Liebster Award!

The lovely Rachel has nominated me for the Liebster Award! Thanks so much, Rachel!

Here are my answers to Rachel's questions:

1. What's your favorite way to get rid of writer's block?
Take a break. Go for a walk or take a shower or listen to music or read. Sometimes you have to let the ole subconscious work through your problems whilst you're not actively thinking about them!

2. When did you first start writing seriously?
I was pretty serious about writing as a teen. I was always subbing short stories to various magazines and entering contests. I even put out my own kid's writing magazine for a year! I started seriously writing novels in the summer of 2005 after I graduated from college.

3. What's your genre of choice to write? To read?
I love me some YA fantasy, preferably not set in our world.

4. Coffee or tea?
Tea for me!

5. If you have one, what inspired your current WIP?
The novel I'm currently revising is a retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. But the thing that initially sparked the idea was a dream I had about a girl riding a caribou racing through the snow. And in case you're wondering, it predated Frozen, haha. That scene actually didn't make it into the novel!

6. Rain or sunshine for writing weather?
Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. I have an overabundance of sunshine!

7. What was the last book you read?
I just finished reading my CP's book, and it was fabulous! Before that it was Days of Blood and Starlight.

8. What's a random talent you have others may not know about?
I can touch my nose with my tongue and my thumbs are double-jointed. Does that count?

9. What's your favorite kind of scene to write?
Hmmm interesting question! Not a specific scene, but I love it when you're writing and you just get completely lost in the world you've created and the real world slows down to a hush around you. I also enjoy writing snarky dialogue.

10. Have you ever won a contest?
Alas, no. Closest I ever got was winning fourth place in the National Written and Illustrated By… competition when I was 14.

11. Would you prefer to tour Ireland, France, or the Netherlands?
Oh I want to visit all three! But Ireland would have to be first.


Let's see. 11 random facts about me:

1. I have a Bachelor's Degree in piano performance.

2. Hubs and I named our cat after Bertie Wooster from the P.G. Wodehouse books/TV show Jeeves & Wooster.

3. I was born in Michigan, but moved to Arizona with my family when I was four.

4. I hate tomatoes, but love ketchup and marinara sauce.

5. I didn't like chocolate until I was seventeen.

6. I am the second of four siblings, but the only one in my family with blonde hair.

7. My dream car is a red Porsche 911.

8. I started learning how to play the violin when I was six.

9. My Meyers-Briggs personality type is INFP.

10. Ice cream makes my world go round.

11. Anyone remember the PBS kid's show ZOOM? I once submitted a play to them and they put it on TV!


Okay, next up, my nominees for the Liebster Award! (I only have six.)

1. Jenna Deviller
2. Lana Wood Johnson
3. Jen Fulmer (sorry dear, I know you probably don't have time!! :-))
4. Jessica Rubinkowski (although I think you've already been nominated. Two times the charm?)
5. Janna Kaixer
6. Leann Orris

And last but not least, here are my eleven questions for you guys!

1. How would you spend a million dollars?

2. What time period in history would you like to spend a week in?

3. Soup or salad?

4. Write a haiku about something in the room you're currently in. (okay I guess that's not a question)

5. Have you visited any foreign countries?

6. If you had to trade in your car, would you choose an elephant, a camel, or an ostrich as alternate transportation?

7. What's your favorite word?

8. Cats or dogs?

9. Who was your first fictional crush?

10. What three authors would you want to have with you in the event you're marooned on a desert island?

11. What's the title of your current WIP (if you have one)?


Thanks for playing along, everyone!!! :-) And Rachel, THANK YOU!