Because there are a few random things to take care of, I thought I'd use today as a kind of kitchen sink, ketchup...er, catch up post.
First of all, before I answer the questions from two days ago, I just wanted to say that you guys are all totally awesome. I LOVED all your answers! Great suggestions, recommendations and encouragement. Wonderful to get to know you a bit better. So thanks for that. Anyway, here are my answers.
What are your favorite books/songs/movies?
Impossible to answer, but here are a few: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Connie Willis, Harry Potter, Wallace Stegner/Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Joel, The Avett Brothers, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, MIKA/Dan in Real Life, Sabrina (1995), Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, Shadowlands, Moonstruck, On Golden Pond, Some Like it Hot, LOTR...ok, I'll stop.
Who are the writers that have inspired you the most and what have they taught you?
Character and story: Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Tone and voice: Steven King and Orson Scott Card. Sentence level stunningness: Wallace Stegner, Norman Maclean.
What makes you feel better when you’re down?
Music is huge, and movies. Eating out at restaurants, or chilling with my little sista's.
What are you most proud of?
Graduating, I guess, and paying for some of my school with a creative writing scholarship.
What websites have you found helpful in terms of your writing career and why?
Tons and tons of amazing blogs, and then sites like Duotrope and NewPages.
What is a weird, interesting fact about yourself?
I was born with omphalocele, meaning my intestines were in a sac outside my body, and had surgery for that plus heart surgery before I was three weeks old. This is actually more interesting and impressive about my mother, considering she had seven more after me :) It wasn't like I was an easy kid after that either...
What book are you currently reading?
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.
What is the best writing advice you’ve ever heard?
The writer is the one that stays in the room with their butt in the chair. Just keep writing.
Describe your writing process.
My rule lately has been that I have to reach my 1000 words before I can pull up the internet and play. I have a bullet-point type outline, but I try and vamp and just write without looking at it until I get stuck. Then I look.
What would you personally like to see discussed on this blog? What would make it better/more helpful?
My answer to this is that, PLEASE, if you have anything you want discussed, or any suggestions for this blog that would make it better or more helpful in any way, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Ok, now thats taken care of, the other thing I wanted to do was presume upon you even more and show you the video my sister and I made. (It's all part of a master marketing plan to take YouTube by storm and become a famous celebrity so that, after I finish writing the next Great American Novel and get a six figure deal with Random House, people will buy my books. Genius, right? I'll probably do a whole post on this whole YouTube thing later...perhaps April 29?). Anyway, I know we are dorks and very weird, but we had a ton of fun and I hope you will laugh a little:
Also, here is another, slightly more serious video about what readers are looking for in what they read. I think I posted this already a bit ago, but I'm being presumptuous anyway, and well, its my blog. So here goes again ;)
Anyway, hope thats at least somewhat enjoyable/helpful for you all, and now I have some questions for you as regards YouTube. I'm looking for recommendations of authors who use YouTube that I can connect with, and also good examples of book trailers. Do you know of any? Do YOU use YouTube? If so, I'd love to connect with you there.
I think I'll try and keep tomorrow's post very short to make up for the past two days. But thank you all SO SO much for your support and feedback, and though I don't often get the chance to respond to each comment individually, I appreciate all of them, I really do. So thank you. And happy writing!
Sarah Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment