Infinity Dreams Award Tag

I was tagged a few weeks ago by Nicolette Elzie of A Little Bookish, A Little Writerly to participate in the Infinity Dreams Award Tag. I’m not really sure what the award part is, but basically I share some more about myself as a writer and person (because if all a person does is write, there’s not much to write about).

RULES

1. Thank and follow the blog that nominated you.
2. Tell us 11 facts about yourself.
3. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.

Part 1: Nicolette rocks!

Part 2:

1. I lived in the Philippines during the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. My mother was stationed at Clark Air Base at the time.
2. I’m a military brat and have lived in Ohio, Texas, the Philippines, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington.
3. My husband and I met online. Our first date was pizza and Battlestar Galactica.
4. I have a scar on my knee from the wicker basket of a hot air balloon. The balloon “crashed” and I was braced at the side of the basket (it was either land heavier than intended or hit some power lines).
5. I have 3 Siamese cats. Lucy and Nicki are from the same litter, and Alex is their half-brother who is 2 weeks younger. They are officially rescues, from a lady who had some petsitting misadventures and ended up with 3 near-simultaneous litters of purebred Siamese kittens.
6. My favorite way to vacation is cruising. The best one to date was a trans-Atlantic crossing from Florida to Spain. Having a guilt-free way to disconnect from the rest of the world is amazing.
7. I’m not allergic to anything, but I think that mushrooms are disgusting. (It’s a texture thing. Avocados are pretty gross, too.)
8. My first forays into writing were bad Highlander: The Series fanfic at 11 years old.
9. Reading fanfic is still my guilty pleasure. It’s the only thing I can read while successfully turning off my inner editor/proofreader.
10. I don’t have any tattoos. Yet.
11. I’m a fan of the modern incarnation of Doctor Who, but while I only consider myself a relatively decent fan of the show, I am absolutely obsessed with the TARDIS. I collect things with the TARDIS on them, for example, the slippers I am currently wearing, the throw blanket on the futon behind him, and my cell phone case. I even have a vanity license plate for my car that references the TARDIS. I’m like that about Stargates, too, though I don’t own as much swag (as I set my beer down on a Stargate coaster…). Maybe I just have a thing for really bizarre methods of science-fiction transportation.

Part 3:

Nicolette’s questions for me:

Who is your favorite hero/heroine? (Books, movies, comics, lore, whatever)

Soz Valdoria from Catherine Asaro‘s Skolian Empire series! She’s a badass heroine–fighter pilot, family woman, and political leader. Check out her introduction in Primary Inversion, then get sucked into the rest of the series.

Best book read in 2015?

This is cheating, because the book is not out to the general public yet, but I had the honor of proofreading The Curiosity Killers by K. W. Taylor. This steampunk time-travel adventure novel is sure to be a bit hit when it debuts in 2016!

If you could see any movie again like it was the first time, what would you go see?

The Avengers. I am an unabashed Marvel Cinematic Universe fangirl, and it is still my favorite of the lot. I’m a huge fan of authors tying multiple characters together for a series finale, so seeing something similar on the big screen–and to have it keep going for more films–was amazing to me.

Tea or coffee?

Whole-milk vanilla latte.

Describe your ideal writing day.

Sleep in. Shower. Head to local coffee shop for breakfast and an hour’s worth of original drafting. Come home to my office. Work on rewrites and edits, preferably with bonus kitty snuggles. Take a late lunch/early dinner break to do some reading and Netflixing. Work on marketing into the evening with beer and snacks. There’s so much more to being a writer than just that first draft.

Is your writing space a knolling heaven or a little bit messy?

I consider my home office to be artfully cluttered. Notes, pens, cat toys, etc.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

A scene-by-scene plotter for novels. A “let’s start with this idea and see what happens” for short stories.

Word? Scrivener? Typewriter (lol)? What do you use to write?

Microsoft Word. Lots and lots of random notebook pages of notes.

Do you have a favorite writing quote? What is it?

“There is no one, true way.” Which I actually stole from Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, but it works here, too.

If only one person in the world read what you wrote, who would you pick?

My husband. Unfortunately, his survival instincts and our vastly different reading tastes have led him to refuse to read any of my novels. 😉

What is one New Year’s resolution you have for 2016?

Go to the dentist. (32 years without a cavity and counting.)