Life As An AYU (As Yet Unpublished) Writer

…OR Size DOES Matter And My Inferiority Complex Is Bigger Than Yours

Several weeks ago a lovely writer named Heidi Ruby Miller invited me (not me personally, a group invite to the Romance Bandits) to post on a featured spot on her blog called “Heidi’s Pick Six”. She has a list of fifteen questions and asks writers to answer any six. Then she posts those answers on a regular basis along with a photo and brief biography of the writer.

So what is Aunty’s problem with that?!?! The OTHER WRITERS who have already appeared on her blog doing the Pick Six. They all seem to be published. Make that multi-published. Some are even semi-legends (Orson Scott Card, anyone???)! One quick browse and I came down with a severe case of I’m-Not-Worthys. With all those established authors, why would ANYONE be interested in what Nobody Me has to say?

Okay, so if I HAD the nerve, here hare Heidi’s Pick Six questions and some of my answers:

HEIDI’S PICK SIX
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Whoever is my current hero. I have a thing about falling in love with my heroes. If I don’t love them, how can I expect the reader to love them? This is never an issue with my heroines, probably because in some way they are all extensions of me.

2. Tell me about your travels.
Where do I start? LOL! I’ve visited 48 states and a couple of dozen foreign countries including most of western Europe, Turkey, Australia, China and Thailand. People often ask me which is my favorite and I can honestly say that I’ve never been to a place that I did not enjoy, at least in some aspect. Usually the thing I enjoy most is the people I meet. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve found people to be friendly. As long as you smile and act friendly to them, they will reciprocate.

Lately I’ve been on a cruise kick and have gone on eight of them in the past couple of years, two to Alaska and the other six to Mexico. They are GREAT! This fall I’m taking my first Caribbean cruise, and after that I hope to cruise through the Panama Canal.

3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
The next one I have to write, whatever that may be.  Any scene I haven’t written is always tougher to write than one I’ve finished, even if only in first draft.

8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Everywhere, literally. (See my previous post on Ideas, Inspirations and Irish Royalty.)

9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Make that crushES because one is never enough! Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman, and Paul Bettany are my current favorite Lust Objects (LOs). As you may have noticed, I like ‘em tall and lean. (heh heh) Also, all three of these gentlemen are married and (from all appearances) extremely devoted to their wives and children, which to me makes them all that much more appealing. They all also appear to have a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humor and that’s another thing I find irresistable.

14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
My son (aka LC or Lovely Child) forced me to watch a bunch of episodes of Sponge Bob Squarepants last time he visited and I have to admit, I found them pretty entertaining. Also, do animated movies count? A few weeks ago, I watched “Flushed Away” on DVD and thought it was charming. I also LOVED the original “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo”.