Trivial Pursuit

The best laid plans of a blogger—at least this one—have been dashed by not feeling well and school getting underway, as well as participating in an exciting book launch with the talented Nadine Brandes. My blogging plan of action has been low on the ambition scale . . . blog once a week, on Tuesday or Wednesday. Sounded simple enough when I set the goal.

Today I wanted to get another Madeleine L’Engle quote up and properly pondered but the time bomb of company calling is ticking and I don’t feel I can do the piece justice. Determined to do SOMETHING, I was relieved to be tagged by RJ Conte to participate in a “Get to Know the Blogger,” Q & A.

THIS I can whip up. Besides, I have been wanting to update my “About” page for awhile. I may not get to that today but can tag this onto it for a start.

So here it goes . . . things you never even wondered about me that I’m going to tell you anyway! (Questions were predetermined).

Name: What I plan to put on my books: Heather L.L. FitzGerald. “L. L.” is for: Lynn (middle name) and Love (maiden name). I figure if two initials are good enough for C.S. Lewis, and and two repetitive initials are good enough for J.R.R. Tolkien, then, by golly, they’re good enough for me as well!

Age: Born “in the summer of ’69” (sung to the tune of Bryan Adams “Summer of ’69.” Duh). You do the math.

Gender: Hopefully that’s obvious with this selfie below . . . (part of the game of  tag).

 

 

 

But I drink so much coffee, I fear I may wake up one day and look like this:

 

 

 

Especially since I was born in Seattle, just a year before Starbucks.

It could happen.

 

 Favorites:

Food: Too many things to list. Crazy about Mediterranean food. Tex Mex too. A good slice of real sourdough bread (toasted with butter and raw honey) would be my healthy breakfast choice. A slightly burnt pop tart would be my occasional breakfast treat (guilty pleasure). I like to eat healthy but also love dessert. This can get complicated. CRUNCHY chocolate chip cookies (also rivals a pop tart for breakfast). Anything with milk chocolate frosting. A chocolate truffle. I make some serious chocolate toffee and know the recipe by heart.

Drink: Iced latte. Water. Pepsi is my soda of choice on rare occasions (with pizza!). I also brew my own kombucha tea which makes me a hippie, or so I’ve been told.

Books: Chronicles of Narnia. . . favorite book being The Magician’s Nephew. The Hobbit. Gregor the Overlander series and Hunger Games. The Wingfeather Saga. The Land and Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach (as a kid). Much of Ted Dekker. Dragonwitch….to name a handful.

Movies: Life is Beautiful. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Inception. The Prestige. The Book Thief. Jumper. The Hobbit. The Saint. 

Singers/Bands: Mumford and Sons, Coldplay, Lumineers, American Authors, John Mayer, Sting, Michael Franks, Rob Thomas, Flame, Lacrae, a lot of 70’s and 80’s artists, Andrew Peterson, Page CXVI, movie scores, my daughter Olivia who you will all probably hear one day on the radio waves!

Place: Pacific Northwest (aka, home-sweet-home even though I am in Texas), Nova Scotia, Bora Bora, Greece, Ireland and the rest of the world minus anything with “desert” or “tundra” in its name.

Subject: Writing, Dancing, decorating, watercolors, and reading. I teach ballet at a Fine Art School.

Sport: Is dancing a sport? I teach ballet but love modern and hip hop. Also enjoy swimming and skiing. Watching football on the couch next to my man is a huge favorite, even though I’m mostly enjoying the snuggles and the fire.

Supposed to have a favorite actor and actress here . . . I’m not a big fangirl one way or the other. Although I can tell you who is my least favorite actor easily enough: Nicholas Cage! He’s the same in every movie. Lame talent.

Life:

School: Grew up in Oregon and Washington. Attended 8 schools in 12 years. There wasn’t anything I wanted to do well enough to sink money into for college. Plus, I fell in love with this brainy jock and we were married when I was 20. I have mostly homeschooled my four kiddos.

Best Friends: When you move so much, you gain a long list of friends! Thankful for Facebook to connect with so many wonderful peeps. Still, there are several that are definitely my BFF’s. Amy, Julie, Deirdre, Mindy, Hannah…they are my closest girlfriends. My husband is my closest and best friend, and my four kids are grown and have morphed from children to friends as well.

Political views: Waaay over to the right.

Religious view: Religion is a dead. A relationship with Christ is what I gives me life. He called me out of darkness into His light. He paid the price for my sin with His blood, allowing me to have peace with the God of the universe. What a gift!

Tattoos: None.

Piercing: Two per ear.

Languages: English. Texan 😉

Reason Behind Blog Name: I wanted a blog that would show my desire to connect to my audience AND it tied back into the name of my first book The Tethered World quite well.

Why Do I Blog: Honestly, I wish I could just write stories and send them to the publishing faery. However, this is the day and age of networking on the internet, and thus a blog is necessary. That said, I am really glad that I started a blog, albeit reluctantly, because it’s been a lot of fun meeting other writers and making cyber friends. It’s a good challenge to my discipline and creativity!

If you have any other questions, let me know!

Okay, Clara Diane Thompson, Emily Shiflet, and Abby Jones, it’s your turn!