Monday, March 12, 2012

I'm It


Image courtesy: Malingering

Thanks to Prerna Pickett over at The Sands of Writing, I've been tagged! Cool. Let's do this thang:

1. What's your favorite book?



Shadowland by Peter Straub. As a young reader, my first love was horror. Stephen King is still my fave, but this book (and Ghost Story) by Peter Straub are incredible. Of course I was super jazzed when these two authors got together to write The Talisman (and not so enthralled by their later effort, Black House). But I digress.

What's so awesome about Shadowland? The writing is top, top notch. I love the dreaminess and how easily Straub moves from reality to fantasy sequences to stories and forward and backward in time. The symbolism with all the birds is masterful.

What's is about? A young boy befriends an oddball at his prep school. His new friend's hobby is magic and his uncle is a retired professional magician and not a nice guy. The uncle brings the two boys to his Vermont home for a summer of magic, mayhem, and ultimately, a battle to become the next great magician. If you read The Night Circus and were hankering for a real, to-the-death battle between magicians, this is the book for you.

2. What inspires your writing?

My personal daydreams. I tend to daydream in novel-length epics, expanding and editing as I go. Writing just gives me a chance to capture them on paper (in bits and bytes?) and turn them into a story for the masses. Not that I've actually gotten the stories to the masses yet. That's another daydream in progress.

3. Where's your favorite place to write?

My desk sits in my sunroom. See pictures here.

4. If you could plan ahead, what would want your last meal to be?

I'd go to the Melting Pot and have the Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue (Gruyère and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses come together with white wine, garlic, nutmeg, lemon and Kirschwassee), their Caeser Salad, and then another swiss cheese fondue for dessert. And then another Caesar Salad. See, this way, the end would not come until I exploded.

5. If you had to participate in one extreme sport, what would it be?



Rollerblading on a half-pipe. I can skate backwards, roll off a curb without falling (usually), and once went down an entire level of a parking garage with the backs of my heels facing each other. Oh, and I can do a nifty little spin from forwards to backwards.

At my age, if I tried to do anything on a half pipe other than skate along the bottom slowly and carefully, I'd better just go ahead and order my last meal from The Melting Pot.

6. What's your biggest fear?

That one or both of my children will die before I do.

7. Vampire or werewolf?



Hmmm, that's a tough one. I'm edging toward vampire right now. Maybe that's because I recently read Anne Rice's Wolf Gift about a werewolf that vividly describes how much the MC enjoys eating raw animals and people. Yuck. Then I read Jodie Picoult's Lone Wolf about a guy who went to live with wolves (not werewolves) and ate freshly-killed deer stomach. Double yuck. (Not that sucking blood is all that appealing either.)

Is there an equivalent to the Independent Party here? This muggle would much rather be sent to Hogwarts and eat well-cooked fare, thank you very much.

8. Favorite writing snack?



I've been chewing Trident gum like it's going out of style. Sweet Cherry/Island Lime or one of the other two-tone flavors.

9. What's your favorite scary movie?

Oh brother, do I have to pick just one? The Exorcist scared the bejusus out of me, but I've also lost some serious sleep to Paranormal (haven't had the guts to see the sequels yet), The Blair Witch Project, and the first Nightmare on Elm Street.

On the more artistic side, I have a deep love for The Company of Wolves and would love to see M.Night Shyamalan's The Village again.

10. Why did you start writing?

Because I've dreamed about writing my whole life and was finally ready. I had the time, the story, and the motivation.

11. Your favorite day of the year?


Image courtesy: rocor

Again, do I have to pick one? It's probably not a holiday. A good candidate is the first day of our annual Kiawah beach trip. I've been going to this island every year since I was nine. It's so beautiful, so relaxing.

Okay, I guess I need to tag someone. Hmmm . . . I pick CluelessEve, Johanna Garth at Losing Sanity, author of the excellent book Losing Beauty, and my writing club pal, Julia Reffner over at Dark Glass Ponderings. Dude, you haven't updated that blog since September! What are you doing? Homeschooling and writing and and and . . . okay, I'll shut up.

Here's the awards. Pick your fave.







And here's the list of questions to tag three other bloggers after you answer them yourselves.

1. What's your favorite book?
2. What inspires your writing?
3. Where's your favorite place to write?
4. If you could plan ahead, what would want your last meal to be?
5. If you had to participate in one extreme sport, what would it be?
6. What's your biggest fear?
7. Vampire or werewolf?
8. Favorite writin snack?
9. What's your favorite scary movie?
10. Why did you start writing?
11. Your favorite day of the year?

Or, if you've already done this list how about:

1. What book would you like turned into a movie?

2. Are you a repeat reader or one-time-only reader? If you're a repeat reader, what book(s) have you read the most?

3. If you had to pick just three artists/groups to fill up your iPod, who would make the cut?

Okay, Tag! You're it.

4 comments:

  1. The first Nightmare on Elm Street WAS scary! I saw it in the theater and about halfway through, the film broke and it took them a minute to fix it. But when that happened, there was NO noise from the audience. We all just sat there! It was so surreal.

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  2. Hi Tamara
    Great post. It's always good to get to know more about a fellow blogger. :) Sorry I don't have time to do it now but I will when I have the chance :)

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  3. I like your writing space and that pic of Hawaii.

    I didn't know Anne Rice wrote a wolf book. :)

    It was great getting to know you better, Tamara.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  4. Thanks for the comments! That theater story is funny, Diane. And, that beach picture is from Kiawah, S.C., not Hawaii. Boy, I wish I could go to Hawaii every year! (Except the plane trip.)

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I will do everything in my power to visit commenter's blogs unless I've been abducted by aliens or my children get sick. (If my children get abducted by aliens, I will be very busy, of course, catching up on my sleep.)