Well, my dear friend/co-ML Rebekah has tagged me in an “11 Questions” game, and bestowed upon me the Kreativ Blogger award.
Shiny!
For the 11 questions game, I have to tag 11 more people and come up with 11 more questions. For the Kreativ Blogger award, I have to give you 10 facts about myself and give the award to 6 more people.
HAHAHAHAHAHA yeah no. I don’t read that many blogs.
So here’s what I’ll do. I’ll answer the questions and give you the facts, and I will pass on the blog award to at least one deserving blog.
But I want you, dear readers, to answer my 11 questions in the comments. 
11 Questions
1. What is your current writing project?
I have two. One is finishing up the first draft of the steampunk story I was working on for NaNo, and the other is editing the fantasy novel I wrote originally for NaNo 2006.
Fantasy novel draft 1 is on the right. Draft 2 is on the left. Together, that's more than 1000 pages. Yes, I've got some editing to do.
2. Why are you writing it?
With my steampunk novel, I’ve just had a lot of fun writing it, and I would like to finish the draft so that I have something to come back to later when I start rewrites. (I’ve never had good luck with trying to rewrite a story without having at least finished the first draft.)
My ’06 NaNo novel actually started life as a short story I wrote for a creative writing class when I was 14. I had always wanted to turn it into a novel, but it wasn’t until 2006, when I signed up for NaNo two days before November 1, that I finally did it. And even then, it was in part because I didn’t have time to think up anything else.
It’s remained on my mind ever since. I love the story, the characters, and the world that has slowly taken on a life of its own. I’ve completely rewritten it TWICE and I still love it. Now it’s on the third go-round and I imagine there are at least two more in the pipe before it’s ready to send out.
I’m writing it because it’s a story I need to tell, and more importantly, it’s a story I want to tell.
3. Do you have any pets?
I have a 7.5-year-old cat named Hector, breaker of horses. Yes, he is named after the character in The Iliad.
He is also called Hecky-poo, Kitty, Baby Boy, and Shut The Hell Up, You Stupid Animal, It’s Six In The Damn Morning.
"Leave me alone, woman, I'm trying to sleep." "Think about that when you start yowling to go outside at 6 a.m."
4. What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?
“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” — Dorothy Parker
One can define “worst” in so many ways. For this, I will not count books that I did not finish, so I can’t talk about the truly worst book I’ve ever read. I can’t even remember the name of it, but it was a self-published romance where the heroine ran a dance studio by day and was a stripper by night to make ends meet. The hero’s grandfather or favored uncle had just died, and said grandfather/uncle had left quite a bit of money to the aforementioned dancer. The hero was trying to figure out why.
No, it did not get better.
But, as I said, I never finished it, so I don’t think I can comment on it merely because I was aware of its existence.
(Side note: YOU GUYS. I FOUND IT. I was positive I’d tossed it when I moved into a house last year, but no. It was shoved in the bottom of a drawer in my closet. What do you think? Should I read it?)
So, I’ll just talk about books that I actually, against all odds, finished.
Worst Series: The Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels
I actually made it through three books in this series before I threw it down and said, “Screw this.” Basic premise is that all these women have been wronged (badly) by someone in their lives, and traditional justice did nothing to the perpetrators.
One of these women just happens to be a ridiculously wealthy widow whose (butler? Manservant? I forget) is a former MI6 agent, or something of that nature. So she gathers all these women together to use her resources to exact revenge on those that did them wrong.
I read fantasy on a regular basis and I had trouble suspending my disbelief for this story. By book three, I had had about three too many “Oh, come on” moments. It was supposed to be a story about empowering women, but the only character I really liked was the male lawyer and love interest for one of the main characters. The women themselves? Not so much.
There were also a number of grammar and spelling errors, which wouldn’t normally bother me, but they happened at a frequency that made me wonder if anybody had actually proofed this series. I will never, for the life of me, understand Fern Michaels’s popularity.
Biggest Disappointment: Fury by Laurann Dohner
I downloaded the sample on the Kindle because it sounded interesting. And the sample, which was the prologue and the first page of the first chapter, was good and intriguing. Unfortunately, the book went downhill but quick after that.
Terrible writing and wooden, repetitive dialogue drove me up the wall. “Subtlety” was a foreign concept. It felt like the author was banging me over the head with what she wanted me to know. And it annoyed me to no end because I actually liked the concept and the story. The execution was just horrendous.
I’m still ticked that I spent $8 on that.
Worst Characters: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I will forgive a lot in a book if I like the characters, but if I spend 200 pages wanting to punch them in the face, that’s a bad thing. I have never loathed a main character as much as I loathed Bella (and I use the word “character” here loosely), and Edward was creepy and selfish. And when a book makes me angry enough at the end that I have to restrain myself from pitching it across the room, well, I think it deserves a mention on this list.
Oh, how I wish.
5. Favorite TV show and/or movie?
Seriously? I reviewed movies for four years, for God’s sake. This could be a post in and of itself.
Ah well. The short version:
Favorite TV shows no longer airing: Firefly, Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Favorite TV shows currently airing: Doctor Who, Castle, and White Collar. (Expect an article sometime soon extolling the awesomeness of Peter and Neal.)
Favorite movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Favorite Pixar movie: The Incredibles
Favorite traditionally animated movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite romantic movie: The Princess Bride
Favorite superhero movie: Batman Begins
Favorite Christmas movie: Tie between Die Hard and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated one)
6. What can you always count on to get you inspired?
Depends on what I need to be inspired for: a current project, or if I’m just looking for ideas.
For current projects, I’ve got probably five or six different playlists that I’ll stick on repeat, depending on what I want to write.
For my steampunk novel, Abney Park has been a fantastic inspiration. Frankly, I think I could make a drinking game out of all the references to them and their songs that snuck in throughout the month.
When I was at a particularly bittersweet point in my ’06 NaNo novel, I listened to a handful of songs from the LOTR score over and over, particularly “Into the West,” “May It Be,” and “The Breaking of the Fellowship.”
But as for ideas? It seems like the best place for me to find those has been, believe it or not, playing Final Fantasy games. Both Final Fantasy Tactics and FFVII have served as inspiration for stories.
Another place I go for inspiration is coolvibe.com. If I find a picture on there that intrigues me, I save it to come back to later. A couple of those were actually the inspiration for my 2010 NaNo novel.
And mark my words, I will write a story for this picture one day.
7. What book did you read that inspired you to truly WRITE?
It wasn’t a book. It was a movie. I had been writing my own little stories off and on for years, but it wasn’t until I was 11 that I started writing every day. I saw a story that jumped out, grabbed me, and wouldn’t let go. I had to write because of it.
It was Star Wars: A New Hope.
8. Favorite food?
Pad thai.
9. Worst thing you ever wrote?
I have a handful of movie reviews you will NEVER read on this site. And let’s just say some of the stuff I wrote between ages 11-14 wasn’t that great either.
10. Best thing you ever wrote?
I don’t know about the best thing, but I’m fairly proud of a short story I wrote for a class back in college, called “Handle with Care.”
11. Place you’ve visited that inspired you the most?
That would be a little island off the coast of Greece called Kea. I went there the summer of 2004 for a screenwriting seminar, and spent a week sitting on the tiny balcony of my hotel room, staring out at the island and just typing away…not on any screenplays, but on the climax of a novel. Still have that scene, but I’ve never written the book for it.
10 Facts about the Critic
1. My current obsession: the TV show White Collar. That show is hilarious. As I said earlier, expect an article sometime soon.
I love these men with all my geeky little heart.
2. I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King twice before it actually came out in theaters: once at a 9 a.m. press screening the Friday before, and then at 10 p.m. the day before it debuted, when I went to Trilogy Tuesday, where they showed all three movies back-to-back. Hands-down the most fun I’ve ever had in the theater.
3. My day job is as a project manager and front-end developer for a design and marketing company. I can talk about CSS almost as much as I can talk about movies. Blogging with WordPress.com actually frustrates me because I can’t customize the CSS as much as I want.
4. I won an autographed copy of Long Lost by David Morrell at the OCW Writer’s Conference in Eureka Springs last year.
5. I dressed up as Arwen for Halloween one year, elf ears and all.
6. For nine months after I graduated college, I worked at a radio station in southern Oklahoma that also published a monthly newspaper. I was both article writer and morning show co-host on the radio. Last I heard, they were still airing some of the commercials I did while I was there, some five years ago now.
7. I have played and beaten all but three of the Final Fantasy games: FFVIII, FFIX, and FFXIII. I don’t count XI because that’s an MMO. My favorite is FFXII, but FFVII and Tactics both have very special places in my heart.
8. I’ve done NaNo every year since 2006, except for 2007 because I forgot November was NaNoWriMo until about November 15. This is in large part because I was playing World of Warcraft and I had fallen in love with my little troll mage.
Yes, this is about what it's like, especially if you have a crappy tank.
9. My phone’s current default ringtone is the Doctor Who theme. Before that, it was “One-Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII. And before that, it was “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
10. I don’t do coffee. I will, however, drink my weight in black tea.
I bestow the Kreativ Blogger award upon:
Three Ring Mom – I have known Chelsie since I was 13 years old, and yes, she’s always been this hilarious.
And now: my 11 questions for you guys!
What’s the last movie you saw in a theater?
If you could go anywhere in the world for a month, where would you go and why?
What’s one item in your life that you can’t live without, not counting basic necessities?
What’s one item on your bucket list?
What’s your favorite “comfort” book, the one you read just to make yourself smile?
What’s one thing you wish you would do more?
What’s your caffeinated beverage of choice?
What’s a story cliché/trope that you like?
Who is your favorite movie villain?
What’s your favorite kind of story to read?
What’s your phone’s default ringtone?
Note: You don’t have to answer all of them (or any of them) to comment, but I think it would be fun!
The books are always better than the movies. That’s usually my stance on watching adapted films. While director Garth Jennings doesn’t change it with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, he still manages to come out with a movie that’s pretty entertaining and at least tries to stay true to the spirit of the novel. 
The phenomenon that is Harry Potter is unlike anything we’ve really seen. People are lining up at midnight for the books and for the movies. And the latest offering, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is the one that probably differs the most from its literary roots. Asking somebody to condense the 734-page tome into a two-and-a-half hour movie is tantamount to asking a miracle, and as a diehard fan of the books I knew going in that only what was essential to the main plot was going to be included. 
