A Fun Quiz: How much do you have in common with Madi McCall?

Because I love quizzes (of the non-school variety), and because today is Madi Moment Monday, I thought it would be fun to post a little questionnaire to see how much you have in common with my main character, Madi McCall. 

When you're stressed, bored, or need a snack, you reach for:

a. Potato chips

b. Grapes

c. Skittles

d. Edy's Dibs

When faced with something you don't want to deal with, you:

a. Deal with it anyway, in a calm, mature way.

b. Escape to the bathroom and take a hot bubble bath

c. Hide behind a potted plant.

d. both b & c

The most "fourth grade" thing you've done lately is:

a. Run through a mud puddle

b. Jump on the bed

c. Make a "duck beak" out of Pringles

d. Blow raspberries at someone

You consider therapy to be:

a. A waste of time

b. For other people, but not for you

c. A sign of weakness

d. A mental life-saver

When you see a spider, you:

a. Grab a tissue and squish the sucker

b. Catch it and put it outside

c.  Run the other way

d. Practically have a panic attack

Your favorite computer game is:

a. Farmville

b. I don't waste my time on computer games

c. Text Twist

d. Solitaire

Your mother could be compared to television mom:

a. June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver)

b. Carol Brady (The Brady Bunch)

c. Debra Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)

d. Roseanne Conner (Roseanne)

Your hot beverage of choice is:

a. Chai

b. Hot chocolate

c. Tea

d. Coffee, any flavor, any time

The Disney princess you're most like is:

a. Mulan (Mulan)

b. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

c. Fiona (Shrek)

d. All of the above

ANSWERS

NO D's: If you did not circle any D's, consider yourself normal and not at all like Madi. This means you need to buy my book so you can gain insight into the mind of a non-normal, slightly neurotic, but well-meaning woman.

1 - 5 D's: You have a few things in common with Madi and probably experience occasional Madi Moments. You need to buy my book because you will relate very well to the main character.

6 - 9 D's: Your life is one big Madi Moment. You need to buy my book so you can see that there is someone out there who is just as slightly neurotic and quirky as you are.

How much like Madi are you?

Fun Friday: Me...from A to Z

I'm in the mood for something fun today. So here's more than you've ever wanted to know about me. Feel free to share your own A to Z details on your blog. Let me know so I can get to know you better!

A. age :: Forever 35!

B. baked good preference :: Anything containing chocolate

C. chore you hate ::Cleaning the tub. Ugh.

D. dogs :: None. According to our daughter, we are the meanest parents in the world.

E. essential start to your day ::Coffee. Duh.

F. favorite color :: Turquoise

G. gold or silver :: silver

H. height :: 5'3 (1/2)

I. instruments you play :: Clarinet in junior high, some piano

J. job title :: Author/writer (full time), warehouse worker, pricing rep. (part time)

K. kids ::Zach and Lyndsey

L. live :: West Michigan

M. maiden name :: Vermeer (yes, like the painter. We have to be related somewhere down the line)

N. nicknames :: Gorgeous, Hot, Sexy...oh, for real? Pin (not quite as appealing)

O. overnight hospital stays :: twice with babies

P. pet peeve :: Being late (and people who are late), loud chewing

Q. quote ::“”

R. righty or lefty :: right

S. siblings :: Two younger brothers (one's a lefty!)

T. time you wake up :: Between 4 & 5. I'm not crazy, just an early bird.

U. university attended :: none

V. vegetables you dislike: squash

W. what makes you run late :: If I am ever late, it must be because of someone else. (See P)

X. x-rays you’ve had ::Shoulder, neck, dental. Does the dreaded mammo count?

Y. yummy food :: Ice cream, anything sweet, cappuccinos, burritos

Z. zoo animal favorite ::Definitely monkeys

 

Have a fabulous weekend!

For Writers: A Fun Monday Meme

You may or may not know that I am the writer behind the FaithWriters blog. On Friday, I posted a fun Friday meme, where visitors were encouraged to pass it along on their own blogs. Well, that's what I'm doing today, only instead of a Fun Friday Meme, I'm titling it a Fun Monday Meme (makes sense, right?).

Here's how it works:

1. Copy and paste the following questions to the comments and replace my answers with your own.

2. If you have a blog, copy and paste these questions and your answers to your blog.

3. Challenge your readers to do the same on their blog.

If you don’t have a blog, skip #’s 2 & 3!

All of this week’s questions have to do with writing (hence, the title of this post: A Writer’s Meme)

What’s your favorite genre of writing? Mystery/Suspense


How often do you get writer’s block? Hmmm…usually around chapter 4 or 5 of my novels, but never on articles. Always have a plethora of ideas.

How do you fix it? Going to the movies with my refillable bucket of popcorn and a large Diet Coke.

Do you type or write by hand? 60 seconds of writing by hand = major writer’s cramp. I love my laptop!

Do you save everything you write? Losing an entire book taught me a valuable lesson. Now I use Mozy.com to backup everything.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it? Sure!

Do you have a constructive critic? My fabulous crit partner, Susan, who sings my praises and kicks me in the pants at the same time.

Did you ever write a novel? Yep, it’s with an agent now.

What genre would you love to write but haven’t? I really don’t think there’s a genre I haven’t tried at one time or another.

What’s one genre you have never written, and probably never will? Except fantasy. Not my bag.

How many writing projects are you working on right now? 4, I think.

Do you write for a living? Do you want to? I want to and I do!

Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper? Yes and No, respectively.

Have you ever won an award for your writing? A few…

Do you ever write based on your dreams? Not yet.

Do you favor happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers? Depends on the story. And my mood.

YOUR TURN!

Fun Friday Meme

Today I'm doing a Fun Friday Meme for all of you writers out there. Take a moment to copy and paste these questions onto your own blog. Leave a message here when you've done it so I can hop on over and check it out. I love learning stuff about my fellow writers.


What's the last thing you wrote? From start to finish, it was a review on the DVD, Hollywood on Fire. I've submitted it to a particular publication but haven't heard back yet. The last thing I wrote at all was in my current novel. Trying to get the first fifteen pages polished up for the ACFW Genesis contest.

Was it any good? I think so!

What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have? A story I wrote in 6th grade called, The Summer I Went to Honolulu. It's not complete but I love it. It even includes characature drawings. LoL

Write poetry? Not as much as I used to. I've been meaning to put together a batch of greeting card verse (which is pretty much poetry) to submit to Blue Mountain Arts and to DaySpring. Gotta get on that.


Do you type or write by hand? Almost always type. But with poetry, I need my pencil and paper.

Do you save everything you write? Since losing an entire manuscript, YES!

Does music help you write? Sometimes I put music on and sometimes I like it quiet. Depends on my mood. Right now, I've got a Christian radio station playing.


Do you even show people your work? Hmmm. Yes and no. I have no problem sending my work to a crit buddy or two but rarely show my family or friends. Published work is different. I guess I need to know something is publishable before sharing with those close to me.


Do you want to write for a living? I want to and I DO!


Have you ever written something for a magazine or newspaper? Yes, both. Well, the newspaper thing was just a letter to the editor but, hey, it was printed. I've had a couple of magazine articles published (the most recognizable magazine is Christian Home & School) and I also have a short story being held by Mature Living that I'm hopeful will be published someday soon. My goal is to start submitting more to print magazines.

The last thing you've had published for pay? Not sure. Either an article on WahCheck or a FaithReaders interview. Both were published this week but not sure which one was published first.


Fiction Writers...

Where do you get ideas for your characters? Probably bits and pieces of people I know. I tend to look for (and love discovering) the quirky and bizarre things people do. Incorporating them into my characters is fun.

Are you a Pantser or a Plotter? Totally a Pantser. Taking time to plot takes the fun out of it for me. I basically spend a bit of time mulling over the story in my head until I have a good idea of where I'm going with it. Then I start with gusto and like to see where my characters and the story take me. Once I'm in a few dozen pages, I stop to semi-plot, just to get things straight in my mind and brainstorm new twists.

Have you ever written sci-fi, fantasy, or horror? Nope. Never have and probably never will. Not my thing.

Ever written romance or teen angsty drama? My finished novel is Mom Lit and that has a little romance in it. I've also written several romantic flash fiction pieces. The first novel I ever started (and LOST - see question 6, above) was a YA, although it wouldn't exactly quality as teen angsty drama.

Genre of choice? Contemporary anything - mystery, romance, drama. Mystery would be the genre I most like to read.

Do you favor happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers? I would say it depends on the story, but I really don't like to write cliff-hangers unless, of course, the book is part of a series. Otherwise, closure is always the goal.


Quote something you've written. The first thing to pop into your mind.

All men cheat.

At least, that’s what my mother’s told me—a gazillion times. Okay, so Mom has valid reasons for her opinion. Let’s look at the facts: my father cheated on her. The three men she’s dated since she and my father divorced twenty-eight years ago cheated on her. And she’s positive her married boss is having an affair with a cashier at the convenience store where she works.

“A much younger cashier,” she keeps stressing.

This is the opening of Mind over Madi, the novel I recently finished. I am thinking of reworking the beginning, but it's probably the thing I've written that I remember most clearly.


YOUR TURN! I'm tagging all of you to copy and paste this FUN FRIDAY MEME onto your blog. Don't forget to come back and let me know. I've love to check it out.