Whitney Writes…

In honor of my 37th birthday, I thought I would do one of these again! Some questions will be the same, if I feel I have a different/better answer, but I will try to find mostly new ones!

1) Who is your favorite author? I have a couple, but my current favorite is Naomi Novik after having just completed her Scholomance Trilogy.

2) What is the last book you read? “The Golden Enclaves” – Book Three in the Scholomance Triology by Naomi Novik

3) What book are you currently reading? “Tress Of The Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson. So far it is pretty good, but it’s making me realize that I love female authors more. And yes, “The Starless Sea” is still on my nightstand, attempting to be completed.

4) What is your favorite thing you have written? I really enjoyed #3 for Inktober last year. I am also really enjoying my series “Stay”.

5) Have you picked up any new hobbies? I’ve gotten really into painting my nails over the last year. I used to be an anxious nail biter, but since discovering my hyper-fixation brand of nail polish, Mooncat, last summer, I seem to have kicked the habit. I also really enjoy swatching my nail polish collection. Painting the swatches, and simply admiring them, brings me such joy and internal peace. See below for a small taste of my obsession and what I have created with it…

6) When was the last time you went to a concert? Who was it? June 1st was the last concert I went to. My partner and I saw the Russian techo-pop-rave group, Little Big. And they were amazing.

7) What is your favorite holiday? I have always loved Christmas. The decorations taking over the houses, the brightness of the lights on houses, the snow, the cookie baking, the presents, the joy… I love everything about it.

8) What is your latest guilty pleasure? Probably swatching my nail polishes. Both to see all the colors out of the bottles, but also to play with color combos in layering. There is a photo in the above collage where I am holding a pen and my nails are a pinky-orange, that was achieved by layering an orange polish on top of a hot pink one.

9) What is your biggest fear? Not being enough.

10) What was your first job? I worked in a local plant nursery/green house when I was in high school. My favorite task they gave me was to sweep the dirt off a tarp-covered dirt floor in a green house, in August, in 90 degree heat. One of my co-workers was always coming by and spraying me off with a hose.

11) Do you have any pet peeves? Interrupting me while I’m speaking is probably the biggest. I don’t talk a lot in general. So when I get interrupted, it just reaffirms why I don’t say much to begin with.

12) What’s your favorite season, and what does it remind you of? I love winter most of all. Life slows down. The world feels less hectic, quieter. And it also has my favorite holiday.

13) What does the perfect day look like? Waking up early, but without an alarm. Doing something fun with my partner, maybe going to a museum or the zoo. Or something we can do with our pups, like hiking in a nice park. Or even just sitting at home and watching him play a video game. Then getting fun takeout, if we’re home, or going somewhere fun if we’re out. Maybe a movie before bed. Or a bonfire, with s’mores.

14) If you could listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? I think a lot of people would expect me to pick a Ghost song here. But, I don’t know if I can. I love ALL Ghost songs. If you were to force me to pick just one, I wouldn’t be able to. So, I think I would go with “Tekkno Train”, by Electric Callboy. Everything about Electric Callboy makes me happy. Just watch the video for “Tekkno Train” and tell me you weren’t grinning like an idiot by the end.

15) What’s the best surprise you have ever received? A labradog. If you’ve read the Biography of Emperor Dexter Benjamin, you’ve heard this story before. Back in the early days when my partner and I first started dating, we both worked retail. He at a department store, me at a book store. One night, he was closing and told me he had to make a stop after work. When I asked what kind, he declined to answer. While I waited for him to get home, I got saltier and saltier. Because, really, what kind of stop are you making after 10pm?? Needless to say, by the time he walked in the door, I was furious with him. And then he plopped a twelve-week-old chocolate lab puppy in my lap. You see, I had lost my cat I had had my entire life the month prior, and wasn’t coping particularly well. So, when he had a coworker say they’d inherited this puppy and were going to get rid of it, my partner knew the perfect place for it. And it was with us.

16) What’s your favorite way to spend a day off? If it’s a random day, and my partner isn’t also off, I like to do my hobbies. Writing, Lego building, nail stuff, coloring, reading, watching shows he doesn’t like… Or I’ll be insanely productive and do stuff around the house/yard.

17) What is your favorite type of story narrator? I’m personally partial to the all-knowing-third-person type of narrator. I think almost everything I have posted on the blog here is exclusively all-knowing-third-person. I can count on one hand, out of nearly 100 posts, how many are first-person.

18) Is there any writing trope you really want to try? I would love to try my hand at the unreliable-first-person narrator. Like the show Mr. Robot. The end of that first season… oh my gosh. When you learn the twist and they go back and recontextualize everything. And then…. that they do it again, but different, in the second season?! It was amazing storytelling.

19) How do you find time to write? I make time. On my lunch breaks, primarily.

20) What do you do if you’re stuck in a scene? I’ll start by going back and re-reading what I have from the start. Then I might try re-writing it, while not deleting what I have already. Or I might try it from another point of view. Then I might just try writing something else, either what came before or after. If nothing else, I throw the whole piece out. 😂 I jest, of course.

21) What do you do if you’re feeling writer’s block? I tend to turn where I’m most inspired. Play some Elder Scrolls. Read some of my favorite books, just pull them off the shelf and flip to random bits. Listen to Ghost. Walk in the woods.

22) What is the most difficult thing about writing? I feel like sometimes stories can get away from me. Characters are suddenly doing things I did not plan for them to do, developed attitudes I did not intend. Or scenes play out much differently than when I talked them through in the shower. Sometimes I like the new direction things have gone – seemingly without me – other times, not so much. And reconciling those two things can sometimes be difficult.

23) Are you more introverted or extroverted? I N T R O V E R T F O R L I F E

24) If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Tacos. I do not even have to think about it.

25) What is your most prized possession, and why? I have a lot of things I like, and enjoy. But, at the end of the day, they are things. And replaceable. So, I think I would have to say the ashes and clay pawprints of my labradog.

26) How do you enjoy spending your alone time? Either with a good book, a good piece of writing, a favorite video game, or a Lego set.

27) What is the best concert you have ever been to? I have been to a lot of really good ones of late. But I think the one that has to be the best, and my favorite, is the very first time I saw Ghost. Because it was really when I realized I had found it. The first place that really made me feel like I belonged somewhere. To something. I really feel like it awakened me. And, of course, there is the fact that I spent the entire time just grinning beneath my face mask – peak Covid times – which is something completely out of character for me.

28) What would you do if you won the lottery? I’d build my dream house. Nothing insanely extravagant, just something tailored to exactly how I and my partner would want it. And this dream house would be on a lot of land, and I would take in all the homeless animals and make them a sanctuary.

29) What is your favorite content genre (horror, sci-fi, rom-com, etc…)? Do they differ by medium? Science Fiction and Fantasy are two of my favorites. Probably with Fantasy winning out just slightly. And I love them both on all mediums: reading, writing (Fantasy slightly over Science Fiction here, if it wasn’t obvious), video games, shows, and movies. I also love Historical Fiction books, shows, and movies. I don’t particularly like Romance as a stand-alone category, but I love when I good love story is interlaced in a good story.

30) How do you determine the tone of a writing piece? What do you do if it begins to take another tone? It depends on what inspired it, but that’s usually where I start. If it takes on a tone that I’m not pleased with, I start again. I don’t get rid of the original version, but keep it to see if there’s anything salvageable. But sometimes, I end up liking the new tonal direction. Not always, though. Because when I imagine scenes, I can see the whole thing play out in it’s entirety in my imagination. And, typically, I want that version. And sometimes it just takes a couple tries to get it out.

31) Do you believe in ghosts – why or why not? I believe in Ghost. And if you have Ghost, you have everything. But, in the true spirit of the question, I want to believe in ghosts. I want to believe that death is not the end, that there is something after.

32) If you could live in a movie, which one would it be and why? I thought I had an answer ready when I put these questions together, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe on Naboo in Star Wars, but during peaceful times. None of that Trade Federation nonsense. As for the why… I mean, have you seen it?! Or in The Shire from Lord of the Rings, but, again, during peaceful times. I’d also be happy with the elves.

33) What would be the title of your memoir? I think I would have to steal from Shakespeare and go with “Much Ado About Nothing”.

34) At a party, where can someone find you? Not there. 😂 But if forced to attend an event, you would find me with the resident pet. Or snack table. Likely bouncing between the two.

35) If you could go on a shopping spree anywhere, where would it be? It would be a three-way-tie. Between Mooncat, Ghost’s merch shop, and Lego.

36) If you were a cartoon character, what would be your signature outfit? A sequin jacket 😉

37) What would be your theme song? Hmm, I feel like I have a couple options. “Dance Macabre” by Ghost, it’s the closest I can get to my favorite of theirs, because it was the first I heard and fell in love with. “Cha Cha Cha” by Käärijä, this song will never not make me smile. Or “Never Give Up On The Good Times” by the Spice Girls.