragon vodka. One of the Royal Dragon vodkas is for drinking, and the other is special. It has a dragon made of glass blown into the bottle, and the vodka has gold flakes in it. Looks amazing. I've got a bottle of Smirnoff Gold too, which is cinnamon flavoured with gold flakes, but it's super sweet, and is more like a liqueur than a vodka. It's not great actually, but it looks nice. I've got Baileys and strawberry Baileys which I only got recently in the fridge. The strawberry Baileys isn't great, but I can imagine would be nice over ice cream. And in the freezer I have a bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire. I love the spicy ones. We did have a bottle of Jagermeister Spice (cinnamon and vanilla) too, but I'm not sure if we used it for our boozy fruit mince or not. So yeah, quite a lot of alcohol. Apart from the wine, most of it can be opened and savoured over a long period of time, which is good. Means we're not total drunkards. ![]() So yeah, I think that's all of my hobbies. Reading, writing, photography, family history and genealogy, cooking, scrapbooking and collecting. If you weren't here, where would you spend your free time? Your creativity time? I know you have a LOT of hobbies, but reading doesn't count cause that's like breathing. ~ Whata SpoonStealer ![]() If I wasn't a member of Writing.com, I'd be far more invested in Wordpress. For a while, I became a fairly active participant of the photography community on G+. But being an active participant of a community requires time. And in the end, I decided to commit my time to Writing.com. Unfortunately I don't have enough time and energy to devote myself to multiple online communities. So, did you really mean to ask what creative projects I work on when I'm not on Writing.com? I love talking about my projects, so hopefully I haven't just interpreted your question this way because that's what I want to talk about. ![]() Seriously, if you thought I rambled on about our alcohol collection, just you wait! ![]() ![]() ![]() My first priority (now that I've finished the photo book we gave my sister for her wedding) is a family recipe book. I started it in 2010. Yes, that means it has taken eight years so far. Here's what I wrote for the front of the recipe book (it explains a lot about the project): This project really began in 1999 when my mother decided my sisters and I were old enough to learn how to make Pop’s cream liqueur. She called it an heirloom recipe – our legacy from our grandfather. That was the first time I’d ever thought of a recipe as an heirloom, as something tangible to be passed from one generation to another. When I had children of my own and they wanted to make stuff in the kitchen I realised that I had heirloom recipes of my own – Mum’s roast chicken gravy and Uncle Philip’s Welsh Rarebit for instance. But all of these special recipes were on bits of paper or scattered through cookbooks in various kitchens. Or worse, in someone’s memory and not written down at all. No single person had all the recipes, and I started thinking that one day those special legacies would be lost. And who would remember that Uncle Glyn’s granddaughter came up with the name for Welfare Soup? Or that the scalloped potatoes recipe came from 20 years of sitting down to Christmas dinner with the same neighbours? Or that Grandma gave Mum the fruitcake recipe after her wedding because it was Dad’s favourite? Someone needed to put all those recipes and all those stories in one place. I could NEVER have predicted the response I got when I put the word out to family and friends. Poppa Pete pulled out his mother’s old handwritten recipe book and I just about cried. And finding Gran Schroder’s copy of the Edmonds Cookbook – the original 1955 edition – with her comments and notes in it… I have received recipes from every branch on the family tree and the response from my family and my in-laws made this project so much more rewarding than I ever could have guessed. I hope that they (and you) see this book the way I do – as a true family heirloom and legacy. I got more than 400 recipes. Some of them date back to WWII and the oldest ones are from Steve's great-great-grandmother. We found them in his great-grandmother's handwritten cookbook. Like, that's just such an amazing family heirloom, don't you think? Handwritten recipes from your great-grandmother? That was the oldest collection of recipes, but there were also recipe books belonging to my grandmother (deceased), to Steve's grandmother (deceased) and his grandfather (who was alive at the time), and other recipes that had been handed down. Then from the relatives that were alive, we got recipes from grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins. Half these people I've not met or have only met once or twice, and yet they all contributed. Some of the recipes are modern, like Steve's recipe for slow roasted lamb that was actually a Jamie Oliver recipe originally. It's a mammoth project, but people are really keen to get their hands on a copy, so I need to get cracking on it. I'm digitally scrapbooking each recipe, mostly so I can include photos or the handwritten recipes or comments and stories where appropriate. You can see the ones I've completed here: ![]() ![]() Okay, that was project #1. You see how this is going to be a massive reply? ![]() After I've finished on the family recipe books, I want to work on a series of family history books. I found this awesome site that basically sucks your family tree data out of Ancestry and converts it into books. It does family pages (so it shows the data for the parents and all their kids) and then shows all the photos and relevant documents for that family group. I want to do that, but also include the interviews I've done with various family members. I had originally planned to compile all the interviews with some photos and call it 'Well, as I remember it...' (because everyone remembers the same events differently), but this new site will make things a lot easier. I've used them to make some family tree posters for relatives too, and the quality was awesome, which is important. I want to make a book for me, a book for my husband, and then a book for each of our parents. So, including Steve's stepfather, that's seven books in total. I think. Maths isn't my strong point! Potentially I'd also do copies for my kids that have the whole lot in. We'll see. Money will be the big restriction on this project, as I have to pay for the books to be printed. After that comes a project near and dear to my heart. ![]() ![]() After that, I should probably finish my wedding scrapbook. I have a sneaking suspicion though that the memorabilia from my wedding scrapbook will end up in my 2003 blog book. We'll see. These projects are in no particular order: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Hmm, I think that's all my projects at the moment. So yes, that's what I work on when I'm not on Writing.com or reading. ![]() When you write, do you prefer silence or noise? If you prefer quiet, how do you achieve this with children? If you prefer noise, what background noise heightens your muse? Does this change depending on what you are writing? ~ Warped Sanity ![]() I like to listen to classical music when I write prose, and music with lyrics when I write poetry. For the classical music, I have a playlist on Youtube that includes some of my favourite classical pieces (I love Tchaikovsky's 1812), choral music such as some Pavarotti, and movie scores (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Carribean, Star Wars, etc.). So it's a mixed bag. Some of it is dark, some of it is upbeat, some of it is loud, some of it is quiet... I don't find it affects my writing, but allows me to stay in the zone and just get the words down on paper. I think I can link to the playlist if anyone is interest - Elle's classical music playlist ![]() For poetry, I like to have a range of songs because every now and then a word will just leap out at me and I'll either use it or it will trigger a series of brain jumps until I get something that will end up in my poem. I've even been known to write entire poems based on music videos. ![]() ![]() I don't have much issue with my kids these days because they're both teenagers now. They're 17 and 13. My 13 year old is a chatterbox, but she often holes up in her room with Youtube. I can't concentrate on anything when she's watching her stupid Youtube videos on the TV in the lounge, so I usually make her turn it off. When they were younger, I either had to time my writing so that I was doing it when they were asleep or busy with other things, or find distractions for them. Distractions never worked well with my daughter because she had a short attention span. So yeah, not much a drama now, thank goodness. Makes life much easier. ![]() What are some of your favorite LOTR soundtracks? ~ kerrimiller I checked and realised I have NO music from LOTR on my playlist. ![]() ![]() You've interviewed a few WDC authors for your Wordpress blog...what has that meant to you? What have you learned so far, and has that contributed in any way to how you read/review or write? Will you be doing more interviews in the future? I ask because I've enjoyed your interviews, as well as the experience of being interviewed by you...you tend to bring a lot out of your subjects that most may not know. ~ Fivesixer ![]() I've really enjoyed doing the interviews, and I'll definitely be doing them for as long as people continue volunteering to be interviewed by me. I am thrilled that people enjoy reading them too. Bonus! ![]() As to what I've learned: ![]() ![]() I don't think it's changed what or how I read or write, but I do think it has changed how I review. It reminded me that there are real people behind the works I read and review. I knew that for the unpublished work I read on Writing.com, but it's also true for published work. It's a good reminder. ![]() Please feel free to ask any additional questions in the comments below. ![]() |