Let me tell you something about Amalia. I've known her through the blogosphere for years and she has ALWAYS looked out for me. Like today when she nominated me for this award...it wasn't because my blog is great, or fun to read or anything. Ha! No, it was because: (because you are blogging every day in January and you are bound to need some filler!) LOL! Yes I do! Thank you, Amalia! And anyone else who wants to give me some filler, be my guest! I'm more than halfway there!
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| Shiny! |
1. 11 random facts about me.
Yeah! I can do that.
2. 11 questions answered for the person who nominated me.
Okay! Sure I'll answer questions!
3. I nominate 11 picks for the award, and make up another 11 questions for them to answer.
I'm going to cheat here and say if you read this post you are tagged! But only if you want to be. I'm flexible like that.
4. Nominated peoples will be listed below with their 11 questions of DOOM.
Um, no. See number 3. Congratulations! You've been nominated.
5. Nominated people do the same; paste the award badge to your blog, give us 11 random facts about yourself, answer my 11 questions, and choose your nominees…but you cannot nominate the blog who nominated you.
Ok! Got it?
11 Totally Random Facts About Frankie That You May Or May Not Know Already
(this is dependent on how long you've been reading my blog, if you know me in real life, and/or but mostly how much of a BAMF you are at stalking...okay, please no stalking)
1. I picked my college based on the fact that they offered one class: Sanskrit.
2. I never took Sanskrit.
3. I took two classes that were entirely taught in Middle English (one on crusader novels as an undergrad, and one on Chaucer as a grad student) so I am a womyn that speake it welle!
4. I did a semester of Hebrew, a semester of Greek and three in Latin. I get wistful when I see Latin textbooks at the store and want to just study them.
5. My sun sign and rising sign are both in Pisces and whether or not you believe in astrology, if you look up Pisces in the dictionary you will see my name.
6. I am a cafe writer so I drink a lot of vanilla lattes. I rarely have to order vanilla lattes though. Pretty much every barrista in several Barnes and Nobles and some Starbucks have memorized my order.
7. The reason I became a belly dancer was one morning in 2000 I woke up and thought, "I should belly dance."
8. My current WIP came about from me being unable to get a certain image out of my head all day, and then combining it with research on a well-known local building.
9. I used to hate my name because I thought it was for a boy. EWWW! I was also 4.
10. I used to think it was illegal for girls to wear pants. It was dresses, skirts or the police! I was also 4.
11. When I want to reread a book I loved, I usually download the audio.
And now...the questions from Amalia!
1. What do you LOVE? (Not a person, but a thing)
Mangoes! I LOVE mangoes! They are my favorite food. I can eat them all day everyday and never get tired of them. I love everything about them, their texture, flavor, color, smell. Mangoes are the way to my heart.
2. What do you HATE? (again, not a person--this could be a pet peeve of grammar or glitter or whatever)
Monsanto. If you don't hate them too, look them up.
3. Favorite Author?
Gah! This is impossible to answer! I don't have a favorite, but I have some favorites which include: Maggie Stiefvater, Richelle Mead, Lauren Oliver, Laini Taylor, Elizabeth Wein, Gayle Forman, Stephanie Perkins, John Green, Rachel Vincent, Jeri Smith-Ready
4. Favorite period in history? why?
It's probably 69-30 BC, when Cleopatra was alive and reigning, or trying to reign. I have always been fascinated with her and Egypt and ancient Rome and Greece and studied the crap out of that time period and the people in high school and college. I don't know why. I've just always found it fascinating and really, really want to see a proper depiction of her life.
5. What's your favorite Myth (or fairy tale)? why?
Why do you ask such hard questions, Amalia!?!? This is like the favorite author question. I can't name just one! But I'll go with the myth of Isis (Egyptian) and of Inanna (Sumerian).
6. What's your favorite god/goddess in mythology?
Oh good, see question 5! But as far as gods go, I am partial to Dionysus.
7. Which character of your own would you lost like to have show up on your doorstep?
My current MC's best friend. She is one of my all time favorite characters, hilarious and so fun to write!
8. For Friendship or Romance? Why?
Definitely for friendship!
9. Which character of someone else's would you most like to have show up on your doorstep?
Since I went on an Outlander binge this fall (books 1-5), I'm going to go with Jamie Frazer.
10. For Friendship or Romance? Why?
ROMANCE! HELLO!
11. What book have you read the most? Or if you don't reread books, what book do you most remember the experience of reading?
See random item number 11! Truthfully...my own books. I read them and reread them and revise them and read them A LOT!
Okay, guys! That's it! If you want to answer questions too, feel free to take this award! And I hope you enjoyed the answers.
Hahaha! I am glad this worked out for you!! :)
ReplyDeleteand I love your answer to question 10. bwahahaha. So did you end up enjoying books 4 and 5? we never touched base on them! Tell me things!
And I totally do the same thing with my books -- I am all "But I really just want to reread this Pirithous novella -- guh, fiiiine I will read something else, goodreads, you big jerk not counting it when I read my own stuff that isn't published yet!"
Hehehe! It SO worked out! Seriously, give me awards everyday! And yeah...4 and 5...
DeleteOkay so 4 I liked...but I found Bree's story line unbelievably emotionally draining. I'm really not a fan of what happened to her and I find it hard to read in all the perspectives because I can't identify with Claire and think of Bree as my daughter and then with Bree and think of Claire as my mother when all the time I just love Jamie and just...guhhh! I know what happens to Claire in book 6 and I just...can't go on right now with them. I decided I'll tackle 6 and 7 when book 8 has a release date.
5 I found really hard to get through. It's not a book. It's just a bunch of vignettes that she sort of strung together. I didn't mind all the extra unnecessary scenes in the earlier books for whatever reason, but I started losing patience by this point. Pretty much I'm happy with any scene involving Jamie and Claire bc they are so great and charismatic on page, but otherwise...I'm a little drained.
Yeah. I hear you. I actually found that later in the series I was getting to the point where I was putting the books down and not really feeling all that compelled to pick them back up again, except that I loved Jamie.
DeleteI didn't have so much of a problem with the multiple viewpoints, other than the fact that I felt like I was just reading through the parts with the characters I did not love as much just to get to the Jamie and Claire stuff, because really, they're the heart of the book. I LOVE book one and two, and I think I'll reread both of them a couple more times yet, but I'm not sure I'll reread the rest of the series ever. and that is the TRUE TEST for me. haha.
Yeah! I actually downloaded the audio for all of them (which are AMAZING)and I usually would find excuses to stay in my car longer when listening to books 1-3 or taking my ipod inside with me to listen more at home. But by 5, I was like ehhhh whatever.
DeleteI was disappointed with my last audio purchase and decided to re-listen to Outlander. I think I might re-listen to 2 again and...some of 3. But that's it. I really strongly dislike the direction it has gone in and I know a lot of spoilers and I just find the whole thing disappointing though pure love for Jamie will make me finish.
As for the perspectives thing, 4 was just soooo UGH! I mean, I was thinking of Bree as my daughter bc I was in Claire's POV most of the time and then to have that happen to her. Why does THAT have to happen to EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. It's too much!
Yeah. I hear you. It is a lot. There are a lot of repeated kinds of incidences and tropes that I do not completely understand why it has to be that way, in those books. I mean, I recognize that it was a different time and people behaved differently buuuut at the same time -- it is an excess of coincidence, perhaps?
DeleteYes! And I get that it happened a lot. It happens a lot now. But...is it really necessary? I mean we had to go through all the trauma and healing in books 1 and 2, and then again in book 4 and I really just would like to not go through the trauma again in this series. It's a total excess of coincidence. I think also I really loved all the political intrigues of books 1 and 2 and those created interesting, unique dramas and tension and stakes. Can't we have more focus there?
DeleteAmerica is boring. I mean, the setting of the later books kind of prevents that same level of political intrique, etc, I think. Had they stayed in Europe, it would have been unavoidable, but in the Virginia backwoods, it is definitely that much harder to find excuses for them to be involved, I think! So then we end up with... the other stuff.
DeleteI took a class in college on history of English language- we learned Old English, Middle English and Modern English. It was so great. I also read Chaucer and Beowulf and all that and also we read the Bible. So interesting to see the changes :)
ReplyDeleteOoooh that is SO cool! I never got to read the Bible like that. That would make a fun read!
DeleteThis post was rather unpleasant for me to read, as it reminded me of the time we were stuck in the Bermuda Triangle, and I'm trying to repress that memory. I'm pretty sure most of this was covered in that conversation.
ReplyDelete#162
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! How did I cover ALL of these things? Oh yeah, because that road NEVER ended.
DeleteJust kidding, of course. Since you're sitting next to me and all. But I did know most of these. You'll have to come up with some new random tidbits for our upcoming Philly hop.
ReplyDeleteI'm running out of random!!!!!!!!!
DeleteGreat answers! I'm highly impressed by all the languages!! I've always been horrible at them. On a different note, four year old you sounds adorable. haha
ReplyDeleteAnd, I have to say that I agree with Amelia. Mangoes are awesome!
YAY! Another Mango-Lover!
DeleteI just have to say... I heart you! You crack me up on so many levels. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteAw thank you! I heart you too!
Delete