Random Facts about Me

  1. I’m married to the love of my life! We got married when I was 21 and he was 20. That was *mumblemumble* years ago. We met our first week at college because we lived down the hall from each other in the honors dorm. Yes – we really are that nerdy.
  2. I teach karate in my spare time. I have earned first degree black belts in taekwondo, chidokwan karate (which is very similar to shotokan), and Okinawan kobudo (weapons). I’ve also trained for a year or more in shotokan karate, goju ryu karate, American kenpo, and judo. As of April 2013, I’ve been training in one style or another for about 19 years.
  3. I once kicked off someone’s headphones with a jump spin kick without hurting him.
  4. I have a deep, visceral hatred of slugs. Especially huge banana slugs, but even the little ones creep me out. Much worse than spiders.
  5. I hate bananas almost as much as I hate slugs. Yes, the healthy ones that Mr. Brightley likes.
  6. I have eaten fried silkworms and several other bugs. Bananas are more disgusting than bugs.
  7. My very first favorite book, when I was about 18 months old and listening to my parents read to me, was Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds. I LOVED the owl section. Yes, really. I knew all the owls, their phases, their calls, their ranges, etc. Unfortunately I have forgotten most of the owls by now.
  8. I have horrible stage fright. Even in front of kids. Teaching karate has helped, but it’s still hard.
  9. I am 4’11.5″ tall.
  10. I write in all caps. I thought it was cool in high school and then I got stuck that way. I can write in cursive but it takes concentration. Regular print is more difficult.
  11. I think chocolate deserves to be its own food group.
  12. When I was very young, I could solve any Rubik’s cube easily. Not record-breakingly fast, but I could do it in 2-3 minutes. I didn’t try again all through elementary school and high school, and now my magic is gone. I can do it, but I had to look up various methods and memorize how to solve each type of solution – it doesn’t just happen easily.
  13. I’ve always imagined stories, but they existed only in my head for years. Of course, I was always the heroine. Most of them were long, meandering epics with no concrete ending or purpose. They were good practice, but they weren’t really imagined as books. Most of them will NEVER see the light of day! My first published book is The King’s Sword. You can read more about how that story developed in this guest post I wrote for FantasyBookCritic.
  14. I once hugged a tiger.
  15. My husband and I drove a Fiat Panda over the Alps. At night. It was snowing. There were signs warning us to watch out for cows and to stay on the road for fear of unexploded WWII ordnance. Our GPS made us do it.
  16. I was named after my great grandmother. She was wonderful and feisty and sweet. She taught 2nd grade Sunday school in the same church for over 60 years, and passed away at 108 years old, shortly after my daughter was born. She grew up picking cotton, married a blacksmith, and lived to see iPhones (I don’t think she ever used one).
  17. I think coming up with random facts about myself is difficult. If you’re interested, ask!