That's What She Said...It's True!

Ahoy there, me and me mate "T" were a bit late to the ship (tossing back a bit too much ale in Kingston), had to row a lot of leagues to catch up with ye. Let me introduce the little buccaneer to ye. Okay, okay, I'll suspend the pirate talk...for now:


1) You moved recently from Florida to Texas. What do you miss most about Florida? What do you like most about Texas


The thing I miss most are my friends and family. Not being able to visit the grandmas on any given weekend has been an adjustment and I can honestly say that I had cultivated the most perfect group of friends imaginable over the past seven years. Giving all of that up has been tough.
What I like most about Texas would be just about everything else. For the most part, Florida is a muggy swamp, infested with alligators and old people. The housing market is awful and the job market even worse. And don't get me started on the schools. I moved not only for a new job that paid nearly double with only half the responsibility, but to open the doors of opportunity for my son. Texas has welcomed me with nice people, good music, culture and great food. I'm pretty sure I've put on 20 pounds in the last few months, but luckily there are endless supplies of nature trails nearby. I also like the change of scenery and change of seasons. Sorry, was I supposed to pick only one thing? Ok, fine: the steak.


2) You have a young son. Describe your favorite memory of a time with your son.


I have so many, he's my everything. Every time I think I've just shared my favorite memory with him, he does something amazing that tops the previous thing. So...I guess I can share my most recent favorite memory from two weekends ago when we took a ride on the vintage railroad. Halfway to Ft. Worth, the train stopped as cowboys on horseback circled the train cars. The bandits boarded with pistols pointed and began to "rob" the passengers when the sheriff barged in and chased them off. Then a shoot-out with real guns (this is Texas, after all) and blanks started up outside as the bandits mounted up. As we watched all the the staged (and completely hokey) entertainment, you'd think my three year old son would have been so excited to see "real" cowboys... However, he was practically crawling out of the open window screaming, "Don't shoot the horses!" He's such an animal lover. It took the rest of the train ride to convince him that it was all pretend.


3) You mention on your blog, you've always loved to write. What's the first piece of writing you've done, that made you say, "Yeah, that's a nice piece of work."


I wrote a poem in 8th grade that I was pretty proud of. It was about my dog constantly barking at a garden snake that lived in our backyard. It rhymed and everything.


4) What is your favorite genre to read? Favorite genre to write?


It's a tie between horror and sci-fi. Luckily, my favorite author, Stephen King, writes both. I've tried to write both horror and sci-fi myself, but haven't gotten very far yet. Right now, it seems that autobiographical is my favorite to write.


5) Where do you see your writing taking you in the next five years?


I'd be pretty thrilled to have my memoir published, even self published through Amazon or something. And if that went well, maybe a collection of fiction short stories, too. I have a decent job, so I don't have any aspirations to become a full time author. I just want to share my stories and see what happens.


6) What is your favorite type of music? Do you listen to music when you write?


It's hard to put the music I listen to into a single type, but if I had to, I'd say indie rock. Before becoming a mom, I went to multiple live shows a week. I still listen to music as much as I can, even at a low volume in my office at work. But not when I'm writing. I focus the best in total silence.


7) What kinds of things do you like to do with your free time? (I know, working mom's don't get too much of that, but let's just say you have a few free hours, besides writing, what are you doing?)


Like most families in this country, we probably spend too much time shopping at Target. And like most couples, we probably spend too much time watching tv shows like True Blood, Hame of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. However, in those rare moments I get completely to myself, I like to wander off somewhere I've never been and take photographs. Next to music and writing, photography has always been a passion.


8) Do you ever suffer with writer's block, if so, how do you fight it?


Yes, I have it right now! And apparently I'm fighting it by joining blog hops. :-)


9) Do you outline your stories, or wing it?


My memoir is based on my life, so I wing it. However, I got really stuck on my sci-fi short story WIP. I used a screenwriting outline called Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet, which has helped ensure that my story has a solid backbone. Now I just have to fill in the gaps.


10) Absolute, hands-down favorite movie of all time, and why?


I have about five that are all equally my favorites, but if I had to pick only one, I'd go with The Shawshank Redemption. It was the first movie to move me to the point of happiness, tears and anger to the point where I evaluated life as I knew it. It was a pretty big deal for a teenager who grew up on Friday the 13th movies and watching Legend twenty billion times. Plus, its a beautiful adaptation of my favorite author's work, which often isn't translated from page to screen very well.


11) How can we follow you (Links)?


I haven't updated my Goodreads account since I created it and I don't tweet, so you all are just stuck with my blogging for now, but there are two of them:


t-says.blogspot.com
tanyaforno.blogspot.com


Thank ye kindly for taking the time to get to know "T".