Five Questions Asked Me Do

A while back, I participated in a three-question thing . Over on mrissa's journal the five question game came up. She said to either ask her five question or allow her to ask you five. Since everyone kept asking her five questions, I thought I'd let her be the questioner instead of the questioned.

So, from mrissa, five questions.

Which is your favorite season?.

Autumn, at least since I've moved to Minnesota. I love the colors. I love the slight tang of impending cold weather in the air. I love sitting outside until the sun goes down, and then you wrap up under a blanket and snuggle up with someone you love and a cup of something warm while waiting to see if any of the night stars can overpower the city lights and shine down. In Oklahoma, I loved spring, because everything was cool, green, and lush. By autumn in Oklahoma everything is brown and burnt by the summer sun.

What's your favorite game to play?

I love Trivial Pursuit, but we are not allowed to start a game after dark because they can run so long. It is sometimes hard to get people to play Trivial Pursuit with me because I've developed this reputation for being a repository of obscure knowledge. I am not invincible by any stretch, but I do everything possible to make people think I am. In truth, careswen and I own a lot of games, from Chez Goth to Monopoly, and I love playing them all.

Are there any words or phrases you overuse in conversation? In your writing?

In writing I have used this, or a variation of it, in almost every story I have written: For just a moment he (or she) thought he (or she) saw something in her (or his) eyes, though he (or she) was not sure what. It is something I have to watch for.

In conversation I have a bad habit of saying Well, I think, and this just my opinion, and really, what do I know... which in retrospect is a stupid thing to say because I invalidate whatever I'm going to say before I say it. It is, sadly, my own weird insecurities showing through, but that's a whole LJ post all on its own. careswen has been calling me on it, so I'm starting, thankfully, to fall out of the habit.

What genre(s) do you consider "yours" for writing in? Would you consider writing outside those genres?

I consider myself a speculative fiction writer. If one were to break it down into sub-categories, while I really thought I would write high fantasy, instead I ended up primarily producing urban fantasy and magical realism. I have written the occasional piece of soft science fiction, a high fantasy story or two, and one dark fantasy. I've yet to do any true horror, but I might.

I fully plan to write outside of speculative fiction. I'm interested in writing historical fiction, espionage stories, and, if they ever come back, westerns. I'd like to write for the YA market, and for even younger children, as well as writing the adult fiction I write now. I doubt that I will ever write The Great American Novel, whatever that is, because I have no interest in writing mainstream fiction. I also don't expect to write any romance novels ever, though I'm perfectly happy and comfortable writing romance into my stories. You can also scratch mysteries (though like romance, I will happily incorporate a mystery into whatever I'm writing) and erotica from the list. I can admire both, but have no interest in writing them.

What's going to be the best thing about September?

I think there will be a lot of best things about September. careswen's family is coming up. the Twins are going to win the pennant. I'm going to finish rehab classes, so I'll finally have time to practice Bass Guitar again. The cool nights will encourage sipping hot chocolate and snuggling with my honey. The leaves will start to change colors, and autumn will sneak in like an old grey cat creeping down the hall, and the ducks will start hanging out in the yard again, and the fuzzy animal activity will increase, and...

Five Questions Asked Me Do

A while back, I participated in a three-question thing . Over on mrissa's journal the five question game came up. She said to either ask her five question or allow her to ask you five. Since everyone kept asking her five questions, I thought I'd let her be the questioner instead of the questioned.

So, from mrissa, five questions.

Which is your favorite season?.

Autumn, at least since I've moved to Minnesota. I love the colors. I love the slight tang of impending cold weather in the air. I love sitting outside until the sun goes down, and then you wrap up under a blanket and snuggle up with someone you love and a cup of something warm while waiting to see if any of the night stars can overpower the city lights and shine down. In Oklahoma, I loved spring, because everything was cool, green, and lush. By autumn in Oklahoma everything is brown and burnt by the summer sun.

What's your favorite game to play?

I love Trivial Pursuit, but we are not allowed to start a game after dark because they can run so long. It is sometimes hard to get people to play Trivial Pursuit with me because I've developed this reputation for being a repository of obscure knowledge. I am not invincible by any stretch, but I do everything possible to make people think I am. In truth, careswen and I own a lot of games, from Chez Goth to Monopoly, and I love playing them all.

Are there any words or phrases you overuse in conversation? In your writing?

In writing I have used this, or a variation of it, in almost every story I have written: For just a moment he (or she) thought he (or she) saw something in her (or his) eyes, though he (or she) was not sure what. It is something I have to watch for.

In conversation I have a bad habit of saying Well, I think, and this just my opinion, and really, what do I know... which in retrospect is a stupid thing to say because I invalidate whatever I'm going to say before I say it. It is, sadly, my own weird insecurities showing through, but that's a whole LJ post all on its own. careswen has been calling me on it, so I'm starting, thankfully, to fall out of the habit.

What genre(s) do you consider "yours" for writing in? Would you consider writing outside those genres?

I consider myself a speculative fiction writer. If one were to break it down into sub-categories, while I really thought I would write high fantasy, instead I ended up primarily producing urban fantasy and magical realism. I have written the occasional piece of soft science fiction, a high fantasy story or two, and one dark fantasy. I've yet to do any true horror, but I might.

I fully plan to write outside of speculative fiction. I'm interested in writing historical fiction, espionage stories, and, if they ever come back, westerns. I'd like to write for the YA market, and for even younger children, as well as writing the adult fiction I write now. I doubt that I will ever write The Great American Novel, whatever that is, because I have no interest in writing mainstream fiction. I also don't expect to write any romance novels ever, though I'm perfectly happy and comfortable writing romance into my stories. You can also scratch mysteries (though like romance, I will happily incorporate a mystery into whatever I'm writing) and erotica from the list. I can admire both, but have no interest in writing them.

What's going to be the best thing about September?

I think there will be a lot of best things about September. careswen's family is coming up. the Twins are going to win the pennant. I'm going to finish rehab classes, so I'll finally have time to practice Bass Guitar again. The cool nights will encourage sipping hot chocolate and snuggling with my honey. The leaves will start to change colors, and autumn will sneak in like an old grey cat creeping down the hall, and the ducks will start hanging out in the yard again, and the fuzzy animal activity will increase, and...

Dashing Hither and Yonder

And so a hectic and fun filled weekend ends. I still had not completely recovered from my first trip to the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, when out to karaoke we went on Friday. I did sing. No, really I did. I have now sung karaoke and that's that. There is a reason I play Bass Guitar. I can't carry a tune in a basket with handles. Yet oddly enough, I wasn't the worst singer there by any stretch. Meanwhile, the lovely careswen did a smoldering rendition of Peggy Lee's Fever. She had an admirer or two after that. We didn't get home until after two in the morning.

Saturday we tried to start getting ready for the impending visit of careswen's mother and brother next Friday. Then a group of us went to see King Arthur at the discount theatre in Hopkins. I tried very hard to refrain from criticizing both military tactics and the idea of what Arthur and his knights were as presented in the movie (and Gwenhwyfar a Woad? What?). Basically it was a decent action movie, kind of The Seven Samurai with a round table. After the movie, the six of us went for coffee and chatted, and when the coffeehouse closed, we retired to Merriam Manor for Vienna Roast coffee and fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies. Again, well past two in the morning before we crawled into bed.

Then today it was an afternoon cookout with some people from Vision Loss Resources. The conversation was stimulating, the food fantastic, and the company good. When we got home at five in the afternoon careswen and I both fell on the bed and lay there for about an hour.

A very good weekend indeed. I need to go to bed now.

In Peace
Michael

Dashing Hither and Yonder

And so a hectic and fun filled weekend ends. I still had not completely recovered from my first trip to the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, when out to karaoke we went on Friday. I did sing. No, really I did. I have now sung karaoke and that's that. There is a reason I play Bass Guitar. I can't carry a tune in a basket with handles. Yet oddly enough, I wasn't the worst singer there by any stretch. Meanwhile, the lovely careswen did a smoldering rendition of Peggy Lee's Fever. She had an admirer or two after that. We didn't get home until after two in the morning.

Saturday we tried to start getting ready for the impending visit of careswen's mother and brother next Friday. Then a group of us went to see King Arthur at the discount theatre in Hopkins. I tried very hard to refrain from criticizing both military tactics and the idea of what Arthur and his knights were as presented in the movie (and Gwenhwyfar a Woad? What?). Basically it was a decent action movie, kind of The Seven Samurai with a round table. After the movie, the six of us went for coffee and chatted, and when the coffeehouse closed, we retired to Merriam Manor for Vienna Roast coffee and fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies. Again, well past two in the morning before we crawled into bed.

Then today it was an afternoon cookout with some people from Vision Loss Resources. The conversation was stimulating, the food fantastic, and the company good. When we got home at five in the afternoon careswen and I both fell on the bed and lay there for about an hour.

A very good weekend indeed. I need to go to bed now.

In Peace
Michael