Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Featured Blogger - Amy from Never-True Tales

Please welcome Amy from Never-True Tales.

Tell us about yourself: Holy open-ended question, Batman! Let's see: I'm Amy. We'll start there. I'm a thirty-something wife and mother and early reading teacher in the beautiful state of Oregon. I'm a distance runner. I'm a Search and Rescue volunteer and a wilderness EMT. I'm a daughter and a sister and a classroom volunteer and a soccer mom. I'm a writer. I edit and administrate a successful travel website and have published poetry and essays in obscure literary journals that no one reads. I finished my first novel two years ago. I'd like to run a marathon. I'm still working on the Great American Novel, alongside everyone else. I'm Type A to the core. I can be obsessive. I love TV and books and ice cream. I'm happy. Side note: It's telling how, when asked this question, we peel back the layers of ourselves like the skin of an onion, isn't it? It takes us a while to get to the heart of it (and there's sometimes tears involved).

Give us a 30-second elevator pitch about your blog: The Never-True Tales is all about superheroes. Ok, not really. But sort of. It's all about us: mothers, fathers, writers, bread winners, kids, babies, brothers and sisters. It's about the roles we play. It's about being a hero to the people we love in our corner of the world, saving the day, every day. It's about the happy ending. And the not-so-happy. And either way, it's about meticulously recording the tale in both the broad brush strokes and the minute detail.

What literary character would you be and why?: I have so many favorites, but this question isn't about favorites, is it? Who I would be is much tougher. I know who I wouldn't, couldn't be: Scarlett O'hara. Tess d'Uberville. Rebecca de Winter. Katniss Everdeen. Who I could, possibly be, maybe, in another life: Anne Shirley. At least I like to think so. She was a dreamer. A writer and reader. She had life goals, that girl. Some were fulfilled, and some were not. And that was ok. In the end, she had her imagination. She had her family. She had her Gilbert. And I have mine.

4. If you could carve your initials on a tree, what tree would it be, and why?: This question is hard, because I can't quite get past the fact that I'd never deface a tree in this way. When I was a kid, I scraped my initials into a wooden picnic table outside our local frostee freeze on impulse, and felt guilty for a week. And that was a picnic table. With gum stuck to the bottom and sticky soft serve hardened on the top. If I must answer, I suppose it would be ponderosa pine, because that's my favorite tree in the world. (So why would I do such a thing to my favorite tree? Nope, can't get past it. I'll have to take a pass on this one. Can I do that?)

5. What animal does your husband look like and why?: This one I can do. My husband is a dog. Now, before you get all up in arms, trust me when I say my husband will know this is the highest of compliments. I love dogs. Adore them and every doggy trait about them. I also know he'd like to think he's a cat, lazing about and not caring what anyone thinks, but he's not. He's entirely too loyal for that. Too hardworking. Too quick to jump on board of a good time, a laugh, a moment, any moment, with the people he loves. So yes. Dog. Definitely.

6. If you could save only one of your blog posts in a fire, which one would it be, and why?: Oh, evil, evil question, why must I answer you? I think, if such a Sophie's choice came to pass, I'd have to save my very first blog post. My first post is not my best crafted (not even close). It's not my most poignant or insightful or humorous or heartfelt. But it's the one that began it all. But if you asked which one I am most proud of, which one speaks the most of my life and what my blog is all about, I'd have to pick this one.