Friday, June 27, 2008

Okay, I need help

I'm doing this interview for FantasyLiterature.net, the girl who gave Personal Demons the fun, cheeky review a little while ago? Yes. She's interviewing me. It's fun.

I actually quite enjoy interviews. It's not the huge kick it was when I was very first starting out--I think I did my first interview ever for Fallen Angel Reviews a couple of years ago--but it's a kick just the same. Remember, I'm the one who, at one point in my early childhood, told my parents that when I grew up I wanted to be a preacher so people would have to listen to me.

So interviews are cool. I enjoy them. I love talking about my writing process and what little tricks and twists I've inserted in any given book, or whatever.

And this interview has been particularly fun, as it's being done on a question-by-question basis, so it feels more like a conversation.

But I am stumped. Stumpedy stump stump stumped. (Wow, "stump" is a fun word to type. Try it. Your fingers kind of bounce over the keyboard. Hee! Hey, simple minds, simple pleasures, right?)

The question is: What is the one question you wish someone would ask you but nobody ever has, and what is the answer to it?

And I have no clue.

I've been sitting on this question for a week now, thinking about it on and off, trying to come up with a question no one has ever asked me but I wish they would. My ideas have ranged from the silly (How did it feel when you won the Oscar? Well, it felt great) to the serious (What do you think is the most important piece of advice a new writer needs? or something like that, to which my answer would be something long and involved about avoiding start-up publishers and agents with no sales and PublishAmerica) to the cliche (What is your favorite food? Although, I shouldn't knock that question really, as not only is it often interesting, I once managed to fill a very awkward pause with it--the MIL and I were out with a friend of hers, a very nice but very elderly lady who, because she is a widow and doesn't leave her house much or read or watch tv, didn't have much to say. But the "favorite foods" conversation filled an hour) to the personal-cause-y (Was Richard III guilty of murdering the Princes? NO!)

But the problem is, none of them feel like big secrets. I have repeatedly blogged about my publishing opinions. I have repeatedly mentioned that a day doesn't feel complete without french fries. And fantasy goofball questions like the Oscar thing might seem amusing when I come up with them but probably won't come off that way to everyone.

So I'm opening the floor to you guys. Is there a question you always wanted to ask me? What question would you love to be asked but never are, and can I steal it?

Seriously. I'm getting desperate here.

Let's see, what else did I want to mention. Faerie's bottom is healing, thankfully, although she's been really clingy these last couple of days which usually means she isn't feeling well (she didn't sleep well last night either). Also, we dragged out the Barney DVDs last weekend and have been watching them nonstop all week. Barney is oddly hypnotic; you might try to read or have an adult conversation but sooner or later you realize you're staring open-mouthed at the screen. I have no idea why.

Rain rain rain.

I baked a white cake from scratch last weekend. I never realized there's buttermilk in them. I also never realized that buttermilk is lumpy and disgusting to behold.

And I think that's it.

14 comments:

Bernita said...

A question no one has ever asked me and never, never will.
Would you sign our publishing contract for six figures?...

Anna J. Evans said...

Hmmm....questions...

If you believe in past lives, what do you think you were in your last one? Were you a male or a female? Were you even human?

This is one I've always wanted to be asked, as I have a very intensive past life theory involving a black cat named banjo and a Chinese mercenary with a weird fixation with his abusive mother...but then, that's just me.

hugs and good luck!!

Anna J. Evans

laughingwolf said...

lol @ bernita ;)

does parenting affect how, and what, you write about?

Robyn said...

I know what you mean about Barney. My kids are teens and I still catch myself singing some of those godawful songs from time to time.

Have any of your kids' friends' mothers, the PTA, etc. ever found out you wrote HAWT and looked down on you for it? Or called your mothering skills into question because of it? I ask because I know someone thrown into a similar situation.

Charles Gramlich said...

If your books were animals, what kind of animals would they be?

BernardL said...

Oh yeah, Bernita! The question: would you like to time travel into your sixteen year old body with all the knowledge you have now. Answer: yea, I'd like to take a crack at that. :)

kirsten saell said...

"Funny, it's this very question! And the answer is, 'Funny, it's this very question!'."

Anonymous said...

"But I am stumped. Stumpedy stump stump stumped. (Wow, "stump" is a fun word to type. Try it. Your fingers kind of bounce over the keyboard. Hee! Hey, simple minds, simple pleasures, right?)"

Focus, young lady. FOCUS! LOL

What is the meaning of life? I know the answer but nobody ever asks me.

"Funny, it's this very question! And the answer is, 'Funny, it's this very question!'."

Someone owes the USAF a new keyboard. :~)> -V95

writtenwyrdd said...

That's a tough question to answer, if one is giving a serious answer. I like bernita's best, though. I WANT to answer that one.

Glad the kiddo's on the mend.

And if you think buttermilk is disgusting to behold, try drinking some. It's an acquired taste.

writtenwyrdd said...

Oh, I did think of a question I'd love to hear, which is: Do you actually believe in the things you write about?

Seeley deBorn said...

KIS stole my answer!!

kirsten saell said...

Zing-POW!!!

Sam said...

Yeah, Bernita's right - the six million dollar question, lol.
But an interview question? I suppose I regret never having done one of those "if you were a tree" inanities that were so popular in the seventies, lol.

Anonymous said...

What twee would you be?

P.S. I larve buttermilk. -V95