Some Random Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me

I’ve seen some other authors share posts like this, so I thought I’d see what I could come up with . . .

1. When I was a five-year-old flower girl, I got drunk on champagne at a wedding reception. Yes, you read that right. (I was sitting at the head table and couldn’t finish my huge dinner, so I figured I’d at least finish my drink—which, for some reason, was champagne. The server then refilled my glass, and I drank that one, too.)

2. At about this same age, I turned my bedroom into a “library” by sticking a sign on my door and writing my name in every single book I could find (even the ones that weren’t mine).

3. As a child, I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet. Horrible shock. Now, I’m married to an electrician.

4. I have a scar on my chin from when I was about eleven and sledded downhill, face-first, into ice-crusted snow.

5. On a happier note, I used to walk around my neighborhood on stilts. (My pogostick was pretty fun, too.)

6. Back in my teens, after dropping off a stack of library books, I overheard the librarians complaining that I was taking advantage of the system by returning too many books at once. I was mortified. Yes, I read a lot of books, but these weren’t all mine; I was helping my family (of six) by dropping off their books, too. Anyway, overly-sensitive as I was at the time, I felt deeply betrayed by my favorite place, the library. I’m glad that didn’t stop me from becoming a writer. 🙂

7. One time in Walmart, a man yelled at me for walking on the “wrong” side of the aisle. Didn’t school teach me how to walk correctly and in a line? he demanded. I was too shocked to reply to his rudeness, but I should have said, “Of course not. I was homeschooled.” I guess we homeschoolers are a wild and reckless, line-shirking bunch. I mean, just look at me as a child. Obvious troublemaker, right?

8. My right eye is extremely nearsighted, but I don’t have to wear contacts or glasses because my left eye dominates when both eyes are open. (Remember, I warned you this list would be random.)

9. I eat a big bowl of ice cream almost every night.

10. When I was a cake decorator in a grocery store, I worked during a power-outage by decorating cakes by flashlight. Not an easy task, but I bet you’d be impressed at how well those cakes turned out.

11. When a tornado warning blared through my town in 2015, the first thing I grabbed on my way to take shelter was the manuscript I was working on at the time (After the Thaw).

12. And if you’ve read After the Thaw, you might recall the scene in which Ben tells Charlene he loves her (by using the fire department’s thermal imaging camera). That was inspired by real life—my husband (a firefighter at the time) did that for me. Aww…

Okay, that’s it for now. I may come back and add to this list as new random thoughts occur to me.

Then again, this is all probably more than anyone needs, or wants, to know about me. 😉 But it sure was fun to write!