11 Questions Game

People of Earth,

I have a confession to make. It’s not easy to say, but I’ve been neglecting you recently. I know, I know, there are good excuses. I’m eyebrow-deep in three separate writing projects, two of which have concrete and ever-nearing deadlines. Each one is close to my heart, and I’ve spent the past months diving into them like Scrooge McDuck (fully, and with gleeful exuberance). The byproduct is that I’ve taken a step back from my online endeavors to keep my nose on the keyboard (seriously , I type with my nose. It works for me, shut up), which means my writer friends haven’t heard from me as often, and you good people have received less maniacal ramblings about robot uprisings and deadly forest gnomes (laugh all you want, I know their queen).

It’s times like this when I’m truly grateful for the writing community, and for the awesome friends I’ve made online in the past year. Friends who tag me on Facebook, ping me on Twitter, and send encouraging emails. Friends who remind me that what could be a tragically solitary profession has, in actuality, opened up an entire world’s worth of like-minded artists just waiting to be your biggest cheerleaders. Friends like the amazing and brilliant Morgan Shamy – a writer destined for stardom, one of my greatest creative allies, and the one who tagged me in this 11 Questions blogger game, thereby coaxing me from my writing cave to soak up a little sun.

So, instead of maniacal ramblings about invasions, this time you get to read maniacal ramblings about myself. Brace yourselves:

1. Do you like being tagged in question games?
It is literally my favorite thing that has ever happened in the history of the universe.

2. If you could stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
I would wait until I’m 104 years old and then stay at that age. Seriously, old people can get away with anything. Whatever you do, no matter how insane or inappropriate, people just say, “Well, he’s 104 years old.â€

3. Do men like chocolate as much as women?
I love chocolate. However, I don’t think there’s a man alive who can match a woman’s deep emotional connection to it. I once made a dark chocolate torte for a dinner party, and my favorite part of the evening was watching the women gather around it like it was some kind of altar, nibbling at it and giggling quietly to each other with blissfully guilty expressions on their faces.

4. What would you name the autobiography of your life?
“Don’t Tell Anyone I’m Batmanâ€

5. How do you balance social media and writing time?
As I said above, it’s a tough balance for me. I try to devote enough time to social media to keep building relationships and making new connections. Writing time has to take priority, though. Usually, if I have to choose between devoting time to one or the other, I’ll choose writing.

6. Describe yourself in one word.
Geektastic

7. What is your favorite writing-related website?
I love checking out the blogs of my friends like Morgan Shamy, Jason McIntyre, Jack Flacco, Leigh Fallon, Ellie Soderstrom and Ryne Pearson. I also find a lot of blog links on Twitter, and those have led to some educational and helpful articles. Very soon I’ll be querying, so I’m betting agentquery.com will become one of my best friends, too.

8. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
I’d go back to 1889 and take credit for inventing the margherita pizza. Then I’d aggressively build a pizza empire, and my heirs would be all-powerful pizza magnates! Muwahahahaha!

9. What fictional character do you most resemble?
Smaug, the dragon from The Hobbit (but only when I’m breathing fire)

10. Star Wars or Star Trek?
Noooooooo, don’t make me choooooose!!!

11. What’s the first word to come to your mind right….now?
Bubblicious.
Yeah, I don’t know why, either.

So, now it’s time for me to pay it forward! You bloggy friends of mine, consider yourself on notice! Specifically:

Jason McIntyre
Ellie Soderstrom
Ryne Pearson
Leigh Fallon
Darci Cole

And here are your questions:

1. What was the first thing you wrote that you were genuinely proud of?
2. If you were a food, what would you be?
3. What would your superhero name be, and what superpower would you have?
4. Your all-time favorite movie?
5. What’s one thing that helps you write your best?
6. Sweet or salty?
7. What’s one genre you’d love to write in, but haven’t yet?
8. Your favorite time-wasting activity?
9. If you were an evil overlord, what would you name your main henchman?
10. What’s your favorite word?
11. Can I have ten bucks?