Just Ask...Memeries
Aug. 31st, 2004 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI don't know what scares me worst about this--that someone will ask me questions or that somebody won't.
Gakked this from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kmkibble75
Rule 1 - Ask me five questions in the comments to this entry. They may be about anything you want as long as they involve ME. So no questions about world peace, the exact computation of pi or any other thing that doesn't involve ME. Remember, this is an interview, not quiz bowl.
Rule 2 - Post these rules to your journal, then answer the questions that you get.
Gakked this from
kmkibble75Rule 1 - Ask me five questions in the comments to this entry. They may be about anything you want as long as they involve ME. So no questions about world peace, the exact computation of pi or any other thing that doesn't involve ME. Remember, this is an interview, not quiz bowl.
Rule 2 - Post these rules to your journal, then answer the questions that you get.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 06:25 pm (UTC)1.) Which do you place more trust in: religion or science?
2.) If you could be born in any year, which would it be and why?
3.) If you were given the chance to live forever, would you take it?
4.) Why do you live where you live?
5.) Which country outside of the U.S. would you wnat to live in, and why?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 09:13 pm (UTC)1.) Which do you place more trust in: religion or science?
Science if it's science vs. religion. But if you're talking spirituality, it's tougher. Unless science turns into scientism; i.e., a belief system just as unyielding as any religion. But I also believe that sometimes you can ask the Universe for what you want/need and come to some accommodation. My G(g)od(dess) but that's a lot of hedging...Can I sit on the fence? :-)
2.) If you could be born in any year, which would it be and why?
The one I was born in, I guess. Because I am who I am, I accept the good and the bad of what made me, and that year is part of what made me. And no, I'm not saying what year. :-) I reserve the right to be contrary.
3.) If you were given the chance to live forever, would you take it?
No. That's why I wrote my first vampire novel, to prove to myself and others that it would be a dreadful bore and a heartbreak.
4.) Why do you live where you live?
Because I was born here and it's where all my friends and my mom live.
5.) Which country outside of the U.S. would you want to live in, and why?
England, especially one of the green counties, like Somerset. Somewhere in the country. Because the weather suits my Hibernian skin and my moods and because that green just feeds my soul.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 09:32 pm (UTC)But look at the upside -- invest five bucks today, and in a millenia or two you're a billionaire. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 06:36 pm (UTC)2. What's the worst thing you've ever done or said?
3. What's the best/nicest thing?
4. If you could live in any world, ours or fiction, and money was no object, where would you live?
5. Mountains or valleys?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 09:14 pm (UTC)1. What's your favorite color?
Blue--but can I keep red in reserve?
2. What's the worst thing you've ever done or said?
Major guilt can of worms: not visiting my father before he died. He died suddenly and I couldn't have known...but I hadn't been to see him in awhile, either.
3. What's the best/nicest thing?
I had to laugh when I read May's response to this. I used to protect the little kids in elementary school, too. I was tall at an early age so no one messed with me and I finally got tired of seeing some of the school bullies pick on the little kids.
4. If you could live in any world, ours or fiction, and money was no object, where would you live?
This one, right here and right now. I don't do nostalgia. Okay, so maybe I wouldn't mind have a pricy beach house with maid service...but then I'd always be worrying about liquefaction when the next earthquake hit, and exploiting the poor, so...Just this one, debt free, and writing full time. I'm quite boring.
5. Mountains or valleys?
I suppose mountains would edge out valleys. But I really prefer living near the ocean.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 08:24 pm (UTC)1. If you could bring just one of your male characters to life, which would it be?
2. Who, apart from yourself, has had the biggest influence on your life?
3. Do you think you'll ever move from LA?
4. What's your ultimate artistic aim (as in, after what achievement would you be satisfied)?
5. If for some reason your muse stopped giving you fsf (slipstream!!) stories, in what other genre would you write?
Go on, enlighten me.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 10:34 pm (UTC)1. If you could bring just one of your male characters to life, which would it be?
Of course you know that changes over time. Once it would have been Caius, then Jeremy, then Ezra. I don't know but what I'd say JK at this point.
2. Who, apart from yourself, has had the biggest influence on your life?
I'd have to say my friend Lynn. We've known each other since we were twelve and "raised" each other in many ways. She's definitely the sister I never had.
3. Do you think you'll ever move from LA?
I'd like to. I'd probably always come home again, but I'd like to live elsewhere for awhile. Or, if we're talking fantasies here, live part of the year in L.A., part elsewhere.
4. What's your ultimate artistic aim (as in, after what achievement would you be satisfied)?
It's actually fairly modest. Enough readership/sales so I could quit the day job and write full time. Or even a variation on that: enough readership/sales so I only have to work at a cubicle job part time. I don't need bestselling and major awards, although I wouldn't say no to either. :-) What I'd really really really like is to move people with my writing, touch them where they live, write the kinds of books where they say, "I need to read something else by her." Hmm. Maybe that isn't so modest after all. But for me it's not so much about pleasing my peers as it is about making readers read.
5. If for some reason your muse stopped giving you fsf (slipstream!!) stories, in what other genre would you write?
Mystery most likely. In another incarnation, I wrote mystery games--big productions. I usually wound up stumping most of the participants and thought I might be able to make a decent showing at it. As you know, I've got a rather convoluted mind. And I love reading mysteries as well as fsf--as long as it's character driven fiction. You can do a lot with Big Issues and character in both genres.
There. I believe I've just proven the truth of what one friend said about me: ask Pam what time it is and she'll build you a watch.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 10:14 am (UTC)And I'd had my suspicions about JK. Back to Dos Lunas next, then? Yay!!
I love my shiny new watch, thank you ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 05:17 pm (UTC)Ask and you shall receive :}
Date: 2004-09-01 01:28 am (UTC)2. Favourite movie and why?
3. If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
4. If you could teach a child one thing, what would it be? (and yes, you can translate that into one paragraph of "thing" if needed?
5. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Re: Ask and you shall receive :}
Date: 2004-09-01 04:49 pm (UTC)Re: Ask and you shall receive :}
Date: 2004-09-01 06:48 pm (UTC)Not one answer and it changes over time--typical for me. I suppose it would currently be 1) the William Monk mysteries by Anne Perry; 2) the J.D. Robb In Death series; and 3) Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series. 1) Because he's a bit of a dark character, rather tortured, but always manages to make things right in the end (the great comfort of reading mysteries); 2) because although her writing craft varies a great deal from book to book, her stable of characters are fun, there's darkness in the books but you always know it'll work out in the end, because Eve's a strong woman and Roarke is a strong man and a hunk of burnin' love and it's a big fantasy, but so what? 3) because they're hilarious and I love the bombast of the characters and because...you always know things'll work out well in the end. (I find that the longer I live, the less I'm able to take unhappy endings. Too many of those in real life--so I've become a real literary coward.)
2. Favourite movie and why?
Another tough one. There are a lot of movies I love to watch, none that I'm currently obsessed with. One I have watched a number of times is Apocalypse Now. I really love that movie. Every time I see it, it just gets richer and richer. One of the best films ever, imo. Because of the richness of story, the performances, the cinematography, the lessons about the brutality of war and the abuse of power and the futility of ideology.
3. If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Pay off my debts, buy a house, replace my fifteen-year-old car. And with L.A. property prices, that would probably take care of at least half of the million. (Median house price in SoCal is $450,000 for a *nothing* house.) Yeah--I'd think about me first, not do anything noble until after I'd settled my own hash. Then I might think about philanthropy--or I might do something boring like invest the rest.
4. If you could teach a child one thing, what would it be? (and yes, you can translate that into one paragraph of "thing" if needed?
Unfortunately, all my answers seem to turn into paragraphs. What would I teach a child? That anyone who puts you down is wrong. That it's never about you not being good enough--it's about that person not feeling good about themselves and trying to build themselves up by hurting someone else.
5. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Flying. I seem to have lost this ability at age 3 or four. ;-) See my answer to May about early memories if you want clarification. :-)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 12:31 pm (UTC)1. What is your strongest personality trait?
2. If you suddenly stumbled over a time machine, where/when would you go?
3. How do you think the culture you grew up in has affected your personality as an adult?
4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
5. And finally, once back to you. Your earliest memory?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 06:50 pm (UTC)My sense of irony. Which sometimes translates into humor. Although many might say it's my loquaciousness.
2. If you suddenly stumbled over a time machine, where/when would you go?
So many places. I was a history minor, so I'm pretty much in-love with history. I'd try to solve one of the big mysteries. Maybe I'd go back to see who really did build the Sphinx and how old it really is.
3. How do you think the culture you grew up in has affected your personality as an adult?
Very tough, mostly because it's hard to be objective. Growing up in L.A. has made me hyper-aware of my appearance. Very tough town in that regard. But it's also rather tolerant of individuality and fringe ideas, is a real multicultural melting pot (especially the neighborhood I grew up in), so I got important early lessons about people. Namely, it isn't about ethnicity, color, religion, any of that stuff. It's about who a person is inside--and there are good and bad in every demographic. Growing up American? Woof. It's made me very skeptical of Big Ideas propped up by non-rational, emotional arguments; that sound good but have no substance. It's made me appreciate eccentricity and outsider viewpoints and individuality because they aren't tolerated much here.
4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I have no idea. If I think back ten years to where I thought I'd be now--this ain't it. I've given up trying to predict things like that. But I'd hope that I'd at least have a few things published by then! That maybe I was earning enough cash from writing to at least only have to work the cubicle part time.
5. And finally, once back to you. Your earliest memory?
Okay, I have this one snatch of memory that everyone says I couldn't have. Floating on a raft in a lake with my parents. I distinctly remember the feel of my dad's hands around me holding me in the water, the lapping water, and the delight on dad's face. But my parents said they stopped going there/doing that when I was nine months old, so...And then I have another very clear memory from when I was maybe 2 or 3. I'm alone, standing in my secret combe, the hidden part of the yard I used to love so much, and I'm absolutely convinced that if I jump up into the air in just the right way, I'll be able to fly. And I remember looking down on the rooftop of the house from the air. I was a very imaginative kid. :-) (Although the secret combe part is true.) My earliest probably real memory is of following my father down a garden row helping him plant seeds. Carrots or lettuce maybe. My dad was a fabulous gardener. Half the back yard was full of growing vegetables. Mmm. Just hit a memory sweet tooth there--a good place to be. (Can you tell memory is a big writing theme for me?)