I have been encouraged to steal a post idea from J.L. Murray (you should totally check out her books, by the way, she rocks! www.jlmurraywriter.com) to help combat the idea that it’s better for me to post some random facts about myself than try to coherently cobble anything else together while I’m in the home stretch of writing my new book. Here is a list of random facts in no particular order.

1) I am obsessed with Joss Whedon. I’ll pretty much watch anything he makes. Even if all he did was pick up coffee for the cast. If Joss is associated, I’m in. Every once in a while I have dreams where I meet him and I’m all suave and cool and not the hopeless tongue-tied mess I’d really be IRL.

2) I listen to classical music while I write. Sometimes it’s a specific song on a loop over and over again, but mostly I need something soft and in the background otherwise, I get too distracted. Now, while I’m plotting is another story entirely. Then I listen to a weird hodge podge of music, anything from Muse to Portishead to Journey to Ke$ha to The Carpenters to Marilyn Manson to musical numbers from The Pirate Movie… it’s a weird playlist.

3) I share many geeky interests with Anja such as: superheroes (particularly Cap), Lord of the Rings, Sliders, Big Bang Theory, Star Trek, Star Wars, Zombies, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Firefly, Buffy, and of course fabulous movies like Sharktopus and Sharknado. But I have never been particularly into comic books.

4) I am scared to death of speaking in public. I will probably never give a book reading. Like ever. There’s a reason I chose a profession that allows me to remain behind the scenes and interact with fans solely through the internet. I guess I could always hire a shill if I get rich and famous enough. But I’m also enough of a control freak that I know it’d drive me nuts, so no… don’t think I’ll ever do that.

5) I recorded an album when I was seven years old. I was part of a band of kids that sang and danced in Spanish and English. We performed all over California, mostly at private functions but things like county fairs and stuff too. We once performed at Disneyland. We put out a record every couple of years and the one I was on I sang two songs for and I was on the cover.

6) I live in the Pacific Northwest because of an April Fool’s Joke. I primarily grew up in Santa Cruz, CA (which is wicked expensive!). The company I worked for had their HQ up near Portland Oregon, and as a joke I came home and told my husband that they were so happy with my performance that they wanted to transfer me to their corporate office. To my utter surprise, he said “Okay, let’s do it!” To which I had to admit I was full of… April foolery, and there was no job opening up there. But we started looking into it anyway and though it took us another five years to make it up here, we sold our house and took the plunge with no clear idea of how we’d make a living. It worked out though, and I love living here!

7) I wanted to be a cop when I was growing up. Or something in law enforcement. Not a huge surprise that both my parents worked for the Sheriff’s department, but I set off to college thinking I’d join them some day.

8) I am a fantastic cook, but I only cook once a week. Of course, I cook a crapton of food on that day, enough to set us up with meals for the week because I’m also lazy as hell.

9) I am the weirdest combination of driven and lazy that you’ll ever meet (see above). Driven = slave over a hot stove all day long in 90 degree heat, Lazy = let the Tupperware build up for a week before I get to it. Driven = push myself to write between 4K and 5K words per day even if I’m sick, Lazy = wear pajamas until noon and text my kid to come and close my office door that’s less than ten feet away.

10) Like Cady, I skipped a grade in school. Okay, so it was kindergarten, but it made me younger than all of my classmates for the rest of my school career, which was alternately cool and annoying. It also led to some unusual age differences in boyfriends such as:

11) I married my high school sweetheart. Yep, started dating him when I was 14 (and he was 18!) years old and we’ve been married now for 22 years. So yes, I am living proof that you can completely fall in love at first sight and live happily ever after.

In other news, I am sooooo close to finishing Follow Me When the Sun Goes Down, I can taste it!  I’ll be revealing the cover art for you to vote on soon and we’ll have a book giveaway in the near future.