Writefully So...: FAQ's

Here are some random facts about me. Enjoy the nerdiness -

1. I’m an official member of the captain planet and the planeteers fan club. Joined at the tender age of 23, I think. I have a patch and everything.

2. My first major in school was art. I wanted to study sequential art at Savannah College of Art and Design. In fact, I still have the portfolio I submitted in my application. I got in, but in the end, I never attend. I decided to pursue English Lit.

3. Speaking of sequential art, I drew a comic strip in middle school called Peanut and Butter. Peanut was a sentient nut that fought crimes with the help of his resourceful sidekick, Butter (Literally, a stick of butter). I remember spending a lot of time trying to get his butter-wrapper cape just right.

4. I’m a huge Anime/Manga fan. My first loves were Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, and Fusigi Yuugi. I spent hours and hours drawing the characters. I guess that's the art nerd version of fan fiction.

5. The first novel I read in a single sitting, start to finish, was a 90210 (the original years) spinoff. So, that was YA before YA was a thing, right? *adjusts hipster eyeglass frames* Such drama. So Amaze. Much Wow.

6. The first book I remember crying over was A Wind in The Door, the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time. It was summer before 6th or 7th grade. My siblings and I would take weekly trips on our bicycles to the local library. Until that point I ‘read’ mostly comic books (like Garfield compilations) and chapter books. Then I stumbled across A Wrinkle in Time and fell in love. Just thinking of A Wind in The Door still takes my breath away.

7. I was rejected by an Army recruiter because my neck was too big. Literally, the recruiter said my neck was too big to fit in their uniforms. Doesn’t seem legit, especially considering my brother served in the military and is universally acknowledged as having the biggest cranium known to man, ah, I mean, in our family, at least. Wouldn’t his neck be even bigger than mine? It would have to be to support his giant skull. Right?

8. I have a gold medal for band – well, not technically band. I have a gold medal because I had the honor of being part of a world championship drum and bugle corps. Which, for those who don’t know, is like professional marching band. We tour and compete all summer long against corps from other parts of the country and world. It’s one of my most prized possessions.

9. I once auditioned for my university's production of a Cabaret-style musical review by singing a Disney song: Part of Your World – The Little Mermaid. One of the best Disney songs eva! I got in, too. Which is hard to believe, I know.

10. My brothers and I had video game RPG club called the Overlords. We would meet on weekends and pull our mattresses out into the living room floor. Then, they’d play FF all night while I drew characters and fell in love with their stories. (I played too, but had a hard time finishing because I hated when they would end.) My favorite RGPs include the FF series, of course, Chrono Trigger, and my first RPG love: the Secret of Mana. I still dream of these characters.

11. I still cry every time I cross the finish line of a Half or Full Marathon. It’s just such an amazing accomplishment. I hope that wonder and awe at what the human body is capable of never fades.

12. What's your favorite book?
It's hard to pick just one. Here are some of my faves:

Classics:
* A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
* The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
* Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma by Jane Austen

Young Adult:
* Of Posiden by Anna Banks
* A Beautiful Dark (series) by Jocelyn Davies
* Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
* The Divergent series by Veronica Roth
* The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
* Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
* Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
* J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Of course.
* The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

Adult Fiction:
* Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland
* Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
* Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
* Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

13. Why do you rescue cats?
Duh! Because they are adorable. I've always been a cat person and when the economy took a turn for the worse there seemed to be more and more strays here in the south. It's not popular here for people to spay or neuter their pets.

An intact cat can have up to 4 litters a year. It doesn't take long for the feral cat population to explode. We started by trapping, fixing, vaccinating, and releasing feral cats that were too wild for adoption.

Eventually, we started fostering kittens for the local shelter and before long we had a full house of adorable kittehs. Check out some of their pics here.

14. Will you take my cat?
Nope. Sorry. I'd love to help all the kittens in the world but we are full up at the moment.

15. What are your biggest fears?
Easy: Clowns, anything walking on stilts, and aliens. Let's hope I never happen upon an alien clown walking on stilts. Sheesh. *trembles*

16. How long have you been writing?
As long as I can remember. In fact, I recall writing my first book in a blank journal at the age of 12. It was a NA and there were unicorns. What could be better.

After that I spent a lot of time writing poetry and drawing. I even had a few of my poems published in my high school and college lit magazines.

17. Poetry? Who are some of your favorite poets then?
Easy easy easy, my heart swoons for the following:
* Robert Frost
* William Wordsworth
* Jeffery McDaniel
* Sylvia Plath
* John Keats
* Emily Dickinson

And just for fun, here are some silly pics of me: