Who doesn’t like being asked random questions about themselves?

I was nominated by Sarah Mitchell-Jackson to take part in this “siblinghood of the world blogger award.” (I haven’t a clue what it’s about, but I trust Sarah. You would, too, if you knew she was nominated for a Pushcart Award.)

The idea is that I answer the ten questions she gave me and pass the process on by asking ten other bloggers ten original questions that I thought up. (I’m only half as ambitious as Sarah as evidenced by my asking five people to answer five questions.)

Sarah’s answers to the questions she was posed can be seen on her wonderful site at this post.

To make good on my nomination, here’s what Sarah asked me (and nine others):

What is your favourite breakfast?

Coffee, black, a lot of it. (Sarah is British, as you might guess from her use of that extraneous “u.”)

What is the shortest piece you have written?

A 99K-word novel. All “short stories” of mine have been chapters that I’ve “lifted” and gently edited for entry into writing contests or submissions in literary journals.

What made you decide to start blogging?

The notion that I needed an “author platform.” I don’t blog now for that reason. I blog now because I like to.

What is your desk like?

It is L-shaped. On the short edge, there is my laptop, a lava lamp, and a scattered pile of 4 x 6 inch cards with chapter and character notes. On the long edge, there’s a five-inch bison, a wooden bowl with off-cast jewelry, dried white sage (for burning), a scented candle (for when I run out of sage), a fourth draft of my third novel which I’m revising for resubmission, and a stack of ignored papers and bills.

Who or what inspires you to write?

My lack of any other viable creative outlet: I don’t like knitting, I can’t paint, and I have a scar on my wrist from the time I tried welding a table for a birthday gift.

If it weren’t for social media, how many other writers would you know?

Personally? One who considers himself a writer, but he comes off as a pompous ass.

What do you read?

WSJ. Pulizter-prize-winning novels. The Altantic.

If you didn’t write, what would you do instead with the time?

Sleep. I write in the early morning.

What do you tell your family about your writing while you are working on something?

When I sit down to write a novel, I do so day after consecutive day until I’m done. The longest it’s taken me to write a novel is 78 days—the shortest, 52. When I’m writing, I read to my spouse what I’ve written at the end of each day.

What is your favourite word and why?

It’s “favorite” without that silly extra vowel. No, just kidding: it’s “ostensibly.”

I nominate these five people:

R.K Brainerd who blogs here.

Kimberly Stoney who blogs here.

Steve Akley who blogs here.

The Graphix Guy who blogs here.

Tina Williams who blogs here.

Please answer these five questions:

1. What was the best book you were ever told you “had to” read, i.e., assigned for school reading?
2. You blog. Do you write other than your blog? If so, what do you write?
3. How do you take your coffee? If you don’t drink coffee, how can you consider yourself a serious writer?
4. What’s your day job? What education/training did you have in order to get said “day job”?
5. What do you do for exercise?