It’s spill-your-guts day here on my blog! Who wants to go first?
Okay. I will.
With It Happened One Night hitting the shelves just two weeks ago, life’s been kind of busy—in the best way possible. Luckily, the response to the book has been overwhelmingly positive, with new reviews and requests for interviews and guest blog posts arriving every day!
So, last week, an interviewer wrote “Tell us something quirky/funny about yourself.” And—okay—I had no idea what to say. I just about wanted to bang my head on my computer—but didn’t, because I didn’t want to damage my screen. I thought, What on earth is quirky and funny about me?
Since I was stumped, I called Matt (my fiancé) and posed the question. His response: Well, sometimes when you’re deep into a project you don’t always pay attention to the conversation right away. So talking to you is like talking to someone with two tins cans and a string.
And this is the man I’m going to marry. 
But I have to admit he does have a point.
It’s hard to come up with an answer to those kinds of questions! But here’s what I ended up writing:
1. I have terrible taste in movies–the cheesier the better.
2. My brother, sister, and I all have matching tattoos of New Jersey–mine’s on my, um, rear end.
3. I do my best writing in bed (my desk can’t hold a candle to a pile of pillows and a blanket).
4. I’m the worst cook ever. The other day I had to look up how to boil an egg. Seriously.
5. My weaknesses are microbrewed beer, dark chocolate, and beta heroes who have just enough alpha to be sexy without being jerks.
So here’s the deal. What I REALLY want to do today is turn this question over to you! What’s something quirky about you? I like getting to know you guys through your comments. And as always, comments enter you to win my monthly LOVE TO READERS prize. (RobynL, I’m sending you last month’s soon!)
Cheers ‘til next week!
Lisa Dale
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay Ill go first,whats quirky about me,is that Im a mother of 6! grandmother of 5 ,a husband ,a dog,an a cat,whew,all of the kids are grown an gone except one teenage girl,who graduates this year!Can we say PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!I said that when she walks across that stage im gonna be like Martin Luther King an SHOUT,IM FREE! IM FREE,THANK GOD ALL MIGHTY IM FREE AT LAST!!!!!!LOL,if I was able id do a cartwheel too! but im too fat to do that,but im tired an ready for that empty nest,an enjoy my old age an granchldren an send them home when im tired,lol
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sharing your answers with us!
I had to think really hard to come up with an answer of my own. I even asked a friend if she could help me out. So here’s one:
I am obsessed with Twitter! First thing in the morning, I check my Twitter (I don’t even have to log in because I leave the window open ALL the time). I sometimes wait a while before replying to someones tweet just so it doesn’t seem like I’m always on Twitter! LOL
absolutely nothing. I’m hands-down the most normal person i know. haahha.
P.S. Join the club with the Jersey tattoo. Everyone has that…
My ‘quirky’ is that I always count the # of stairs I’m going up and count them when going back down. Even my own stairs at home each time I use them. There are 13 and I count them every time. While at the Cancer Patient Lodge I counted the stairs and I used them lots.
My mind is always in the gutter. For example, if someone says something like, “That’s too hard!” I automatically think something else. Depending on who it is, I might retort, “And that’s a BAD thing?”
Are you sure you wanna ask ME this?! lol
1. I wear all my T-shirts and blouses twice before washing.
2. I like alphabetizing and probably could file all day and not get bored, as long as I have music.
3. I color-coordinate my “closet.” Closet is in quotes because it’s not really a closet, but just a bar from wall to wall where I hang my clothes.
4. I must use the same pen from its start to its end. I feel sad when I lose a pen I’ve been using for a long time.
5. The toilet paper must be over, not under. I will change it anywhere if it’s wrong (http://currentconfig.com/2005/02/22/essential-life-lesson-1-over-is-right-under-is-wrong/).
That’s good for now
I’m kind of quirky about my eating habits. I don’t like my food mixed up and also I tend to eat one thing at a time. I don’t usually take a bite of one thing and then another, I finish them off one at a time. My kids think it’s wierd.
Please Lisa, can I band my head on my computer too ???
Really, I’m probably the least quirky person around !! Ok now, even “not-quirky” people can have some habits. Here are a few of mine :
- pre-washing the dishes before loading the dish-washer (because who wants food swimming around in your appliance ?).
- placing my books on the shelves in a very important order : first genres, then authors, then series. Because especially in series, the covers tend to match and who wants to have mismatched sheves ?
- Ckecking my amazon orders almost everday. Because who knows ? They may ship It Happened One Night or my others books before next year as predicted (OK maybe I’m slightly exagerating but you get the meaning right ? Grrrrr…)
I am and always have been, a logophile and a bibliophile. My parents have a photo of me at age one, “reading” “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, with a big grin on my face. I still have that book.
When I was in Grade 3, I was tested by the Principal of my school for reading, comprehension and spelling and tested at Grade 9 level.
This is why writers are my rock stars!
If I have something qiurky about myself, I can’t think of it, but it is also ealry in the mounring to think, lol
My quirkiness lies in the fact that I’m a closet goth girl. I would so totally wear white makeup, black lipstick, studded chokers and all the hoopla except I’m not brave enough. lol
Deidre
ha, I’ve done a terrible job of boiling eggs before, lol
My quirk? I practice conversations in my head as if I’m talking to the person I’m supposed to have it with… then can’t remember if it was an actual conversation or one I was supposed to have.
I also love to eat dessert at the same time as my meal.
OMG! RobynL…I do the exact same thing with the stairs!! At my house…anywhere that has stairs. I also do it when I’m deleting emails…like when I’ve read a page full of them, but want to keep only 2…I can’t click ‘check all’ so I have to click each one and I count them as I go!! LOL I’ve recently started saying, click, click, click, instead of counting! hahaha
Emmanuelle ~ I also “pre-wash” my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher! My DH makes fun of me. If I’m going to be washing something by hand, I do the same thing…could you imagine sticking your hands in dishwater with all sorts of nastiness floating around! *SHUDDER*
Thank you so much for sharing your quirkiness with us, Lisa! It’s been fun reading everyone’s comments…especially now that I know I’m not the only “crazy” person out there! LOL
What an interesting subject..being Quirky.there really is a name for what I do. ha ha I can’t read a book unless my one foot is moving all the time..I do it without even realizing it. When I sleep I end up down in the middle of the bed..I drag my pillow with me so always have my pillow..hubby expects to see me hanging over the foot of the bed some day when he wakes up. I am not aware I do this. Thinking maybe handcuffs would be the answer to keep me where I belong in bed. ha ha I still have another one..I will not go outside the house unless I have lipstick on..not even to hang up clothes in the summer. I get teased alot about this one as we live in the woods and no one around to even see me when I got outside. ha I am happy to be part of this newsletter and hope you have a very happy day. susan L.
Ohhhh…. you may not like this, but here goes:
Misspellings and typos and grammatical errors LEAP out of pages for me. I’m getting better at ignoring them and not allowing them to spoil the story, but they annoy the heck out of me. Isn’t that what line editors do? Or am I mistaken?
And I love Cheetos. So much so that when I buy those bags of various flavors for my sons’ lunches, I take out all the Cheetos and squirrel them away so they won’t see them and want them, since they like them also. They can have all the other flavors, just keep Mom happy and keep your paws off my Cheetos!
Oh boy, this should fall right into the post before me. I am the worlds worst for misspellings and typos and grammatical errors. Even back when I was in school I could study the words for the test, pass it and then not know how to spell them later. Also I can’t keep my mind on anything I am doing! I may be making the bed one minute and then cleaning on the kitchen the next before I ever finish the bed. I get side tracked real easy. Hmmm I think I am loosing my mind sometimes because I used to not be this bad. I also do my spring cleaning in the fall, like the windows and such.
There are many little quirks about me–but what else would you expect from a guy who wrote a book titled “Sensitivity 1010 for the Hetersoexual Male?” But here is #! in my world. I must re-organize my closet weekly after I do the laundry–that’s right ladies, I do the laundry for the family. I have to have my short sleeve shirts in line first, then my multi-colored long sleeves next, followed by my solid-colored last. Right next to these are my black pants, then followed in order from darkest to lightest. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but doesn’t press the issue…
There are many little quirks about me–but what else would you expect from a guy who wrote a book titled “Sensitivity 101 for the Hetersoexual Male?” But here is #! in my world. I must re-organize my closet weekly after I do the laundry–that’s right ladies, I do the laundry for the family. I have to have my short sleeve shirts in line first, then my multi-colored long sleeves next, followed by my solid-colored last. Right next to these are my black pants, then followed in order from darkest to lightest. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but doesn’t press the issue…
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sharing. I’m sure I have a lot of quirky things; aren’t all writers quirky? Right now I’m writing (took a break to peek at your blog) and I’m wearing purple Isotoner gloves with the fingertips cut off bec. my hands are freezing! The first time dh saw me working like this he burst out laughing. lol
Something quirky about me is:
I have to have things a certain way whether is be things on my computer desk or when I am cooking or cleaning, etc,etc. LOL. I have to check my emails daily or it drives me nuts! I can’t stand being late so therefore I am always 20-30 mins early. I’m sure there is a bunch more! LOL.
Oh my Gosh, you guys! I LOVE these answers. I’ve read them all but am feeling a little schlumpy tonight. Will reply to ALL these awesome comments very soon!
Seriously, these are the best thing that have happened to me all day. *Grinning* Thank you!!
These are all great!
I’m a little late to the party, but here goes:
Sometimes when I’m nodding off to sleep, thinking about how cozy and happy I am to be in bed makes me kind of chuckle in a contented way. Well, I didn’t know that I actually did this out loud until my husband told me I do this creepy laugh thing in the darkness that haunts his nightmares.
Poor husband.
Well I have something called Schizotypal Personality Disorder so according to my family members I have all sorts of funny litlle quirks. lol
If I know something needs to get done, I want it done right now. I don’t want to wait until the next day, I want to get it done so I can stop thinking about it.
I eat on food on my plate at a time. And I usually leave the best thing on the plate for last.
I have to lay on my back when I first go to bed, then after getting tired I will switch to my left side and right before going off to dream land I will move to my stomach. It takes about 45 minutes for me to fall asleep each night.
I can’t think of anything in particular that’s really quirky, mind you, if my husband was here I’m sure he could give you a list of things.
I’m always thinking about other things, usually plots/characters/next thing to happen in my novel, and this is usually whilst listening to others talk/working/cooking, so that generally I make some sort of mistake at whatever I’m doing. Obviously am unable to multi-task.
I’ve just checked my orders on amazon.fr and sure enough, It Happened One Night has shipped ! I should probably receive it next tuesday instead of next month, Yay !!
Now, who said checking your orders every single day was useless (and obsessive) ? Best news for today
Since getting married, I learned that I sortof sleep talk/walk … apparently, I do weird stuff in my sleep. For example, this week, I sat up on three different occasions and turned my bedside lamp on, sat for a minute, and then turned it off. I have no recollection of this, my husband told me about it the next morning. Another time, I was laughing so hard and loud in my sleep that my husband came in from another room to check on me. When he asked if I was okay, he said I said, “Ummmm, ummmmm.” I have no recollection of this. One time, I found myself standing at my dresser in the middle of night – that’s where I woke up. There are many more examples, but the best was one time when I rolled over to my husband, put my hand gently on his face and said very seriously and softly, “Honey, I have to tell you something” and then promptly rolled over and went to sleep. Again, I have no recollection of this. My dear husband – the things he puts up with while trying to sleep!
Hi, Lisa,
I got here via the Forever authors loop (I just sold to GCP in June) and wanted to let you know I like your blog. As for what’s quirky about me, cough-cough – a lot.
But the wackiest stuff: I have a pet rabbit who has her own bedroom (complete w/cardboard cottage). And I once had a party on a plane with complete strangers (I’m still not quite sure how that happened – blaming it on the vodka- LOL). Anyway, nice to *meet* you. Cheers!
HI Lisa,
I found my way here by way of My totebag.
I guess a couple of my quirks is that I have a thing for the number 10.
When I clean house, shake rugs mix brownies stuff like that I do it in clusters of ten. Shake rugs ten times and flip, ten strokes with a spoon, ten passes with the vacuum. I figure that is enough to make sure everything is clean as a whistle.
@Vickie, Huge congrats to you! You don’t have a family- -you have a tribe!
@Melanie, I love twitter too. Not obsessive, and I’m a little irregular in how often I get on there, but still, it’s such a great place to meet other book nerds!
@David, Next weekend, we get mom in on it.
@RobynL, I’ll admit—I used to count windows like that when I was watching TV—mostly the show in question wasn’t moving fast enough. That went away when I discovered knitting.
@Laney4, Can I assume you also prescribe to the “that’s what she said” method?
@Linda. Yep. That’s weird. I have a friend who does that too. It’s fascinating to watch her eat.
@Emmanuelle, you are a model for us all! I hope you like IHON!
@Sara Dee, that’s amazing. Wow. Seems logical that you’d be a writer too, no?
@Dina, It’s admirable that you’re already surfing the net trying to put thoughts together so early!
@Deidre, That’s a great one. I was just talking to my sister last night about sneaking into a goth club—I’ve never been. We shall see.
@Ali, “I also love to eat dessert at the same time as my meal.” I am all for this!!!
@Lori S., I wish I had the option of prewashing! I am the household dishwasher. And I am usually on the fritz.
@susan leech, that is awesome about the lipstick. I could use a little more of that kind of habit in my life, honestly. I’ll leave the house in just about anything, sometimes.
@Tappitytaptap, That is hilarious. I’ve been known to do that with chocolate too.
@Quilt Lady, you’re in good company! I know I’ve got the occasional typo on my blog. But I like to look at it like any art or craft—there’s irregularities.
@Phillip, welcome! your book sounds interesting. That’s certainly quirky about your closet! Some people have skeletons, you have clothes with all the precision of the dewy decimal system!
@Kathy, I’ve so been there. These days I have the opposite problem—the landlord gets crazy with the heat! It’s like Florida in here in January!
@Sue, Nothing wrong with that! Cheers to Type As!
@Rebecca, oh man…..
@Mary, awesome to have that “get it done now” thing. I could use more of that myself!
@Debs, you’re a woman after my own heart.
@emmanuelle, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
@Suzz, I totally didn’t know that about you. Oh but now I do *rubs hands together*
@hiya Vicki, Thanks for coming by! I love your party on the plane story. Why don’t I end up on flights like that!
@Gigi, I think that’s cool that that number is important to you. I wonder what it means….
@Dove95, Sorry I missed your comment! It got caught in spam. Of all these quirks, the pen thing is my favorite. I’ve tried to use a pen ’til the end, but i always lose it first! How much garbage do you think we’d save if we all used one pen til it dies?