Tagged Again

Lord-a-mercy, I’ve been tagged again. This time by Dani Greer with Blog Book Tours. She didn’t tag me on her blog, though, but on the co-op blog The Blood-Red Pencil. Someone also Twitter-tagged me. I think it was Jean Henry Mead, but this morning I went to double check and can't find the tag. For everyone who's tagged me, here we go...

This time, I’m supposed to tell six random things about myself and relate those things to books. Zowzers, these memes get harder and harder.

Here goes:

1. I told you in yesterday’s post that I used to write Blue Moon Fairy stories. Well, in high school I wrote romance novels. I don’t have a single page of any of them left because, as I wrote a page, a friend would take it, read and pass it on. I have no idea what happened to them. They weren’t your standard romance, though, since all my stories ended tragically.

2. I love collecting autographed books. Yes, it’s fun to have that big-name author’s signature, but what’s even better, I think, is getting the autograph of a friend or a local author. I love that! Even if they never hit the best-seller list, I treasure their book.

3. I was never so shocked as when I opened a book by a friend and found my name in the acknowledgments. I’d done a last minute edit that her agent requested before they sent it to a publisher. I went to one of her book signings and had her autograph a book for me and some for gifts, then went home and there was my name. (Thank you Diane.)

4. Some people may find this hard to believe, but I love editing. I spend a lot of time on the manuscript, reading it usually at least three times. Each time, I find new things, new twists, new phrases. I’d rather edit someone else’s work than my own.

5. When authors send me their published books, I feel guilty. Susan Wittig Albert told me not to feel guilty, but I still do. I know it costs them money. I try to reciprocate by writing a review and putting it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, GoodReads and on my blog. I think feeling guilty is in my blood. Comes from my upbringing. I also hate to spend money. The two are connected. My husband likes the second one.

6. My family are all readers. My husband reads probably more than I do – ‘course he spends lots of hours on planes. Both my kids read. My son can retain what he reads. You ask him about a book he read two years ago, and he can tell you all about it. He quotes from movies he watched ten years ago. My brain bowl has holes in it like a sieve. Maybe that’s good. I can edit a manuscript, then turn around and start a new one and not get the two mixed up. Part of the day, I’m editing for a company, then I’m editing for an author. Then I sit down to read a book for pleasure and I turn off the editor in me. I may see mistakes, but I move on past them.

And that’s it. Six “book” things about me.

Now I tag:

Chris Redding

Chris Verstraete

Chris Duncan

@MarilynMeredith (on Twitter)

Ron Berry

And leave a comment here if you accept the tag so we can follow you to your blog and read all your secrets!