Thursday, November 7, 2013

The (Invisible) Liebster Award

Thank you to Julie Whelan at The Paper Wait for giving me the Liebster Award! I'd post the picture, but it's being shy about showing up for me. This award is simply a fun shout-out from one blog to another, and like most such awards, has a list of questions to go with it! As I tend to enjoy interviews of all types, I'll gladly play. Here are the (possibly edited) questions Julie posed:

1. Where is your favorite place to write? In my basement dungeon garret bunker office, no question. If I tried to spend that many hours not in my proper chair not using my desktop (which I consider my real) computer, my chiropractor would really have his work cut out for him. Also, it's cozy and not distracting down here. If I had people around me or a window to look out of, that wouldn't be good.

2. What's the worst advice you've ever received? I read this in The Writer eleventy-fourteen years ago when I started writing: Writers should not have a day job, because they won't really pour themselves into their writing if they have a job to fall back on. Whew. Follow that at your own risk.

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A writer. Yes, at times I gave other answers to this question, but that was only to look good/normal. The only career desire I ever had that was not a passing fancy was to be a writer. Ha, which means that advice up in #2 looked pretty good to me. The answer other than writing that I probably should have given is "Librarian." But it took me decades to figure that out, and, really, everything has turned out fine.

4. What's your favorite book(s)? Oh, my goodness, the great unanswerable. Let me give you the most recent: Splendors and Glooms, Wonder, Masterpiece, The Penderwicks (all), anything by Gary Schmidt, Richard Peck, Kate DiCamillo, or Ruta Sepetys, When You Reach Me, Marcelo in the Real World, The One and Only Ivan, and that which must be marathon-reread on an annual basis, Harry Potter.

5. What's in your TBR pile? Story Physics, by Larry Brooks. A Dog Called Homeless, The Real Boy, W is for Wasted, The Cuckoo's Calling. That is a very short list for me, and it'll get a lot longer before it gets shorter.

6. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? (a) right here in Wisconsin's Fox River Valley, (b) I could be happy along the Milwaukee-Madison corridor too, especially near water, (c) wherever my family is.

7. What distracts you most from writing? The internet.

8. What is your biggest source of inspiration? An amalgamation of remembered childhood emotions, family stories, and prayer/scripture.

9. Why do you blog? Because I enjoy it, it's an outlet for writing other than my fiction, and it's a way to make friends with like-minded folk. And I get to think in public. :)

10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? England. Castles, cottages, and villages with gardens. Also Israel. But in my heart of hearts, I'm a homebody.

I know that a lot of people have gotten this award already. I, for one, love to read these little insights into people, so anyone who feels so inclined, please consider yourselves tagged. :)

17 comments:

Mirka Breen said...

My heart leaped at you wanting to visit Israel, as you can imagine.
I think one reason I blog is to press the button "Publish." At least this way I can feel I am publishing something regularly :)

Faith E. Hough said...

Maybe on my dream trip to England I will bump into you on your dream trip, and we can sip tea and discuss our mutual favorite books. :)
So loved reading these answers, Marcia!

Barbara Watson said...

Love the glimpses into you, Marcia. And I blog for the same reasons. :-)

Marcia said...

Mirka -- LOL and :)

Faith -- Oh yes!

Barbara -- I enjoy blogs that combine writing/book talk with a hint of the personal.

Vijaya said...

Loved that you wanted to be a writer, but were so practical, had to think about being a librarian (which I think can be the next best job if you love books).

Did you know that EB White wrote in a shed with no window so that he wouldn't be distracted? I have a nice view and the squirrels and birds are definitely a distraction, and forget about trying to write on the beach ... your dungeon sounds perfect.

Jaye Robin Brown said...

Bahahaha on #2! Pshew.

Leandra Wallace said...

Amen to #7! =D

Marcia said...

Vijaya == That reminds me of the guy who wrote naked. He wouldn't get dressed until he got his writing done! Can't remember who that was.

Jaye -- It wasn't till the internet that I found out LOTS of writers have day jobs. Isolation...

Leandra -- Yup.

Emily R. King said...

That's so great that you always wanted to be a writer. Took me about 20 years to figure it out. Congrats on the award!

Janet said...

Hi Marcia. I enjoyed reading your answers and finding out more about you.

Marcia said...

Emily -- Just as long as you got there, right? :)

Janet -- Thank you!

Ronald L. Smith said...

Hi Marcia,
Nice answers. Thanks for posting. If only that advice about not having a day job actually worked.

Have a great week.

Marcia said...

Ron -- I know, right?

Andrea Mack said...

In one of my MG novels, the main character refers to the basement as The Dungeon, too!

Marcia said...

Andrea -- Fortunately, we have a basement, not a CELLAR. :D

Anonymous said...

I'd love a basement, but we don't have basements where I am.

I want to read more of the books on your list.

No day job? It would be great to be a full-time writer, but that's not always a reality.

Marcia said...

Medeia -- It does give me some extra stairs to run. :)