Ten Things You Don’t Know About Me

I love it when I go to an author's blog or twitter feed and find out that we have things in common. I feel like I know that writer and I like them all the more for it. So in that spirit, here you go!

1. I swear a lot. Not as much or as creatively as Chuck Wendig, but still a lot. I find parents giving me sideways glances more often than I should. But I still feel weird swearing online, so when I do, I really mean it.

2. I actually have a zombie apocalypse survival plan. But what makes mine less crazy than yours is that mine will work in a regular apocalypse scenario as well. But I wont be surprised if it is a zombie apocalypse and I know it’ll be the government’s fault when it happens.

3. I am a Ren Faire geek. I mean for serious. We’re Rennies. I was lucky enough to convince my husband to go one year when he was just my boyfriend and when he found out he could carry weapons around, drink all day and smoke cigars, he was totally in. We have a number of privateer costumes and I have a wood fairy costume (complete with body paint and bitchin wings) and the hubs wears a woodsman costume when I wear that. I will spend all day getting pics taken with kids and passing out stickers and blowing bubbles when I’m a fairy. I love it.

4. Earth was not my fist attempt at a full length novel. I first tried to write a book about a female assassin in the American Mafia set in Los Angeles. I spent four years trying to force myself to finish it. I only ever got about 40k words done. I finally realized it was the kind of movie I would want to go see, but it wasn’t the kind of book I would ever read. Write the story you want to read.

5. I hate working out with a passion. I could punch a baby seal I hate it so much. But I work out three to four days a week. Recently I was able to squat 115 lbs for 6 reps.

6. We honeymooned in Paris. France, not Texas. We had to save up for over a year, but it was the best nine days of my life. We thought about going to Ireland, but they were still on the Pound, so really, money decided it. I do plan to make it to Ireland some day soon, hopefully to all of the British Isles.

7. I love MMA. My favorite fighter is Dan Hardy. I think it’s the hair. Or the accent. The tattoos help too.

8. Speaking of tattoos, I have ‘em. I have a full back piece of black angel wings. And I do mean "full back" not those thin little baby bullshit wings. My back is covered. They fade in and out of the middle of my back to symbolize them emerging from my back. The right tip is stained red because I have always held with the idea that angels are warriors, beautiful creatures with one wing tipped in blood. It took about 18 hours to get it done.

9. I love to cook. I make some rockin’ food. I suck at baking (for the most part, I did win my way into my husband’s heart by baking him the best pecan pie he’d ever had. The secret is light Caro syrup, not dark). I love to watch The Food Network, Top Chef, Man vs. Food, and all of that crap. I go to famous chef’s restaurants and hope and pray to meet them like normal people act around actors and musicians.

10. I have Dyslexia and Dyscalculia. I was undiagnosed for the majority of my school life, only finding out in my sophomore year in high school. I stood and argued with my math teacher that my answers weren’t wrong for nearly 20 minutes until we both realized what was going on. Get your kids tested, even if you don’t think anything is wrong.