# Readers Getting to Know Authors



## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

Authors list three things your readers don't know about you.

I’ll go first…
1.  Coffee is my only vice in life  
2. I love to shoot guns / target practice  
3. Some of my best writing comes between the hours of midnight and 3 in the morning


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

If you'll allow me the same template....

1. Coffee is one of the many vices in my life.
2. I've shot some guns myself. I gave the main character in _Flaming Dove_ an Uzi after firing one.
3. I'm an early bird. I remember writing the last chapter in _Flaming Dove_ on an early Sunday morning when the rest of the civilized world was sleeping.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

Hey! I used to love to shoot trap! 3 brothers, one rural childhood with a neighborhood full of boys. sigh. great fun 

hmmm. 3 things

1. I love to cook but hate making cookies
2. I write to a soundtrack that i choose specifically for the project
3. I'm claustrophobic


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## john_a_karr (Jun 21, 2010)

1. If I don't get some writing time in I go a little crazy  
2. If I don't get some exercise time in I go a little crazy
3. Same with family time. Whereupon the family deems me a little crazy anyway.


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## Ian Weaver (Oct 9, 2010)

1.  I gave up smoking four days ago! (Gagging for one now   )
2.  I'm a house husband.
3.  I started writing purely as a means to learning the ins and outs of a word processor.

Ian


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## Glenn Bullion (Sep 28, 2010)

1.  My wife and I love cats   Have 4 at the moment.
2.  I am a gaming nut.
3.  I am afraid of spiders.


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## par2323 (Nov 22, 2010)

Three things that my readers don't know:

1. I hate planes, but adore trains.
2. My main character's husband is my dream husband (he's a gourmet cook).
3. I once repaired my car's fan belt with a coat hanger.

Patricia Rockwell


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## Joel Arnold (May 3, 2010)

Three things that my readers don't know:

1 - I'm into geneaology, and discovered a couple years ago that my dad's (who is 73) birthmom is still alive. (She's 87).
2 - I collect old typewriters, my oldest being from the late 1800's. (They're heavy suckers!)
3 - I once marched in the King Kamehameha parade in a full wool uniform in 98-degree heat. (Played the marching snare.)


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## mscottwriter (Nov 5, 2010)

What a fun thread! 


I'm a movie aficionado - I spend *way *too much time in a dark theater!
I think Pikachu is the cutest cartoon character ever.
I love to knit so much that I'll unravel sweaters I've made just so that I can re-knit them.[/l]


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## bobavey (Sep 14, 2010)

I love to cook. I love to eat. Don't do much of either.
I love to read. I love to write. Don't do enough of either.
I really wish I could just write and not have to worry about promotion.


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## Rory Miller (Oct 21, 2010)

1. I probably have someone right now reading this trying to find a little nugget to destroy me.  You know who you are (LFC fans), but you won't find anything... I've deleted all the personal info.

2. I achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA in my Master's degree in History, and haven't read a single history book since getting the degree four years ago!


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I am loving reading this thread, and Vianka, I am sooo jealous of you for meeting LDP.


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> I am loving reading this thread, and Vianka, I am sooo jealous of you for meeting LDP.


      

He is more handsome in person!

Vianka


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## terryr (Apr 24, 2010)

1. Years ago, I almost sold a horse to Jackie Kennedy Onassis when I was still a groom/stable manager at a horse farm in NJ.
2. I fell off the back of a fire truck in full equipment in...hmm...1978 while with a volunteer fire department near the college I was going to at the time (fortunately on the way to a drill, not a fire--and being one of the few women doing this at that time, was not allowed to live down the embarrassment.  ).
3. One of the greatest moments of my life was meeting the first female Thunderbirds pilot and getting to shake the hands of several of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen in the same thirty minutes.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

1. I was once an extra in a movie (I played a prisoner) and I got to meet Tyne Daley and Gerald McRaney

2. Recently I joined a local paranormal society and went ghost hunting at an old mansion in South Carolina

3. I toured the Lizzie Borden house when we were on vacation a few years ago


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## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

LCEvans said:


> 2. Recently I joined a local paranormal society and went ghost hunting at an old mansion in South Carolina


I would soooooo love to do this. See anything good?


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2010)

1. I'm very serious about goofing around.
2. I have a habit of making streetlights go out when I walk under them.
3. My goal in life is to get fired as a Wal-Mart greeter.

Apparently I did this wrong, so let me add one more:

4. My favorite flavor of ice cream is Ben and Jerry's Phish Food!


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## William L.K. (Aug 5, 2010)

1. I'm a professional musician on the weekends.
2. My wife has sung the national anthem at an NFL game...HMMMMMMM, who could she be I'll never tell...
3. If I don't have a cup of coffee in me by 9am I start to spasm and shiver...lol (sad but true)


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

Okay...I'll give this a shot...although, I'm having a hard time thinking of something interesting to. Vianka, you lucky girl, you! LDP is, was, and always will be a hottie .

1. I love yellow roses.
2. I have specific playlists on my iPod for each of my writing projects.
3. When I was 17 (this was a really long time ago , my friend and I met Daryl Hall & John Oates at the restaurant her mother managed. We were starstruck  

Sandy


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

foreverjuly said:


> 1. I'm very serious about goofing around.


Jason, You have to tell us something we DON'T know.. This one is obvious to everyone


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## Steven L. Hawk (Jul 10, 2010)

Three things you may not know about me:

1.  I was NCO of the Year two years in a row when I was in the 82nd Airborne Division.
2.  I have visited the White House more than a dozen times.  I've even bowled on the WH bowling alley.
3.  I was president of the PTA for a year -- one of the toughest things I've ever done.

Fun thread!

S.


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## vsch (Mar 5, 2009)

1.  I have been a stay at home mom for almost 20 years and I am very grateful I can be.
2.  I am a writer and no one knows about it...not even spouse.  To chicken to share any of it.
3.  I get a totally relaxed and joyful feeling when all three of my kids are home under my roof.


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## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

T.L. Haddix said:


> 3. I once shot through a wall at a burglar who was breaking in to my house. I chose to shoot through the wall because I didn't want to replace the window they were trying to open (it was up high, so they couldn't see me). The wall was concrete block, and I'm danged lucky to have not had a ricochet GSW. Also, a .38 fired in a 10 x 12 room? Results in instant and total deafness for about five minutes. Ears ring for three days afterward.


T.L. You are my hero or should I say heroine!!!!!


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## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

vsch said:


> 1. I have been a stay at home mom for almost 20 years and I am very grateful I can be.


vsch, you are my hero....heroine too!!!!


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## Aris Whittier (Sep 21, 2010)

Steven L. Hawk said:


> Three things you may not know about me:
> 
> 1. I was NCO of the Year two years in a row when I was in the 82nd Airborne Division.
> S.


All I can say is WOW and THANK YOU!!


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

1. I don't like coffee. I drink tea instead. 
2. I own a small arsenal of weapons, including a sword.
3. I'm a mixed-race person. Can't tell from my pics, huh?


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## Cathymw (May 27, 2010)

Three things you may not know about me:

1) I watch very few movies. Friends who ask me "Have you seen this?" generally realize the answer is no. For an example I first saw Ghostbusters about four years ago. 

2) I adore sharks. I collect shark tchotchkes. One reason I got my scuba license was to dive with sharks, but sadly have not seen any yet.

3) I love cooking and cooking shows. I was in the audience during the first Iron Chef episode in America, when the Japanese Iron Chefs flew over here, and Morimoto competed against Bobby Flay. The food smelled wonderful, but we didn't get to try it.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

1. I'm kind of quiet IRL; people tend to take that as me being stuck up, but I'm not...just quiet and shy.
2. If I could, I'd go back and re-write the first third of my first book.
3. I have a difficult time going new places alone for the first time...after that, it's fine, but I really rely on the Spouse Thingy to be my enabler. he does a bangup job


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I talk about myself a lot so it's hard to think of things I've never said.  

1.  I used to play the clarinet even though we couldn't afford it.
2.  I cannot swim or ride a bike, or run on a treadmill.  
3.  I am not a nice person.  Unless you're my children, I will be mean to you.  Or ignore you.  I'm not good with people but I've attracted a scary number of stalkers throughout my life.

Actually, people probably already know no. 3 so I'll add a no. 4 - just in case.

4. I drank more in my early teens than I have in the whole of my 20s.  I've three years to catch up.  I won't.  My liver is happy.  I drank more when I was 12/13 than I have in the last three years.  Freaking myself out now.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Hm, I'm a fairly open book.  But a few things not _everyone_ knows about me:

1. Tea gives me migraines, but I love coffee. We have a wonderful espresso machine plumbed into the water supply:









2. I've never owned a television.

3. I'm so not a morning person. I'd be hopeless on a dairy farm.


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

1. I'm a Medievalist (just ask me about anything Anglo-Saxon).
2. I am addicted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
3. I can still do the splits.


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## PRJordan (Oct 3, 2010)

Okay I will try, some readers may already know this, I am very open on the Amazon Forums.

1) I am in the process of completing a Theology Degree  
2) I have a full sized Dalek in my garage  
3) I fall down 5ft cliffs while mowing for fun (Well okay not for fun but I did try it once)  

And my son is still awake and laughing at 11pm at night.  

Cheers


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

1. I collect old military rifles from around the world.
2. I am a musician (singer/songwriter/guitarist) whose claim to fame was opening for Slaughter in the early nineties.
3. I would do anything for my family.


This is a fun idea! One more nugget: I can't exist without caffeine.

T.L., that is an incredible story. I'm surprised that you haven't been featured in the Rifleman magazine. They have a section where they list success stories of home defense through the legal and proper use of a firearm. I'm glad your situation turned out okay.

Take care!
J.M.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

1)  I won 3rd in a contest in a young adult Methodist magazine for a short story I wrote through my Creative Writing class in high school back in the early '90's.  I won $35, and my mom promptly used that money to frame the check stub, and a blurb she got about from our local newspaper(who she had to call).  That frame is sitting somewhere in a closet collecting dust!  

2) I watch Back to the Future trilogy at least once a year. Always trying to find something I missed.

3) I still own an Atari 5200


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## mattposner (Oct 28, 2010)

Okay, here are three from me. 

1. I would simply die without cheese.
2. I have a huge collection of Magic:  the Gathering cards.
3. I met Jacques Derrida.

Enjoyed reading the cool you guys have posted.

Regards,

Matt


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2010)

Cathymw said:


> 2) I adore sharks. I collect shark tchotchkes. One reason I got my scuba license was to dive with sharks, but sadly have not seen any yet.


Yeah! I fellow shark lover.  I've loved sharks since I was a kid. My mom got called to school once (I think I was in third grade or one of those, I don't remember) because of a "misunderstanding." During art I was coloring the scene from Jaws when the shark jumps up on the ship. I broke my red crayon and asked the teacher for another. So mom got called in to school and asked if everything was OK at home as the teacher showed her my drawing. Her reply was "Yea, she's just weird."

Two additional facts for the thread:

**I use to sell Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door. I did well enough that I won six vacations, including a cruise to the Bahamas and a trip to Hawaii.

**We lived in a haunted house when I was a teenager for all of four months. The situation got so bad we moved out Christmas Eve to go stay with an uncle. Whatever was there even attacked my mom, leaving visibile scratches on her arms.


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## JenniferShirk (Nov 15, 2010)

I've enjoyed reading this thread!

Here's mine:

1) I entered the Miss Cosmopolitan pageant when I was in highschool. (didn't win or place)   LOL!
2) I'm addicted to Pace's Salsa Verde but haven't been able to find it in the supermarkets lately.  
3) I make a mean Pineapple Chili margarita


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## Stan (Jun 10, 2010)

1. I have an extensive moist towelette collection.

2. I am the 2008 and 2009 ESPNZone NYC Ultimate Couch Potato champion.

3. I once worked backstage at the original Off Broadway production of "Little Shop of Horrors."


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## Ryl (Nov 25, 2010)

1. I like snacking on Cheerios when I write. But only in increments of two.

2. I know all five verses of Good King Wenceslas.

3. Because I'm taking taekwondo with my daughter, I am now capable of doing knuckle push ups. They're not pretty, but I'm doing them!


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Her reply was "Yea, she's just weird."


    Classic!


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## David McAfee (Apr 15, 2010)

Hmmmm....

OK. 

1) The chrome dome look isn't natural. I just hate messing with my hair so I sent it packing. 
2) I only write for fun. Sure I publish stuff, but it's just so that other people can read it. I'm not really trying to make a carreer out of this.
3) I'm a habitual liar. Sometimes I can't help myself (see items 1 and 2). By the way, I own this bridge in Arizona, and it's for sale...


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

PRJordan said:


> 2) I have a full sized Dalek in my garage


1. I would like to have a full sized Dalek in my garage.

2. I still love peeking out the window at 2:45 to see my kids getting off the bus. Even though they're 14 and 16.

3. Then I run for the couch, pick up a book, and pretend like I wasn't peeking out the window.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

T.L. Haddix said:


> Thumper, I completely and totally can relate to all three of your items. Just out of curiosity, why haven't you rewritten?


The book was published 9 years ago; to re-write and re-publish would be a huge disservice to all the people who have paid good money for it.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

PRJordan said:


> 2) I have a full sized Dalek in my garage


I want!


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## JenniferShirk (Nov 15, 2010)

Stan said:


> 1. I have an extensive moist towelette collection.


I was going to ask, but...I don't think I want to know. LOL!


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## Maryn (Nov 24, 2010)

1.  I love oatmeal with raisins!
2.  I almost never watch TV.
3.  I have a phobia about falling down stairs and breaking a bone in my neck, head, or leg.

Maryn


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

1.  I used to mine bottles from the 1700's in the old Savannah, Ga. dump.
2.  I am afraid of spiders and even more afraid of heights.
3.  I was pronounced dead at the age of four after being 'electrocuted' on an electric fence in the rain and I was 'electrocuted' again when I was 14 by a shorted out garbage disposal, knocked across the room and woke up ON the kitchen counter and finally at age 24 lost my hearing in my left ear temporarily when lightning struck a tennis court while I was driving by.  Zzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppp!!!


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Methinks Brendan needs to live in a pre-electricity erra.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Or I should have been an electrician.


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## JenniferShirk (Nov 15, 2010)

Brendan Carroll said:


> Or I should have been an electrician.


Wow. Yeah, you missed your calling.


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## CathyQuinn (Dec 9, 2010)

1) I think coffee tastes terrible and never drink it. Sometimes I wish I did drink coffee as it seems to give my fellow writers tremedous energy! 
2) I eat too much chocolate, probably to make up for not drinking coffee.  
3) I use smileys too much and am trying to cut down.... (these boards are not helping)  

Oh, and I want a Dalek too.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I'm not sitting next to Brendan...


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## vwkitten (Apr 10, 2009)

1. I'm allergic to coffee but I love it so much that once a year I allow myself a single cup of it and suffer the week of pain after.
2. I would love to sit next to Brendan anytime (even in a rain storm... with lightning... maybe especially then LOL).
3. I have to write my books fast or I forget them because I have major memory issues and literally can't focus longer than three weeks on any project - and then I "crash" for a week.


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## Debra Purdy Kong (Apr 1, 2009)

What a great thread, and I love reading everyone's input. 3 things about me?

1. I have a hard time turning the TV off to write.
2. I've been writing for 30 years, but only on a full-time basis for the past 3 months.
3. I love croissants more than any other food in the world.

Debra


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