Real Neat Blog Award

Though I’m sorry to say I haven’t had a lot of time for my blogs lately, due to long days of writing novels that I hope will help feed me in my even more advanced old age, I still love it when I have time to review a book or two here on Bookin’ It, or share with my fellow writers and friends on The Write Stuff. So I was especially pleased and grateful when Callum McLaughlin nominated me for the Real Neat Blog award. My heartfelt thanks, Callum! It’s nice to know I still qualify, even with fewer posts.

These are the questions Callum posed, along with my answers, such as they are. Read on, to find out more about me than you probably ever wanted to know.  

CALLUM: Physical book or eBook?

ME: I’m greedy! I want both. I see no need for this to be an either/or situation. I love collecting books and always have. In this house, I have a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves, and it’s my favorite room. There are books that I’ve had all my life and would never get rid of. There are series that I loved so much, I felt compelled to buy the entire set. There are books I bought because the cover art was irresistible. I have books stacked on end tables, and on bookshelves in other rooms. Books equal treasure! But when I sit down to read, I will choose my Kindle almost every time, even if the actual book is on my shelves. It’s more comfortable to hold, the lighting is perfect, and best of all, I can adjust the font for my tired old eyes.  I like being able to tap a word and have an instant definition pop up. I like highlighting without marring a print book. And best of all, I can finish a Book 1 and within sixty seconds, can buy, download, and start reading a Book 2, even at midnight, usually at a bargain price. You can’t beat that. 

CALLUM: Music or silence?

ME: Whether it’s reading or writing, I’ll always opt for silence. The voices in my head make their own music. In the car, I listen to everything from Celtic music, to classical, to classic rock, to Jimmy Buffet’s island songs, or movie and Broadway soundtracks. But at home, where I’m almost always to be found writing these days, it’s silence. Nothing to remind me anything exists beyond the page I’m working on. 

CALLUM: City or countryside?

ME: Hands down, countryside. I’d live in a cabin on a remote mountain in North Carolina, if I had my way. I’m most inspired by nature, wildlife, and gardens run amok.  

CALLUM: Factual or  Fantasy?

ME: Put me down for Fantasy, every time. There’s nothing I love more than escaping reality. As often as possible, preferably. I do still keep a pretty good library of books on nature and wildlife, and love learning about both, particularly where it concerns birding, butterflies, and my garden. 

CALLUM: Extravert or introvert?

ME: A weird mixture of both. Mostly, I’m pretty outgoing, often striking up conversations in grocery store lines. I’ve been told I never meet a stranger. However, having said that, if the situation makes me feel the tiniest bit uncomfortable or awkward, I tend to seek out a dark corner, and observe. When I was younger, I was so insecure, I wouldn’t even go to the grocery store without a friend riding along. I’m past that, now, but there are still those occasions when I find myself looking for a seat in the back of the room.

And that’s it for me. Now it’s my turn to nominate someone, which is pretty tricky, with all the wonderful bloggers I’ve met in the last couple of years. However, I’m going to go with my friend and editor, Caitlin Stern, who is a prodigious reader, in addition to writing some really wonderful poetry. And in addition to Caitlin, I’d like to nominate Jennifer Melzer, a newly acquired but greatly admired fellow writer and tea lover, who introduced me to Adagio teas, thus beginning my latest addiction. If you ladies decide to participate, I submit the following questions:

• Your day’s writing is done. You escape to your Comfy Chair. Do you go for something completely different, and grab the remote, or bury yourself in even more words with the latest offering from your favorite author?

• Vacation time comes round again. Sun-washed sand and sparkling surf? Or dappled mountain shade and fern-lined waterfalls?

• Your book just rocketed to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. Champagne and caviar, or a week being pampered at a spa? Neither sufficiently celebratory for you? Tell us what is.

• You simply must take a day away from the computer, before you find your limbs completely atrophied and useless. Power shopping at the mall? A stroll around an art gallery? A day at the zoo? An afternoon in your garden? None of the above?

• Life is Good, because…

Once again, thank you, Callum, for nominating me, and thank you ladies, if you choose to participate, which IS, of course, strictly voluntary. There will be no repercussions if you choose not to. Honest. Probably.

 

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