HEIDI'S PICK SIX
1. Which of your characters is
your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
When I was very very young, my mom and my Oma took me to
various places in South East Asia. I remember staying at a hotel called
the Ferengi hotel (I'm not sure how it was spelled, but it was
definitely pronounced that way) so we called home using silly
Ferengi-voices with a fake ransom demand for "two of Starfleet's
brightest". I recall jumping up and down on the bed in Hong Kong
shouting "WONDERFUL HONG KONG, I LOVE HONG KONG." At some point, we went
to see the elephants and got to ride on one's back. When my sandal fell
off my foot, the elephant picked it up with his trunk and handed it
back to me. There was also a photo op with a snake across our shoulders
-- one of those massive boa-types. I remember I wasn't scared at all;
all I could focus on was how damn heavy the snake was and how I wanted
them to finish taking the picture already so I could have an unbroken collar bone.
In Malaysia, we saw the viper temple, and I
tried to pet a cobra as he was being charmed. Mom got her first gray
hair on that trip.
She got her second gray hair in northern
Thailand when I almost got my hand taken off by an alligator (or
crocodile; I don't remember exactly which one it was; I was busy moving
my hand out of the water) whilst we traveled by river boat. I was not
the most cautious of children.
I got to go to Yukon
for my twelfth birthday, with my dad. We camped for a week, went
panning for gold, and I got to try out my knowledge of the lupine
language with a local wolf pack. We also bought a large cinnamon bun on
the way from Whitehorse to Dawson City, and went hiking off the highway,
where I almost got carried off by a swarm of mosquitoes. The Beringia
Museum was a special treat. Giant sloth skeleton = nightmares for weeks.
When I was eighteen,
mom and I went to Guatemala together. I learned what alcoholic drinks I
liked and mom quickly got marked as an easy target by vendors of
weaving goods, who followed her back to the boat we were taking around
Lago Atitlan. I shook my head and said "I can't take you anywhere," as
she got buried under a pile of huipils.
I've also been to various places in the
States and when I was six we went to Ottawa for my god-mom's election as
only female Prime Minister of Canada. Well, we went for her campaigning
as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party (not the same party as
the nowadays Conservatives). I still have my pink "Kim" cap and I
remember helping my mom hold up a massive sign that said "KIM" three
times on it, shouting "KIM KIM KIM KIM" with the rest of the crowd.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I love both coffee and tea, but in order to function I need a cup of joe in the morning. Or afternoon; whenever I wake up.
4. What else can you do besides write?
I have over two decades experience in the performing arts -- from
modelling to stage work to film, as a techie and an actor (I prefer
acting, but I'm awesome at both). I also play three instruments, all
terribly (piano, alto sax, and guitar); I sing (passably); I crochet,
knit, and sew; I bake delicious things; I cook (my fiancé doesn't
believe me, because I'm lazy and usually make him do it); I paint; I
once ran a restaurant and I used to work as a barista (which I loved and
would do again in a heartbeat, as soon as they make positronic spines);
I can drink several shots of 80 proof booze within half an hour and
still be standing (in related news, my liver is plotting my death).
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
I once wrote an execution scene from the point of view of the condemned. It was incredibly draining and very difficult.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just
take you along for the ride?11. What kind of music speaks to you?
13. Celebrity crush.Ryan Reynolds. He inspired me to buy Green Lantern underwear. (That, and the fact my fiancé's a massive GL fan....)
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Yes, though looked at comparatively to how much I watch live-action shows, not that much. Regardless -- Brony Pride!
Also, Netflix has an ever-expanding selection of favourites from my
childhood, so I foresee much more cartoon-watching in my future.
While not writing, Katje spends zir time dancing burlesque, acting, drinking, subverting the heteronormative, gender-binarist paradigm, and killing filthy Cylons.
DESCRIPTION of Bellica:
Amor vincit omnia. As a new leader, pledged to dark forces, takes the Sceptre, can the embattled, valiant women of Athering prove that the power of love is greater than the love of power?
All Bellica Yarrow wants from life is to stay the course. Her military career fulfills her childhood dreams and affords her a freedom royalty never did. Yarrow doesn’t need anything more than the steadfast friendship of her Major, Caelum, and her Chief Medical Officer Jules.
The Goddesses have other plans, however. They set in motion events that threaten the Bellica with madness and despair. Constancy has been Yarrow’s standby, but betrayals on every side push her further into chaos. She watches the puppet-Empress, her aunt, destroy the country, and dreads the day Zardria, her power-hungry twin sister, takes the Sceptre and rules openly.
Should Bellica Yarrow keep her military oath, or topple her sister’s cruel regime? Can she?
The choice is nearly impossible. The longer she equivocates, the more she risks the lives of everyone she holds dear. Meanwhile, Zardria has her own idea of how events should unfold – and what Yarrow doesn’t know could cost the Bellica her life.
Buy Bellica at The Pack Press - http://thepackpress.com/
Your godmother was the Prime Minister of Canada?! That is a sterling first for HEIDI"S PICK SIX.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating, Katje.
:) Heidi
Haha, yep! Kim and my parents went to law school together.
DeleteThanks for having me, Heidi! This was a lot of fun. :)