...and the Versatile Blogger award goes to...

Me! The lovely K.S. Augustin who blogs at Fusion Despatches around the corner in Malaysia has given me this fetching thing:

Thank you, Kaz! I'm supposed to pass this award (I do love green!) along to fifteen deserving bloggers (eek!) and tell you seven things about myself that you never knew. I'm beginning to feel like Oprah: everything about me is out there already! I exaggerate, I exaggerate. There's a lot you don't know, such as:

1. In my youth I was often asked why I didn't model. Flattering, but the mere thought of strutting my stuff on a catwalk would turn me catatonic.

2. People who don't know me well get the impression that I'm 'quiet'. Every time my son hears this he all but rolls on the floor. I keep my wild side carefully camouflaged from all but my near and dear.

3. I'm a brand new grandma, and my grandson Ryen is gorgeous!

4. I used to play the piano, like my friend Kaz. She also played the flute, though, so she's far more versatile than I am.

5. I'm a crack shot, but not as good as the cousin (a former soldier who won the prize for best shot in his batch) who took me to the range and put a sweet little Glock in my hands. My bullets go through the bullseye 9 out of 10 times and the tenth hits really close. It runs in the family: my father won the silver spoon for best shot when he graduated from the police academy.

6. I'm that weird contradiction: a cynic about marriage and a die-hard romantic who loves it when couples, married or not, get it right.

7. I enjoy all kinds of music and my collection is fairly eclectic, but I find myself playing classic rock songs most often.

There you have it! Now to pass along this award... Fifteen? Hm, no. I'll spare everyone but Chris Stovell over at Home Thoughts Weekly whose debut novel, Turning the Tide, is a brand new release from Choc Lit. Congratulations, Chris! Wishing you and TTT an illustrious journey!

Circle of Friends

...Awarded to all members of the Novel Racers writing group. Thank you, Graeme!

I'm supposed to tell you five things I like to do so here goes... Um, this is the PG list. E-mail me for the adult version. :D

1. Write. Not all the time, though. That means I'm not a REAL WRITER, because REAL WRITERS don't faff around and play the ass but set their butts in the chair and write every freaking day.

2. Read. Now we're talking. This I can do all day and all night. (There are other things I don't mind doing all day and all night, but you'll have to get the adult version of my list to find out about that.) I've looked up from countless all-night marathons to see daylight staining the sky outside my bedroom windows. All night READING marathons, you!

3. Hike. Don't do much actual traipsing through forests these days, but communing with nature is one of my great joys. And boyohboy - am I in the right place for communing. I can sit and commune all day - and all night. The stars as seen from this valley? Incomparable. Full moon nights here make me very, very happy to be alive.

4. Flirt with favourite ex. Sigh. The less said about that the better. I need a cell phone with no text messaging feature. Or no cell phone at all.

5. Shop. I don't consider myself a typical anything, but this one throws me right in there with all the other shopaholic women. I don't do the malls, though, unless I absolutely have no choice. My poison is online shopping.

There you have it - TMI. I pass this award on to everyone in my online writing circle. Thanks for being there, guys.

Rating my life

It's been awhile since I did one of these. Saw it over at KeVin's and couldn't resist.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.5
Mind:	7.8
Body:	6.6
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	5.3
Love:	2.1
Finance:	6.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I too would have given a higher score to family. And since writing wasn't among the talents I ticked art. As for the love aspect, what can I say? I'll coin the intriguing Facebook romantic status option: It's complicated. :D

What's your word?

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

Thursday Thirteen: Distractions

With apologies to Paige who did the last lovely Novel Racers coffee morning post, and to my fellow Racers who've read this shameful list already:

The top 13 distractions that keep me from writing:

1. The day job.
   
2. The wonderful, bloody Internet in general where it's so easy to click your way into oblivion without realizing how the hours are flying, and specifically...
3. The blog. Writing it. Reading others. Fiddling with widgets, stats etc.
4. Facebook. Another black hole where time takes on strange otherworldly dimensions and five minutes mutate into five hours.
5. Streaming media, specifically Desperate Housewives and [gulp] movies.
6. Obsessive checking of e-mail accounts.
7. Clothing catalogues. Home decor catalogues. Gardening catalogues. Especially the online sort.
8. Reading. It's like chocolate for me - once I start a good one I can't stop.
9. Dreaming. I mean the open-eyed sort. I'm a chronic daydreamer, always have been. It's the one thing my teachers all complained about. I can do it for hours - nay, days - at a time.
10. Chores. The minute I decide to get the writing done I am assailed by a compulsion to do the washing and cleaning. I also need to shave legs, pluck eyebrows and colour hair because everything must be in perfect order before I can give myself over to the world of self-inflicted fiction. Since I rarely (translation: never) achieve the elusive 'perfect order' it's a wonder I ever get any writing done at all.
    
11. Staying up most of the night so I'm all headachy and cranky next day and no good for anything.
12. Worry, fear, obsessing over everything, from Amazon and Barnes and Noble sales rankings to offspring, health, ecology, grey hairs sprouting in inconceivable places (...like eyebrows! Caught ya there, didn't I!)... You name it, I worry about it. These are paralysis-inducing enemies of the word count.
13. All of the above, I fear, are just excuses for the good old-fashioned laziness. I've elevated laziness to an art form. Pity I can't sell it. (Wanna buy some Grade A laziness? I'll knock 10% off the top - just for you!)
    

Mea culpa. I'll be stronger. I'll be better. I promise. Really!

Lagniappe: The best post title I've seen this week: F*ckety, f*ckety, f*ck!
(I won't say where I saw it but the poster's computer crashed and she hadn't done backups. Yes, she's a writer.) Those words have afflicted me with a brain worm and I'm afraid they'll slip out my mouth at some inconvenient moment...

Have you ever... Trinidad & Tobago style

My blog pal and fellow Trini over at This Beach Called Life has created a new, improved, much funnier version of the Have You Ever meme. It's full of social satire too, if you know my country. So good is it, in fact, that I'm doing it again!

Bold the things you've done or will admit to.

1. Slept under the stars
2. Gotten caught in a flood
3. Seen a real live Manatee
4. Seen turtles lay eggs
5. Eaten turtle meat
6. Watched a meteor shower
7. Gotten involved with a landslide (it didn't last, though)
8. Gone to Mt. St. Benedict (My honeymoon was there. We left early.)
9. Heard a real gunshot
10. Hiked on the Northern Range
11. Held a praying mantis
12. Been held up while praying
13. Sung Calypso
14. Tried to get a passport appointment (the horror! the horror!)
15. Visited Tobago
16. Been robbed in Tobago
17. Watched sparking electricity lines
18. Seen smoke come out the back of your TV
19. Refused KFC
20. Ate doubles at 2 am
21. Had food poisoning
22. Grown your own weed
23. Known any Miss Trinidad and Tobago beauty contestants
24. Had a pillow fight
25. Feted all night
26. Taken a PH taxi
27. Been kidnapped
28. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
29. Held a cock or common fowl
30. Gone skinny dipping
31. Ran a 5K
32. Ridden a pirogue
33. Helped pull seine
34. Been insane (depends who you ask)
35. Watched a sunrise or sunset
36. Hit a six
37. Been on a cruise
38. Seen Maracas Waterfalls in person
39. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
40. Had ancestors
41. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
42. Bought saheena and kachourie in Debe
43. Seen the Lighthouse of Port of Spain
44. Played pan
45. Had the chicken combo at Movietowne
46. Sung karaoke
47. Seen a WASA pipe leak
48. Bought a stranger a roti
49. Eaten a strange roti
50. Visited Rio Claro or Cedros
51. Caught crab on the beach by flambeau light
52. Been transported in an ambulance
53. Driven on the shoulder
54. Had your portrait painted
55. Been arrested
56. Had you photo appear on a website
57. Seen the Pitch Lake in person
58. Been to the top of the Hyatt Hotel in Port of Spain
59. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
60. Kissed a member of the opposite sex in the rain
61. Kissed a member of the opposite sex
62. Cooked at the banks of a river
63. Been held up at gun point
64. Considered a life of crime
65. Visited a family member at Golden Grove
66. Been in a movie (short documentary does not count, does it? Shucks.)
67. Taken a martial arts class
68. Kicked someone’s butt
69. Been transported in the trunk of a car
70. Eaten Crix for lunch
71. Cooked curried duck
72. Gone girl watching on Frederick Street
73. Donated blood, platelets, plasma or body parts
74. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp or a Government Office
75. Bounced a check
76. Visited the Zen Nightclub
77. Bounced out of a nightclub
78. Flown in a helicopter
79. Eaten Smoked Herring
80. Stood in Woodford Square
81. Toured the Caroni Bird Sanctuary
82. Seen dead birds at The Sanctuary
83. Broken a bone
84. Broken someone else’s bone
85. Been on the Bus Route illegally
86. Published a book
87. Read a book
88. Bought a brand new car
89. Fixed a flat in the Beetham
90. Walked in Queen’s Park Savannah
91. Been chased in the Queen’s Park Savannah
92. Had your picture in the newspaper
93. Had dengue fever
94. Been called for jury duty
95. Tried to get parking in Port of Spain
96. Met someone famous
97. Been or are someone famous
98. Lost a car
99. Been on TV
100. Ran out of water with soap on your skin
101. Blogged like no ones looking

Have you ever...?

I thought I was over memes but then I saw this over at Aine's Life is Beautiful and couldn't resist. The question is “Have you ever…?” [Warning: This is very US oriented.]

Bold the things you’ve done and will admit to.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (not sure what counts here)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (does the time I lost my bikini count?)
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (Well, a short public service type thing. Without my consent.)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (does saving my own count?)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Attack of the book meme

Here we go again... But you already know I can't resist a book meme, right?

1. One book that changed your life?
One that comes to mind immediately is The Women's Room by Marilyn French. This book clarified for me not the human condition, but the female condition. The fairy tales we've been told, and that we tell ourselves in order to survive, fell away. This novel focused my anger and honed my feminism by making me face the things I've always known but didn't want to accept.

2. One book you have read more than once?
A random pick: The Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters. This was my son's book and I don't think he ever read it, but I found the carryings-on of archaeologist Amelia Peabody, her gorgeous Indiana Jones-like husband, and their strange, brilliant, pendantic son Ramses irresistibly entertaining! Mummies, murder, mayhem - what more can one ask?

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Why must it be one? I want tons! How else would I survive? Man cannot live by coconuts alone! Sigh. The Bible. Or some version of the Greek myths. Or 100 Easy Coconut Meals, if it exists.

4. One book that made you laugh?
A Painted House by John Grisham. Not that it was a funny book, mind you, but the part where the uppity sister-in-law gets trapped in the outhouse by a shit-snake... priceless!

5. One book that made you cry?
One Child by Torey L. Hayden. Wrenching true story of a child who suffered horrendous abuse and yet managed to bloom in startling ways.

6. One book you wish had been written?
That one about the lives of aboriginal peoples of the Caribbean. Not the speculative and obviously warped ones written by the conquistadors that tell of savage, cannibalistic Caribs who deserved to be exterminated and of meek, weak and subservient Arawaks who withered away under the onslaught of European 'civilization', but the true story, the one hinted at by the cultural nuances that managed to trickle down, and by the writings of a few monks and other good men.

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
This is a difficult one. Who am I to say that another writer's work shouldn't exist? However, having just read (parts of) Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin I'll admit I have a problem with books that debase human sexuality (while I acknowledge that humans manage to do that quite adequately with or without the books).

8. One book you are currently reading?
Such as I Have by Garfield Ellis. It tells the story of a handsome Jamaican village cricketer, the swaggering, bed-hopping 'red man' adored by both sexes and all ages, and what happens when he develops an obsession with the daughter of the village pariah, an obeah woman.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It's one on my long list of 'should reads'. These tend to take a back seat to the ones on my 'oh, looks like a fun read' list.

10. Now tag five people.
I don't do this anymore. You want, you take.

Terse meme

Been seeing this meme around the blogosphere lately, most recently from Flowerpot so I decided to borrow it. The winners of this award have to answer these questions, in one word per question.... so here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone? Bed
2. Where is your significant other? Who?
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Tall
5. Your father? Gab
6. Your favorite thing? Love
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your dream/goal? Self-realization
9. The room you're in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Vancouver
13. Where were you last night? YouTube
14. What you're not? Driven
15. One of your wish-list items? House
16. Where you grew up? Trinidad
17. The last thing you did? Listen
18. What are you wearing? Shorts
19. Your TV? Bore
20. Your pets? Gone
21. Your computer? New!
22. Your mood? Balanced
23. Missing someone? Always
24. Your car? None
25. Something you're not wearing? Perfume
26. Favorite store? Book
27. Your summer? Daily
28. Love someone? Alas
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Last night

Won't pass this on either. You like, you take.

What font are you?

Found this over at JJ's Tea Stains. Times New Roman indeed! I would've guessed something exotic like Papyrus, or elegant like Parisian Script. So much for self-knowledge...

You Are Times New Roman

You are formal and conservative. You're concerned with how you appear to others. For you, maintaining a good reputation is important. You want people to trust you. Elegant and classy, you always maintain your composure. You are never crass. You are professional, competent, and upstanding. And it shows!

What Font Are You?

Twisted meme

Did this meme back in May, but I got an idea from Karen's version. When she didn't like her responses to one question she just did a new set of (riotous) answers. So here I go again: How I'd answer if wishes were horses.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was a nun. Then I turned forty and decided to live a little.

Five things on your to-do list for today:
1) Buy new shoes. 10 pairs.
2) Meet with broker to discuss my stock portfolio.
3) Lunch with Yann Martel. He's interested in some kind of collaboration.
4) Teleconference with producers of Under the Tuscan Sun about a film deal for Café au Lait.
5) Leave for working vacation on Mustique with mysterious significant other.

What are three of your bad habits?
1) Collecting pink diamonds.
2) Men.
3) Wishful thinking.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
I'd give it all away - well, most of it anyway.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
1) Frogs' legs.
2) Eels en brochette
3) Truffles. I've got my own pigs sniffing them out at a farm in France.
4) Escargot
5) Whipped cream served on hard - um - chests.

What were the last five books you read?
1) The Complete Works of Shakespeare
2) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
3) Ulysses by James Joyce
4) Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
5) The Bible

What are five jobs you have had?
1. Body double for Beyonce
2. Owner-director of eco-resort
3. Writer on location for the National Geographic Magazine
4. Writer of obscure literary masterpiece
5. Writer of blockbuster popular novel.

Five places you’ve lived
1) Tuscany, Italy
2) Provence, France
3) Patagonia, Argentina
4) Harbour Island, Bahamas
5) In my head, mostly.

Religious meme

You fit in with: Taoism 100% spiritual. 20% reason-oriented.
	Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Taoist faith. Spirituality is the most important thing in your life. You strive to live by all of your ideals, and live a very intellectually focused life.
Take This Quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Yet another bookish meme... via Kevin

Think I saw some version of it over at Urban Recluse some time ago, too. Before anyone starts getting steamed over the selections on the list, please check the link to see how it was compiled, okay? It's all in fun.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read six of the Top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who've read six and force books upon them! :)

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling (I so can't summon the enthusiasm...)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (One of the best ever.)
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (read about half)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis (couldn't finish this)
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving (loved Garp and Hotel New Hampshire.)
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
47 Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding (a truly frightening book)
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel (dude can write!)
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth (highly recommended by a friend)
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (the movie didn't wow me, but I'll read the book)
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From a Small Island – Bill Bryson (Read A Walk in the Woods and plan to read everything by this author.)
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – A.S. Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (Loved the movie, so subtle and sensitive. Will definitely read this.)
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web – E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute (read so long ago I recall almost nothing)
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (read his memoir Boy and loved it)
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Inquisition Meme

Saw this over at Chumplet's and liked it.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about him/herself.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing ten years ago?
Teaching high school English, raising my son, living higher up this beautiful valley. First novel was complete, an editor at Kensington's Arabesque line had asked me to submit the whole manuscript. I submitted it, too, although it was 10,000 words too short, sans synopsis, and my bio was printed on lovely decorative paper. Yes, folks. I was a nitwit. **hangs head in shame** Needless to say, I never heard back from that editor and it would be three years before the additional chapters got written, by which time I had left my job and was living in another country, and four more years before I got serious about querying.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1. Write a post for my writer's group, the Novel Racers.
2. Do some laundry.
3. Call my son and touch base.
4. E-mail a certain Orange-nominated writer to ask her where she got the lovely countdown meter that used to be on her blog.
5. Nap.
Yes, today is a holiday (Corpus Christi) so the pressure is off. I should be editing manuscript no. 2, as well. Won't go there.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
1. Fruity yogurt.
2. Anything chocolate, especially After Eight with the minty cream inside.
3. Salmon flavoured cream cheese.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. Pay off debts.
2. Invest a tidy sum so I'd have an income for life.
3. Move to Vancouver and buy a lovely house - you can garden there almost year-round.
4. Buy my sister those horses I've been promising her.
5. Support my favourite foundations and charities.
6. Help other people to realize their dreams.

What are three of your bad habits?
1. When I'm stressed by something, I take to my bed.
2. All things chocolate.
3. Procrastination.

What are five places where you have lived?
1. St. Ann's, Trinidad
2. Maraval, Trinidad
3. Diego Martin, Trinidad
4. Florida, USA
5. Grenada, briefly

What are five jobs you have had?
1. English teacher.
2. Accounts clerk at an air cargo company. Didn't stay long enough to take advantage of the 10% air tickets.
3. Administrative assistant.
4. Human resource manager.
5. Is writing a job?

What were the last five books you read?
1. Che Guevara by David Sandison
2. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
3. Lovers' Hollow by Orna Ross
4 .On Writing by Stephen King (third time)
5. A Visible Darkness by Jonathan King

What’s playing on your iPod right now?
I don't have an iPod, but now that I've seen my sister's iPod Touch I'm sooooo tempted.

I'm not tagging anybody - feel free to do your own.

The lighter side of serious business

Those of us of a certain age will remember Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible. Well, this is 2008, the US is counting down to a critical general election, two charismatic candidates are in a life-and-death, no holds barred battle for the Democratic Party nomination and there's - Barack Obama-sistible!

Optimist or Pessimist?

You Are an Optimist

You definitely see the sunny side of life, even when things aren't going so great. And while you may not be a realist, your optimism has really improved your quality of life. You have the energy to take charge, solve your problems, and enjoy life for what it is. Optimists are happier and healthier - so keep thinking positive!

Are You An Optimist or Pessimist?

Thank goodness for optimism. I've been told that I "live in the clouds" by some who consider themselves realists. Been told I was crazy to leave my job. Told I'll never be able to buy property like the piece I was standing on while having one "inspirational" conversation. Told lots of things; some were even well-meaning. If I weren't the optimist I am I'd have huddled into a little ball and died.

Huh. They've been backing off a bit lately, though. Seems a publishing contract has that effect on people. Here's to all the optimists out there, particularly the writers who slog on despite all the odds, all the negativity, all the humiliation that's inherent in this business (rejections, anyone?)! Many of them are even happy doing what they do, despite all the downsides, and that joy must seriously p*** off the naysayers. I think that to be a writer one has to be an optimist where the business is concerned, even if one is pessimistic about everything else in life.

I'm not blithely optimistic about everything. Where politicians are concerned, for instance, I'm a pessimist of the worst stripe. I choose my optimisms carefully, and they haven't let me down yet.

Another bookish meme...

Stolen from Karen. I'm not tagging anyone; help yourself if you like - or not.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?

Hardback. They just have that solid feel. I wish all my keepers were hardback, but alas...

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…

Wordtryst, of course.

3. My favourite quote from a book (mention the title) is…

I have so many faves it's hard to single one out, but I really like this one from Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire: "There is no mystery. There is only paradox - the incontrovertible union of contradictory truths."

4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….

Gerald Durrell

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except the SAS survival guide, it would be…

The Bible. It pretty much covers everything. The Greek myths would be nice too, but they did specify one.

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that….

...would hold my book for me in bed and in the shower.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of….

...my great grandmother's house. She had lots of ancient books with beautiful paintings and illustrations. And lots of cats, and chickens and ducks. And great sticky-sweet things to eat.

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….

Hmm. This is a hard one. Maybe Isadora Wing in those Erica Jong books, for sheer hedonism and lack of inhibition.

9. The most overestimated book of all time is….

Don't kill me for this. I read Catch-22 and after all the hype I was somewhat let down.

10. I hate it when a book…

...is filled with stupid spelling, grammar and other errors. If it's really bad I can't finish the book. Happily, this happens rarely.

The Jobs Meme for Writers

Stolen from Stephe, dynastic queen incomparable, who hails from Georgia (USA) and writes SF&F. Why is it called the Jobs meme? I don't rightly know.

The Jobs Meme for Writers:

1. How many books have you written? Three complete, three partial.

2. How many copies of your books are in print? Um, they're working on the first print run right now. Don't know how many, though.

3. How many of your books did you write on a Mac? I'm P.C., y'all. (When I told this to a newspaper editor I worked with briefly he offered condolences.)

4. When did you buy your first Mac? Y'all deaf or something? I DON'T BUY MAC! Jeez.

The Jobs Meme for Readers

1. How many books do you read a year? As many as I can get my eager hands on.

2. When was the last time you bought a new computer? A year ago, and it took all of three months to die on me! All my other computers have been second-hand relics, and they worked just fine for years.

3. When do you expect you'll buy your next computer? Dunno. Hoping to inherit my son's laptop when he upgrades.

4. When do you expect you'll buy your next cell phone? Never, I hope :) Once this old one works I'm okay with it.

5. On a scale of 1-10, how important do you think it is that we support reading and literacy? 10,000! There's simply no substitute for the written word.

Of puppy memes, oranges and movie rights

I found the puppy meme on Patricia Wood's blog. You remember her, right? I posted last year about the stellar launch of her novel, Lottery. Well, I hoofed it over there to congratulate her on two new triumphs in what has been a breathtaking authorial debut: she has been long listed for the Orange Prize for fiction (YEAH!) and... and... This is too much. Let me take another deep breath: Sarah Michelle Gellar has bought the movie rights to her book!

How about that, eh??!!

Congratulations, Patricia. You done good.

And now for the meme... What breed of puppy are you? I'm a German shepherd, they say. Seems I'm a bit more - um - assertive than I imagined.

You Are a German Shepherd Puppy

Intelligent, quick witted, and a bit aggressive. You've got the jaw power to take a bite out of anyone you choose.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

What type of writer should you be?

Meme stolen from Karen, whom I just discovered is from Yorkshire. Remember those James Herriot books, anyone? I have about five on my bookshelf, all well read and re-read.

ou Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

I guess my movie fantasy is out. I'll take comfort from the fact that most of us have the same grandiose visions for our stories.