Liebster Award!

Cait nominated me for the Liebster Award and I am taking advantage of the filler content while I write up a gazillion blog posts for my upcoming blogTOUR for Forged by Fate! You should also know that Cait is supremely talented and awesome, so do, please, go check out her blog if you are not already following her!

Liebster works like this:

1. 11 random facts about me.

2. 11 questions answered for the person who nominated me.

3. I nominate 11 picks for the award, and make up another 11 questions for them to answer.

4. Nominated peoples will be listed below with their 11 questions of DOOM.

5. Nominated people do the same; paste the award badge to your blog, give us 11 random facts about yourself, answer my 11 questions, and choose your nominees…but you cannot nominate the blog who nominated you.

***

okay, Random Facts:
1) I wish I could skip the random facts and jump straight into the questions. (this fact might be a cheat)

2) Sometimes, making choices when given too many options really overwhelms me. I have a hard time choosing books in the bookstore for this reason, but also I have a terrible time picking what movie we should watch from the DVDs we own, or the Netflix queue.

3) Usually this results in my going for an old favorite. It's just the easier choice. I know I'll love it already, so there's no room for disappointment.

4) I hate glitter and I run a glitter free household. When cards come in the mail with glitter on them, I make el husband open them and then dispose of them. I do not handle anything that has glitter on it if I can help it, because inevitably, said glitter ends up on my face. I saw a GLITTER PUZZLE at the store yesterday and shuddered. (Why would anyone want that?! Why?!)

5) I love the scent of Geranium. It just smells so CLEAN in this really natural way.

6) I cannot stand the scent of Vanilla handsoap if it is in a bathroom. I prefer lemon or pretty much anything that isn't vanilla. Outside of the bathroom, vanilla handsoap is fine.

7) I have always dreamed of living in the house I am living in today, and being a writer. Now, I am.

8) I nearly had a chunk of my thigh bitten off by someone's pet tiger. The only reason it didn't was because I was too stupid to flinch.

9) After it licked my hand and almost bit me, I realized I was REALLY allergic to tigers -- my eyes would NOT stop itching.

10) And so died my ambitions to be a tiger keeper in a zoo. well. Okay, that didn't actually kill my ambitions. It was just another nail in the coffin when the time came. The thing that really killed it was the idea that I would have to take ALL science classes for three years to get my degree in wildlife biology, and I realized, you know, I just do not love science that much. Also, some of those classes involved doing animal skins, and I *really* did not love science enough for that.

11) When I moved to North Dakota, I hated how friendly people were. Like a good New Yorker, I avoided eye-contact and kept my head down. I hated that I could not go anywhere without people I knew saying hi and asking how I was and stopping me to chat. Like the random guy in Target whose name I didn't even know, for whom I made copies once a week or so for his club, and was all "I was wondering what had happened! I hadn't seen you at the desk in weeks! What's going on with you? Where have you been?!" To whom I answered "um, I graduated and got married?" I believe he hugged me in congratulations and enthusiasm with some extra nice things said and I walked away a little bit confused and shell-shocked, but feeling really, really, special. Now that I am back on the east coast, I kind of miss it sometimes. Strangers do not make you feel special on the east coast, normally.

***

1) What category/genre do you write, and why?

      Adult Fantasy/Historical Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Romance. Why? Because I love mythology. And mythology involves three things: Love -- even if it is crazy obsessed love with no consideration for the other person; History -- it wouldn't be mythology if it happened today, it would just be religion; and Gods -- which sadly means, sometimes, that your work gets put in the fantasy folder, whether it really should be there or not. Forged by Fate belongs on the fantasy shelf. But. In my humble opinion, my manuscript, Helen of Sparta (which has yet to find a home) does not. Both have gods and myths.

2) What category/genre do you wish you wrote, but just doesn't speak to you?

     Science Fiction, I guess. And sometimes I think that my writer-life would be easier if I wrote YA. But I don't really feel like I wish I wrote it. I'm totally satisfied with being a writer of adult works! And I like that I don't have to really worry about "is this okay for teens?" when I'm writing. 

3) Tattoos/piercings/hair dye?

     I used to have my ears pierced but they closed up a while ago. I just can't be bothered with keeping earrings in them. I dyed my hair a couple of times in college, but only because it was part of the social grooming of living in an all girls residence hall, and someone else was willing to do the work for me. I would LIKE to do a couple of streaks of blue in my hair one day. Maybe to celebrate my book release in March :)

4) Big 5, Indie, or Self? And why?

     I am currently going Indie/Small Press, because Forged by Fate and the rest of the Fate of the Gods trilogy definitely belongs at one. But I hope and dream that Orc Romance and Helen and maybe even Pirithous will go Big 5 -- Why? Because it will mean that more people will be able to read the books. It will mean that they might one day be on a shelf in those holy grails of TARGET and WAL-MART, where EVERYONE has the opportunity to impulse buy them. And of course if one of those books gets to that point, it will mean more sales of Forged by Fate as people look up my other work! But I am very happy with World Weaver Press as a publisher, and the personal attention they give my books! And I am very happy with the distribution WWP can provide. Frankly, the whole experience has been painless, and I'm absolutely positive it would not have been so, for these books, at a larger press.

5) What's your weirdest/most interesting talent?

     Um.

     ...

     I make bathmats from those potholder kits with the loops? I don't know. I've got nothing. I don't have interesting talents outside of writing, really. I guess I am pretty good at making photocopies? That was my job in college. I am NOT good at selling appliances. Yeah. I've got nothing.

6) Dog or Cat?

     Both! I have a cat now (who is easily the most ungraceful and silliest cat ever), and had one growing up (she was much more poised), but I *love* dogs too, and I'm looking forward to getting one in the spring! Yesterday I was sorely tempted to impulse buy a ball python, though, also. For the record. And I still really want goats.

7) What inspires you to write?

     Um. I don't know. A particular song that speaks to me, a really good movie, a really fascinating story. A really interesting relationship between two historical or semi-historical characters. A phrase. There's this one thing I saw someone tweet a while back, a Latin saying, and I opened the tweet in it's own tab and have been keeping it open since, because man, there is a book in those five words.

8) What is your favorite character you've written?

     That's a really hard question. I love Thor and I love Theseus and I love Pirithous and Thjalfi and Ullr. I love my heroes the most, I guess. So that narrows it down. But choosing between those three... I guess I will have to go with Thor. I do love Thor a lot, and he's stuck with me since I wrote him. Since before I wrote him. He never goes away, and I like that too.

9) What is your favorite character you didn't write?

     From someone else's books, you mean? The answer to this might still be Thor, but let me think for a minute. Oh! Han Solo. Yes. I am going with Han Solo. And then maybe Aral Vorkosigan. And then maybe Lars Dahl.

10) If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

     I would like to try Iceland! 

11) What is your favorite book of all time?

     Gah. Of all time?! Uhhh. I reread Shards of Honor at least once a year, but I also love, love, love Giants of the Frost, by Kim Wilkins. It might be my *new* favorite book. Only time will tell, I suppose! Dudes, I do not know the answer to this question. Maybe it is the Crystal Singer Trilogy, for that matter! or Moreta! STOP MAKING ME CHOOSE THINGS.

***

okay, I am so glad that is over. Let's see. Now I have to come up with 11 questions. Hmmmm.

1) What do you LOVE? (Not a person, but a thing)

2) What do you HATE? (again, not a person -- this could be a pet peeve of grammar or glitter or whatever)

3) Favorite Author?

4) What's your favorite period in history? why?

5) What's your favorite Myth (or fairy tale)? why? 

6) Or, if you have not read enough of mythology/fairy tales to have a favorite, what's your favorite god/goddess in mythology?

7) Which character of your own would you most like to have show up on your doorstep? 

8) For Friendship or Romance? Why?

9) Which character of someone else's would you most like to have show up on your doorstep?

10) For Friendship or Romance? Why?

11) What book have you read the most? Or if you don't reread books, what book do you most remember the experience of reading?

My Nominees:

Frankie Diane Mallis (because you are blogging every day in January and you are bound to need some filler!)

Stephanie Thornton Author of The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora (I um. I'm sorry. I won't feel bad if you ignore this! But, I'm sure your answers would be interesting!)

Diana Paz Author of Timespell! (heart!)

Zachary Tringali (build that platform!)

L.T. Host (because I want to read your answers too!)

Mr. Radon (you blog a lot!)

Valerie Valdes (because you all should read her work, and again, interesting answers!)
Kristina Wojtaszek Author of Opal! (because interesting answers, a third time!)
Trisha Leigh Author of The Last Year series! (tell me EVERYTHING!)

Yeah, okay, I am done now. I am definitely not picking 11 people. that is a LOT of people. But. You all who are not these people should be looking these people up and checking out their work and following their blogs so go! go now!

(guys. guys! we are AUTHORS now!)