1 What is your favorite story?

This answer changed from decade to decade. In the previous decade I would have selected the Song of Ice and Fire series by GRRM. I loved the world he created and the philosophy he tried to imbue. However, now that I'm older I realized that he sort of lost the plot with the last book. So now my answer in this decade of my life is "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie. It's a simple little story, told in the first person, which can go horribly wrong as any writer would understand. Yet she wove the first person POV into the mystery. There's a lot of humor in the story, which I always find challenging as a writer. 

2 What's a good piece of writing advice?

I read somewhere, years ago, that a writer should never fall in love with your own words.

I think GRRM fell victim to that as his story just grew and grew and more and more characters were added until he didn't know what to do with them all, right? No matter how beautifully something is written and how amazed you are by the brilliance of your own words, if it doesn't serve the story, it's got to go!

3 What's your writing schedule?
Any time of day and night that I can find a moment. Mostly late at night in bed though. The quiet of the evening really makes me able to picture each scene in my head

4 Are you still surprised when you get a new vote, follow or comment

I'm fairly new to WattPad. I posted for the very first time in early March of 2021 and I had no idea how anyone would ever discover my story. And yet the reads, follows and comments began to trickle in. At first, I was thrilled to break 8 unique readers in a single day. Then it jumps to 60+ overnight. So yes, I definitely feel quite a rush whenever I see the little "W" icon alert on my phone. I've made a few wonderful friends in parts of the world I never considered.  

5 How would you celebrate a publishing deal?

I'm writing under a penname and kept this love of mine pretty close to the chest. So if some publisher actually believes my work is worthy of a deal then I might actually tell people in my real life that I write and even start to share my stories.

6 What's a song you enjoy? Who is the artist?

I'm not that old, but I do love Billie Holiday. Talk about a timeless, soulful voice. Her song "I thought about you" from her Lady Sings the Blue album would be the song for me.

7 If you could hang out with your favorite celeb for a day, who would you choose and what would you do?

I guess if GRRM counts as a celeb then I would pick him. He wouldn't want to go out past 8pm at his age, would he? I'd want him to tell me how he feels about the way D&D ended GOT in the last two seasons. Does he regret stepping away from being involved with the show? Or did he make enough money at this point that he doesn't give you crap about what the fans think?  

8 What's your favorite holiday and why?

I'd say, quiet and unassuming Thanksgiving. Everybody celebrates it, but there's none of the annoying commercialization and advertisements for it. And everybody deep down feels just a little bit guilty about how the Native Americans were treated. Just me?

9 What's the one wattpad goal?

Gosh, it would be disingenuous if I said I just want people to read my story. Of course, I want to see my work published and perhaps even made into a film. But how realistic are those goals when there are just countless great writers? So I'd say the realistic goal would be to gain at least a few more thousand views at this point.

 10 What is your favorite thing about Wattpad?

I love having absolute control over my work and being able to hit that publish button whenever, wherever and have readers instantly respond with feedback, advice or critique.

11 What is the best way to handle a bully?

It's best to ignore online bullies. Real-life bullies are dealt with head-on, emotionlessly and logically. I often find they back down when you do not show fear. I actually wrote about such a scenario in my completed book "A Fairy Tale."

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I guess that's the perfect segway into my story "A Fairy Tale" that I'd like to take a moment to promote. Of the two stories I've posted here, I want to promote this one even though my other story "Duplicity" has gotten way more attention from readers.  

"Duplicity" is actually my first attempt at a novel, which I started nearly a decade ago. What started out as a simple historical romance, had to live up to its title, so I really gave it characters that lived up to the title. After a while, the dark theme and emotional angst took their toll on me. I conceived of a simpler love story to give myself an emotional and psychological break. "A Fairy Tale" takes the simple structure of a "Once Upon a Time" with added realism. It's about how two young people fell in love and what they had to do to be together despite class differences, war and a reversal of fortunes. My young princess displays wisdom and determination worthy of admiration beyond simple good looks. She saves the hero in the beginning and is the more dominant partner throughout. He, on the other hand, is still a traditional hero, but I wanted to give him more of a feminine edge. And yes, I did fall in love with my own writing in this story. Especially chapter 20. Please have a love and let me know what you think. And if you have time and the emotional space, give my other work "Duplicity" a chance as well. I'm immensely proud of both stories.