Interview With an Introvert

I recently offered to open my little introvert head and heart and answer some questions from my readers and any other random strangers who happened to stumble across my little corner of the internet.

Since very few random strangers tripped through the door I have an eclectic list of questions from people I know and respect as fellow writers and some I am proud to call friends, distance and lack of face-to-face interaction be damned.

So as promised, better late than never, the interview with an introvert.

Michelle aka Mama Mick

Paper or plastic?  (JK – I’m snarky this morning)

Ah, but since you asked, my gorgeous snarky one…plastic.

What was your first job?

In my summer between junior and senior year of high school I was a runner for a construction company. I got to drive the boss’s Audi around all over town dropping off and picking up blueprints/plans/documents. I ask you, would you let a 16 year old stranger drive your Audi? Brave (stupid) man. Obviously I made a few side trips to impress my friends. I made minimum wage which I believe was $3.85 per hour. 

If you could do anything you want, what would that be?

I would travel anywhere and everywhere with a laptop and a camera.

What is the happiest or proudest moment you remember?

Well, there have been many so let me just grab the first one that popped up. I would have to say the day my daughter and son, at 10 and 9 respectively, achieved their first degree black belts. 

Christina, Plagued Parent

Pancakes or waffles?

Pancakes. Definitely pancakes.

Helena aka Ken aka Jessica, Being the Memoirs of Helena Hann-Basquiat

What was the first album you bought with your own money (and was it LP, cassette or CD?)

Oh, you want to know about the day my mother called me a satan worshipper? It was AC/DC, Back in Black, LP…because unless you were in your car there really was no better way to listen to music. I have it on CD today. My kids love it.

What book have you read more times than any other?

That would have to be Twilight. Or Fifty Shades of Grey. Hmmm…..just kidding. (Breathe, my friend.) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Secret Life of Bees are all pretty evenly matched in the ‘read and read again’ category. 

Oh…and Wally Lamb’s The Hour I First Believed.

What book/movie do you wish you’d written and why?

I’m going to pick a movie for this one. As soon as I read the question Legends of the Fall sprang to mind. I love the story and never get tired of seeing the movie. The moral I get from the story is that blood is thicker than water which I believe to a point. I love the setting, the time period, the story lines…all of it. I never tire of watching it. I know there is also a book, which is probably better because they usually are, but I’ve not read it. I should put that on my list.

Do you have an item of clothing that you never wear but keep anyway? Why?

God, yes. I have this gorgeous snake print dress that I actually planned to get married in, under a gorgeous oak at our property in South Carolina, but too much meddling spoiled the idea and I went another route and wore a different dress. It’s sleek and sexy and a size 4 (which I’m not likely to see again but with a really good pair of Spanx….who knows?). I just can’t get rid of it. If I could get it on I’d post a pic.

Beth, newly published author of Order of Seven

*you’ve been granted 3 teleportation wishes by a hot genie that looks remarkably like Charlie Hunnam. One of your wishes can not be “I want hot sex with the genie”. You can wish to go any geographical location, any time period, and be yourself or someone else.
Where would you go? When? Who would you be?

What a great question and thank you for leaving me a loophole. I don’t want hot sex with the genie that looks like Charlie Hunnam, just Charlie Hunnam. But back to your question.

Honestly, I don’t think I would be anyone but myself, right here and right now. My life may not be perfect but it’s a very good life and I fought hard for it. There are people I admire or am curious about but I don’t think I would want to live their life. We always look at others’ lives from the outside and think they must be perfect when the truth is, there is no such thing. We’ve learned from people like Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman that what you see is not always reality and it doesn’t matter what you have, who you’re with, or where you are.  I believe the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

That Shameless Hussy, truly one of the funniest (and fabulous) people ever

What would you choose for your last meal?

Crab legs, a filet mignon cooked medium rare and a steamed artichoke with hot butter and creme’ brulee for dessert. And a glass of good wine. I’m going to die, right? So why not?

Is there a book or author that changed your perspective on life forever?

Not one…many. Every time I read a book I think something stays with me, even if it’s the kind of person I do NOT want to be. I think I would list Jodi Picoult as an author that changed my perspective on writing. I’m a fan of a story that is raw and brings forth intense human emotion and every time I’ve read a book of hers, that is exactly what happens. That is the kind of writer I aspire to be.

What, in your opinion, are your best and worst qualities?

My best quality is probably loyalty. My worst would be my quick temper. Sometimes the the two can clash as in ‘fuck with the people I love and you will feel my wrath’. That kind of thing.

Jana, Stop Me If I Told You This

If you were stranded on a desert island and you could have ONE food to eat for the years until you were rescued — what would it be?

Oh, not fair. I love food. How can I possible pick ONE? I want to pick crab legs or artichokes because they are my two favorite foods on the planet, but I eat both with butter. Will there be butter? I suppose not.

Artichokes.

What one decision did you make in your life that you would change if you could (if any) and why?

This question. Let me see if I can explain this. I often think of events that have happened in my life that I would change. Then I realize that each of those set me on the path to where I am now, which is a pretty good place most days. If I knew I would end up here eventually anyway, I would never have tried that cocaine that my best friend bought me for my 16th birthday. I’m serious. It was the 80s. They sold that shit in the hall in high school.

Lizzi, my beloved EG and our own Considerer

What animal would you be for a day, and why?

A horse. To run with incredible power, strength, and speed and to do it with intense beauty and grace. That would be spectacular.

What thing didn’t you do that you wish you had done?

Written a book. Traveled to Italy. And Greece. Learned to play the piano and guitar. 

That’s the short list.

When was a time you remember feeling a sense of overwhelming wonder as a child?

I don’t. Honestly, I remember very little of my childhood, which is both sad and scary. I’m sure there were moments but I’ve had more of a sense of wonder as an adult, and through my own children, so I don’t feel cheated.

What was your last kairos moment?

Actually, I had one vivid moment a couple of weeks ago and it was standing in a parking lot. It was late afternoon, moving into evening, and I was out with my daughter. We were walking to the car and as I walked up to it and started to climb in, suddenly the sun was so very warm on my face and the light was just bright. I saw my reflection in the car window and my eyes seemed to be a different color, my skin brighter and the stress I had been feeling was just, in that moment, non-existent.  I had the thought that this was my life, my moment to make whatever I wished it to be and that it would change everything that happened going forward. I felt so strong and capable. I’ve tried to hold onto that feeling in my every day life and while I’m not always successful, that moment in the sunshine shifted my perspective just enough.

Mandi, wonderful writer and all around beautiful human

What did your last text message say? Don’t even try to pretend you aren’t sexting that sexy husband right now.

Nope and he’s not liable to be getting any sexts any time soon if he doesn’t keep a better eye on my children…

Ironically, five seconds after I took a screen shot of this texst he sent me a text that cannot be shared. NSFW…or anywhere else. Sorry.

Dani, Blooming Spiders

I’d love to know which quality you wish you had and which you wish you didn’t.

I am impatient and quick tempered. I am a control freak of the highest order and at times I manage to be a little more laid back but it’s an outside thing. On the inside, I scream. I wish I had more patience and could either sprout a longer fuse (or a filter, if nothing else), and I would love to be one of those people who could just let things go. In some areas it might be an asset but while navigating every day life it can be detrimental.

That was more than one but I found it hard to choose just one. 

And one more: what do you think of in those quiet moments just before sleep finds you?

What are quiet moments before sleep finds you? Kidding aside, I usually try to clear my mind of all the things I feel I did wrong that day and make a silent promise to do better the next.

Dani Heart, A Heart on the Matter

If you could have an intimate dinner party with 5 people living or dead… who would they be and why?

This one is hard! Let me see….

Anne Boleyn, I am obsessed with Tudor history and I find her to be one of the most interesting women in history. I would want to ask her many, many questions.

Marilyn Monroe, because I like to think there was much more to her than anyone knew and I would love to know more about the person behind the persona.

Robin Williams, because he was and will always be one of the funniest people to have ever graced this planet. I love to laugh until it hurts and there is no doubt he would be the one to do it.

Stephen King, because I would just love to meet the man with the limitless imagination behind some of the best horror I have ever read.

And finally, Charlie Hunnam, a choice for which I have no good reason.

If you went on Survivor and won the million dollars..what would you do with it? Would you ever go on Survivor?

Well, first…no. I would never go on Survivor. Those people look hungry and I don’t like to be hungry. Then there’s bugs and snakes and dirt. Nope. BUT! If I did and won the million, I would pay off my parent’s debt and then my own just to make life a little easier. With that done I could free up time and money for writing, the sorely neglected Nixheart, and traveling with my daughter who at twelve is already itching to see more of the world.

If you could rid the world of one thing… what would it be?

Hate.

If you could bestow one gift on all of humanity what would it be?

I would make it so no one ever had to sleep anywhere but their very own bed and never, ever would another person be hungry.

Sonya, my fellow introvert behind Single Strides

What advice would you give to yourself that you wish you’d follow?

Whatever it is you wish you could do, just do it. You may not succeed, but you have to try.

Kristi, the wonder behind Finding Ninee

When did you get sober?

October 28, 1997

What was the “last straw” to get you there?

No family, no friends, no nothing. I had lost everyone and everything. No one wanted to be around me. I didn’t want to be around me. If I could have found a way to crawl out of my own skin, I would have.  I felt empty inside and in a moment of clarity I knew if I were to ever take another drink, I would be dead soon after, one way or another. And I just wasn’t ready to die.

How did you do it?

I had gone through rehab but relapsed a few months later. Instead of committing suicide, which had been my drunken plan, I called a friend who ran a halfway house and begged for help. That’s what you do when you’re in that tiny space between life and death. You beg. I was in horrible pain for a few days-physical, emotional, mental- and then I said, “Enough.” And I did what I had to do each and every day to make sure I never went to that place again.

Was your family supportive?

Yes and no. They were cautious. I put them through a lot, especially in the final couple of years of my drinking. They had had enough and I think a part of them had given up. It took a long time to earn their trust and have them feel I was going to stay sober.

Briton, Punk Rock Papa and Original Bunker Punk

You’ve got the afternoon to yourself. No kids or responsibility, just you and yourself- what are you doing?

Reading, writing, sleeping. And eating. There must be eating.

Liv, Live By Surprise

What is the one thing about you that you’ve never told another soul?

Ummmm…..I don’t think there is anything. At least not that I’ve never told another soul. I’ve bared my soul both here and at The Sisterwives so I’m pretty much an open book. I will say that my internet peeps probably know more about me than my own family, especially now! I don’t know if that counts, but it’s all I’ve got.

Jen, Driftwood Gardens

I want to know something about your upbringing – what were your parents like?

I remember them being very social and fun when I was young but as I got older, they became a little more rigid. We were very normal from the outside looking in but there were a lot of issues. I was a great kid and in my early teens- straight A gifted student, cheerleader, dance team, softball, volleyball. Somewhere around 15, I became an asshole, having been lucky enough to inherit the alcoholism gene I decided to start early and I partied pretty hard. There were quite a few very difficult years in our family and the relationship was up and down even after I got sober. For a time, things were very good and then came the time I didn’t have a relationship with them at all. A misunderstanding on the day my son was born ended with me not speaking to my parents for nine years.

I’m happy to say that today my parents and I are very close.

I do have a brother, he is two and a half years younger than me. I also have two half sisters that I have met once, also younger.

Michelle, who keeps me laughing at Rubber Shoes In Hell

What is your favorite smell?

My children’s hair, clean or dirty….but preferably clean. And sandalwood.

So there you have it. The naked truth. I hope you learned a little something and aren’t terribly disappointed at how boring I actually am.

And actually, it wasn’t so bad.

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Morguefile/quicksandala