If you could write like one fiction author, who would it be?
Submitted by Marilyn.
Oh sweet baby jesus.
I'd like to be able to write fantasy like Neil Gaiman - delicate but strong prose, with characters that will break your neck then break your heart.
I'd like to be able to write moments like Tanya Huff. You'll be reading along and all of a sudden her character will do something completely unexpected and completely human, and you stumble, then you snicker, and it just sticks with you.
I'd like to be able to write satire and humour with deep insight like Terry Prattchet. You think you're reading about trolls and dwarves and vampires and witches, but you're really reading about the human condition.
I'd like to be able to write boys like Sarah Dessen. All her male protagonists are flawed and sensitive and artistic and honest.
I'd like to be able to write as bluntly as Anthony Bourdain. He holds nothing back - be it good or bad.
Since I'm not any of those people, I guess I'll just have to write like me.
Confidential to the former classmate I saw at the conference:
I didn't say hello to you the five times I saw you last week because I wasn't sure that was even you. Regardless! The hair threw me - I'm not sure you can rock the shaggy look, but who am I to say? The wire-rimmed glasses were a nice touch, though.
Oh, my poor little Vox blog... I've ignored you so! First there was NaNoWriMo, then there was the first two seasons of Veronica Mars which I got on DVD, and then the holidays kept me from you! I'm back, so let's hug it out!
What's the most drastic change you've ever made to your appearance?
Submitted by Laurie.
By the time I was 10 years old, I'd never had my hair cut, not even trimmed. I had to wear it in braids all the time because it got tangled and knotted so easily, and I could only wash it once a week because it was a two-person job, usually in the bathtub or in the laundry tub. When I played basketball, I had to tuck my braids down my shirt because they were lethal if I turned too fast.
So, in the fall of my 10th year, I got my hair cut. Short. Short short - like, three inches long. I went from having hair down to my knees (no kidding - my mom took a picture of me the night before it was cut when it was out of the braids) to looking like a boy. I didn't tell anyone at school I was doing that, and when I walked in the next day, no one recognized me at first. I remember walking into the classroom, and everyone's jaws falling open and the expressions of shock on their faces. For weeks afterwards, people who didn't know what I'd done would walk past me until they realized who I was and what I'd done.
The Furious Redhead challenged me to somehow work in a mention of "eyelash transplants" somewhere in my story. I'm not to the part where this will be used, but it came to me earlier and I had to write it down:
"Cherry Bomb [a drag queen], or La Bomba as she was called by her friends, was once known for her flashy performances which included a pyrotechnics display at the end. Unfortunately, one night, after consuming a few too many Little Green Foosballs*, she was a little too enthusiastic during the final number and ended up falling into one of the flares. They say that the angels protect fools and the innocent**, and Cherry must have been one or the other because she escaped any serious injury, loosing only her eyebrows and a good wig. But because the club owner felt partially responsible for the accident (he had been putting double shots in her drinks), he offered to pay for any cosmetic repairs she needed. This was when she decided to go all the way - not only did she have gracefully arching new eyebrows grafted on, she also had an eyelash transplant. She now sported obscenely long, thick, gorgeous eyelashes that most women and more than a few men would have killed for - except for the fact they were bright cherry red."
* Last year, there was a challenge to name a drink after the blog Little Green Foosballs. It really does sound like a fruity drink which doesn't sound like it would be that bad, but nails you when you stand up and try to walk, only to find out there was more liquor in there than you counted on.
** I don't know this for a fact - in the universe in which the story takes place, it's a common enough saying. So there.
A moan escaped, and Piet lunged for the key which was still in the lock in the consol above his station. He managed to snatch them, slap the yellow button marked “CHARGE”, and drop the key into his boxers – Ben’s lucky boxers, actually, because Ben was wearing Piet’s lucky briefs; it was the kind of thing you did when you were still in that stage of new love when everything was enveloped in a lovely warm glow and dangerous missions were embarked upon with an earnestness marked by new rituals meant to protect each other from serious harm through the exchange of good luck underwear – when there was a commotion behind him...
What is your favorite scent?
Submitted by Erinen.
Gingerbread. I love gingerbread - it says warm cozy house in the winter, and that it's almost Christmas.
Fresh bread - my mother always used to make our bread. Store-bought bread was a rare treat. The smell of it is comforting.
There is a brand of men's colognes - I don't know which ones - that anytime a man walks by and they're wearing it, I go all weak-kneed. It's a little bit vanilla-musk-cloves-bergamot, if that makes any "scents" (hee!)
...will you stop focusing on saturating the larger markets and put an outlet in North Bay already? Shit, the closest one is in Sudbury, and I'm driving the three hours there and back just for a pumpkin spice latte. Even though I miss them! And need more coffee beans ASAP!
What's your sign? What do you think of astrology and horoscopes?
I'm an Aries, but I was born on the cusp (the 22nd of March), so I also have characteristics of Pisces - the first and the last signs of the Zodiac. A fire and a water sign. I'm both war-like and dreamy. Go me!
In terms of Chinese astrology, I was born in the year of the Dragon, and the element that year was Fire.
Do I believe in astrology? Not really. I don't read my horroscope on any sort of regular basis, and I haven't done a tarot card reading in years. But given that all of my signs and elements highlight characteristics I posess (luck, passion, emotion, strength, impatience), I'm not ready to discount it entriely.
