Friday, March 16, 2012

Lucky 7 Tags and Awards!

Wow there's so much to catch up on now that I'm back.  I've been tagged a few times over the past couple weeks so I thought I would take care of it all in one big post.  

First off, Kate from the Scribbling Sea Serpent tagged me in the Campaign.  Here are the questions she passed along.  


How old were you when you started writing? I've been fascinated with words my whole life. But I really got hooked on writing in fifth grade when my English teacher had us make up stories using our spelling words.  

What's your favorite book/movie? It's so hard to choose just one. I loved the playfulness of Dr. Seuss books.  I wanted to rhyme everything I said.  Star Wars was probably the most influential movie in the growth of my creativity. At one point I tried to write down all the dialogue on note cards and make my family act it out.  

If you were the main character of a book what genre would it be? I would want to be a heroine in a sci-fi. I always wanted to be Princess Leia 

What genre do you write in? Oh I think I've overextended myself a little with all the projects I'm trying to work on.  Currently I'm focusing on a YA fantasy.  But I'm also working on a mainstream historical fiction, a non-fiction, and I have some picture books I'm trying to whip into shape. 

If you could have a superpower what would it be? And why? I would love to have Jedi force powers. As a kid I tried to use telekinesis. I was disappointed when I couldn't make it work. 

What do you like to read?  I love reading about Elizabethan England, the French Revolution, and other great periods in history around the world. Lately I've also enjoyed YA fantasy and sci fis. 

What is something unusual you've done? I got married on the ice (yes we were all on skates!)

How do you get your character names? I go to a babynames.com to find great names and their meanings. 

List the top 3 websites you go to:

Google- I use it for Google Docs, gmail, everything!
Grooveshark.com- I have my playlist going whenever I'm writing
 Khan Academy.org- That's how I continue my education (for free!)
Dictionary/Thesaurus.com 

Besides reading and writing, what 2 other hobbies do you have?  I love my day job as a figure skating coach!  I'm very lucky to work with so many great kids!  I also love cooking new ethnic dishes and traveling with my family. 

Where in the world would you like to go? 
Anywhere really.  Even when we go to Iowa with my husband on business we find neat things we'd never expect.  But my favorites are to the mountains, oceans or any foreign land.  



Alyssa over at Life is Good gave me the Sunshine Award. 


 The rules for this are to 
a.Thank the person who gave it to you
b. Link back to them 
c. Answer the questions 
d. Pass it on to 10 other great bloggers

The questions are:


Favorite color: purple
Favorite animal: cheetah, tiger or eagle
Favorite number: 5 cause we have 5 people in our family :)
Favorite non-alcoholic drink:  hot tea or water- boring I know!
Facebook or Twitter: I don't really use either that much, but Facebook more
What is your passion: my family, skating, writing
Getting or giving presents:  giving- I don't really need anything anymore
Favorite pattern:  I love looking at fractals, so cool
Favorite day of the week:  any day that my husband is home with us
Favorite flower:  rose or peony


Finally nick Wilford over at Scattergun Scribblings passed me the Lucky 7 meme. Here are the rules.


1. Go to the 77 page of your current WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines-sentences or paragraphs-and post them as they're written. NO cheating.
4. Tag 7 other authors
5. Let them know

Finally answer the questions which were passed along.

So here are my 7 lines from page 77 starting at line 7.  

“We'll be there as soon as we can boys, we're all tired.”  I say patting William on the head.  
“Hey Robert, this looks like a good place to set up camp,” Cory says.  His words begin to sink in to my already exhausted mind.  “Set up camp”.  Tonight is the first night sleeping out in the wild.  We have to set up our own sleeping area, make a campfire, and cook food.  Tonight is the first night in a long string of difficulties.
Dara begins to set out cooking supplies.  “Elizabeth, come on over here.  We’ll fix supper while the boys ready our sleeping areas.”

The questions are:
 What is the title of your current WIP? Tell us about it.  I'm terrible at titles, so for now this is called Heading West.  Elizabeth marries Robert who seems to be the man of her dreams.  Her troubles begin when he rashly decides to move them out west to the Oregon Territory.  Along the way she discovers Robert is not who she thought he was...maybe even a traitor.  

When did you start blogging and why?
August 2009 is when I first started blogging on this blog.  I had made another one in May, but it wan't quite what I wanted.  I started it as a way to inspire me to write every day and a way to meet other writers.   

If you could do anything tomorrow, what would you do? well my perfect day would include skating, writing, and being with my kids and husband maybe add a beach or some exotic locale and it would be perfect
Describe your happy place.   Hmmm, this would have to be someplace in the mountains that overlooks the ocean 
What was your first happy memory?  I guess the first thing that comes to mind is fishing with my grandpa or having my dad read to me. 
What was the scariest thing you've ever done? river rafting down the Ganges   
What is the funniest thing you did today? well yesterday I was trying to update my Facebook status and I forgot to write a few key words and it came out as "I'm going to be really tomorrow!".  Then I decided to tell you about it in the answer for this question, but I posted it without fully finishing my sentence!!
What is the strangest place you've ever gotten an idea for a story? at the ice rink
Where do you write? at the kitchen table
If you just won a ticket to anyplace in the world and you had to take me, where would you take me and why? well Nick, since I'm happily married I'd feel a little weird taking just you along somewhere, so I think I would bring my family and you could bring yours and we'd go on an African safari.  Then we could write about all the cool things we saw.  

Whew!  That was a lot of fun but also a lot of work!  So instead of tagging lots of other people, I'm passing these great awards along to anyone who visits my blog today! :)

Have a great weekend

Kathy :) 




4 comments:

  1. Sheesh! That's a lot of question answering/meme participating :)

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  2. I would love to go on the safari. Hey I was just passing the questions along as they were asked to me, I was asked by a man!

    I didn't know you could go river rafting on the Ganges, I thought it was a very slow and placid river. I've done it in Australia which was a great thrill. Nice pitch/extract too! :)

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  3. Your story sounds interesting, something I'd enjoy reading.

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