A Writer's Meme

1. Who are your favorite authors?
John Steinbeck, Pat Conroy, Bill Bryson, Michael Connelly

2. Who has had a major influence on your writing?
Steinbeck, without doubt. Perhaps not lately, but I read a lot of Steinbeck back in the late 70s/early 80s and whenever I was reading one of his books I was very aware that my writing became much tighter and more descriptive.

3. Name a book you never finished?
"The Mind's Eye." I absolutely LOVED it for the first three chapters, but in the fourth chapter he got into a subject I was very uncomfortable reading, because it related to me rather than to someone else. I kept reading, but I began to lose interest and ultimately I moved on to something more interesting...which surprises me because that first part of that book was one of the most interesting things I had ever read!

4. What word or words do you always have trouble spelling?
Meredith. I don't have trouble spelling it, but I have the devil of a time typing it. I have been typing it Meridty for literally YEARS (difficult, since one of my bosses had a daughter named Meredith). (I just typed it "Meridity" again!)

5. What three adjectives best describe you?
Fat, funny, compassionate

6. Which of your characters would you want to be and why?
I must have picked this meme up on Tess Gerritsen's web page because the answer I have here is one of her characters (Jane Rizzoli). I think I would prefer to be Kaye Scarpetta, intelligent, self-assured, unbothered by nasty odors, and a great cook!

7. Which authors would you invite to dinner?
Tess Gerritsen, Patricia Cornwell, and Kathy Reichs. Now THAT would be an interesting trio

8. Where do you write?
At my computer, looking at a wall covered with "stuff."

9. When do you write?
All the time.

10. What makes you happy?
Puppies, babies (not necessarily in that order. It depends on the day, the puppy, and the baby!)

11. What do you most fear?
It used to be something happening to my children, but so much for that. Now I think it's becoming incapacitated and dependent on other people for everything. I think about how Concetta lived for most of her life and I just don't know how she did it. Of course...what choice did she have?

12. What is your favorite vice?
Peanut butter

13. What is the quality you most like in yourself?
My love of animals....is that a quality?

14. What are the qualities you most like in your friends?
The ability to share our lives, a sense of humor, the ability to laugh together, and to cry together, or just sit and be quiet together. To always be there for each other.

15. What part of your personality do you detest?
My shyness in social situations. I have a feeling I have missed out on a lot of fun in life because of it.

17. What is your favorite adjective?
Probably "cool."

18. What is your favorite book?
"East of Eden"

19. What book would you read three times?
I have read "East of Eden" at least three times and in my youth, I read "Marjorie Morningstar" many times. Nowadays there are so many books I want to read, I doubt if I would re-read a book.

20. To whom would you award the Nobel Prize for Literature and why?
Steinbeck has already won the Nobel Prize for literature, so I'd have to choose someone else. Pat Conroy is out because he is not consistent, I don't believe, in his writing "Prince of Tides" was amazing, but not all of his books live up to that standard.

Most of the books I read today are lightweight, so I can't really come up with a suggestion, though reading Tess Gerritsen's choice, "Abraham Verghese, for his masterpiece 'Cutting for Stone.' The best novel ever written about the practice of medicine." Made me check that book out and mark it for download for the Kindle some day.