Let’s see … Edie tagged me and now I have to meet the challenge of coming up with ten weird things about myself. I see that Michelle had to narrow hers down to only ten. Me? I’ll be hard pressed to come up with ten. I lead such a ho-hum life.

Okay … here goes:

1) There are certain drinks I cannot go near. Ouzo being one of them. I got so blasted drinking the stuff while in Greece fifteen years ago that to this day the thought of black licorice is enough to make me gag. And don’t even get me started on Tequila.

2) When we were kids, we used to torment my younger sister. She had juvenile arthritis and we used to set her on the ground and tickle her because we knew she couldn’t get up. We were EVIL.

3) I cry each and every time I watch the movie “Beaches”.

4) I was so introverted as a kid that I used to practically live in the cellar. My SIL didn’t even know I existed for the first six months that she dated my brother.

5) I used to tell my nephew that I didn’t pass gas because I was scheduled to explode at thirty. When I turned thirty … I told him I got an extension. He actually believed me for awhile. Kids are so gullible.

6) I ran away from home when I was five. I packed my “Mary’s Little Lamb” suitcase with my favorite toys, a snack and a blankie and made it around the block. Couldn’t go any further because I wasn’t allowed to cross the street without an adult. Mom never noticed I was missing.

7) I used to date a professional hypnotist … good lookin’ guy, too. And no, he never tried to hypnotize me. Cluck, cluck, cluck.

I wanted to be a flight attendant when I grew up. Even decided I didn’t need a driver’s license because I’d be flying all the time and wouldn’t be owning a car.

9) I once read the book “Follow My Leader” and walked around with a dish towel over my eyes for a week, trying to discover what it felt like to be blind. I even learned Braille.

10) Can’t think of a tenth, so you’ll just have to suck it up and accept nine.

And now I’m going to Tag two other people. I nominate Zoe Winter and Jan Kenny BUSTED!

… And I’m thrilled to pieces. The time is fast drawing near for the release of my first book … “Forget About Tomorrow”. For awhile it seemed so far away, but when you think about it, April 17th is just around the corner. Only two months away. All I can say is … “WOW”.

Anne Cain did the cover for “FAT” and did a mighty fine job, IMO. I think she captured the feel I was going for. Thank you Anne, you’re an absolute doll.

I just spent a couple of hours today figuring out promotion. I probably spent a bit more than I should have, but these are promotional items that I intend to use at both the RT conference in April and RWA’s National conference in July. I’ve been getting ideas from other writers, family and friends on how to get the best exposure for “FAT”.

I gotta say, its been educational so far. Just figuring out how to construct the front and back of postcards was a PITA. I must have spent better than an hour playing around over at Vistaprint. The sample looked good. I can only hope when the order arrives, that it turns out the way I want. I’ll be looking into making bookmarks and perhaps buttons.

Believe me … if I run into you at any of the conferences, you’ll probably end up wearing one of the buttons. LOL. I plan to put on my extrovert hat and promote.

What inspires you when you write? Is it a song? That person you saw in the street, the way he or she moved? Something you read?

A writer can find inspiration most anywhere. I was reading an article in the newspaper yesterday while I was visiting at my mom’s house. Something about a medical van who dumped a homeless person off on “Skid Row” with nothing but a stained hospital gown. After getting over my “people are such ass-holes” reaction, I immediately knew what I was going to do to my heroine in my next space opera book. What would she do if she were kidnapped and dumped in a place called “Skid Row”. She’s not of Earth, so she has no knowledge of the language, no familiarity with the area or customs. What would she know about a place called “Skid Row”? Can you see the possibilities? The dilemna she’ll find herself in?

And all that from reading a three paragraph article in the newspaper.

Pictures will spark a train of thought, a stray conversation, even a weather report. Amazing, ain’t it?

What sparks those kernal of an idea for you?

You would think that when the temperatures drop to sub zero levels that us Northerns would be pretty much hibernating. No such luck. Life goes on. We still gotta get the kids to school, go to work, do the grocery shopping, run errands … you name it, its gotta get done. We can’t let a little thing like 10 degrees below zero (F) stop us.

However, a dead battery in the car can. Fortunately, I didn’t have to contend with that. Nor did we have to contend with umpteen feet of snow like Colorado had a month ago, or the six feet that New York had dumped on them (with more to come). Talk about miserable. If I were a winter sports fan, this wouldn’t be so bad. But, I’m not and if I had my way, I’d pack on a couple of extra pounds, burrow under a pile of comforters, and not stick my nose out until April.

The only time that I enjoy the snow is on dark, quiet nights. Big, fat flakes are falling, everything is silent … its like the night is holding its breath. I love that. There’s something so magical about nights like that.

Then I get cold and head back indoors. LOL.

How ’bout you? You a fan of winter weather? What do you do to endure?

What would be the number one fear of every writer? I should say … every writer who works off of a computer?

That’s right, your system crashing. I had that little scare tonight. My screen went blank and I got this funky message saying that an error had occurred and that my system was shutting down. Huh? I’ve got just enough computer savvy to panic. What had I done? Had I accidently picked up some sort of nasty virus? Did I hit the wrong key? I was only playing Spider Solitaire … I swear!

And, then comes the realization that I hadn’t backed up my system in more than a month. Granted I have a laptop that I keep most of my writing on, but it doesn’t have my most recent work. In other words, I’d be fairly (but not totally) screwed.

So, with trepidation, I shut down my system and waited for it to come back up. It was a little sluggish, but that could have been my imagination. The first thing I did? Backed up this sucker.

I now solomnly swear that I will back up my system religiously. My heart can’t handle this pressure.