While this blog has been often neglected in the course of starting my business, I was thinking recently that I’ll be celebrating eight years (!!) of book blogging this December. While my blog has changed a lot over the years, I’ve never fully put it aside and I’ve built a pretty good little following over the years. Besides Facebook, Isle of Books is my longest-running internet home!
As this blog has evolved slightly towards sharing more of my personal life, I thought I’d do a fun little blog post and share ten things most people don’t about me!
1) I Decided I Wanted to Write Books About the Same Time I Learned How to Read
My mom read to me a ton as a kid and supplied me with books so even before I knew how to read or knew that creating books was something a normal person could do, I was already deeply in love with stories. But it was mid-way through Kindergarten before I realized I wanted writing and stories to always be part of my life. It was around Christmas and we’d spent the first few months of school learning how to write and read. We were given some assignment, the details of which escape me today, which I dutifully completed. Then, the teacher pulled me aside. I instantly thought I’d done something wrong. But it turns out she just had a note for me to give to my parents about my assignment and how much she liked it/the writing. Something to that effect. But in any case, it was the first time a teacher ever made me feel special and also the first time someone ever complimented me on my writing. It wasn’t too long after that that I learned books were actually written by normal people and well, a destiny was born.
2) I’ve Been Riding Horses for Twenty Years
Not a secret in my regular life, but maybe a secret here on the blog. I’ve been riding horses for a long time – twenty years in fact as I realized recently. And in the last twenty years, I’ve been fortunate enough to keep riding continuously. The longest break I’ve had from horses was only about a month long. Even carpal release surgery, even spraining my hip (or maybe hairline fracturing my pelvis, who knows) wasn’t enough to keep me down for long. After the carpal tunnel release surgery, I actually rode one-handed for a few months. So obsessed with horses might be an understatement. And people are constantly surprised to learn that even with as busy has life has been with launching a business, I still consistently ride at least three days a week. I think it anchors me and keeps me sane and I hope I can keep riding forever as I don’t know who I’d be without horses in my life!
3) There Are Only Two Genres of Books I Generally Won’t Read
I’ll read pretty much anything, especially if I’m in a pinch. I’d rather read a book than sit somewhere, bored. But there are two genres I generally won’t read unless a trusted friend really, really pushes me to read the book and submits to extensive questioning about it beforehand. Those genres are horror and romance. I don’t mind elements of these things, but I typically don’t read books that sit squarely in those genres.
4) When I Write a Book, I Create a Playlist for It
This is actually my favorite part of starting a new project – creating a playlist for it! I usually start with just a few songs that fit the mood or tone of the book I’m working on and add onto it over time. I listen to the playlist on repeat while writing. I think it helps me get back to the space where I want to be for the particular book and helps me focus better. I’ll usually do a mix of songs with and without vocals.
Side note: would anyone be interested in seeing my playlists if I put them up on Spotify? If so, drop me a comment below.
5) I’ve Read Over One Hundred Books in a Year
I think I’ve actually done this twice in my life and let me tell you…one hundred books in a year is A LOT. For me anyway. Some people, maybe one hundred books is easy. But not for me. I really feel like I’m reading SO much when the numbers get that high. I think my sweet spot is about a book a week so fifty or so books a year. Sixty-five is probably a comfortable max. This year though has been abysmal (nobody go look at my Goodreads right now). But one thing I’ve learned through tracking my reading is that I tend to slow down when I’m going through a major life change. So hopefully in a year or so when I’ve fully adjusted to my new life, I’ll get back to reading more. Until then, thank you to all who continue to hang around and be a subscriber to this blog!
6) I Was Nine Years Old the First Time I Was Published
I actually found this publication recently. I had an acrostic poem about whales in a book called, Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans. The 1999 edition kids. But while it was cool that I got published in an actual physical book (that we still have!) I remember not being stoked on this poem. I think I did it as a school assignment during the year my school had a Gifted and Talented program and I think they either submitted it for me or showed me/my family how to do it. I just remember not really liking the poem then and now…well…let’s just say it has NOT aged like a fine wine.
7) I Studied French for Nine Years
When I started taking French in middle school, I didn’t even remotely imagine it would lead me to taking college classes in the language! I actually picked French just because most people were signing up for Spanish and well, sometimes when people zig, I like to zag. (That’s also how I ended up in my school orchestra, not the band, playing the viola, NOT the violin) Anyway it turned out I liked French and I figured it would look good on those college applications so I kept with it through high school, even taking the AP Test my senior year. The AP Test though, and more correctly studying for the AP Test, kind of burned me out on the language. By the time the test was done, I was also done with the language. Or so I thought. Fast-forward about a year later to the spring of my first year at UCSD when I realized if I wanted to be a writing major (which I did) I needed to achieve secondary language proficiency to graduate. Basically what that amounts to is that a literature department at a school that’s known for science and engineering needs to get butts in seats. So they came up with a plan that if you majored in any of the literature department’s majors, you had to fulfill the secondary language requirement which involved taking a certain amount of upper division language classes. I had taken a year of Spanish in high school for fun and thought briefly of doing Spanish in college, but realized it would mean a lot of extra classes and time since I was much further along with French. So back to French I went. And it was great mainly because I met one of my dearest friends in French class the next fall and she is still one of my best friends today – love you K!
8) I Have Unusual Teeth
I have extra cusps on my top back molars. I think it’s called the cusp of carabelli, though no one has ever used the term with me. I recently went to see my dentist for my cleaning and the first thing he told me when he sat down is that he finally treated another patient who has teeth like me. Lol. Always fun to be one of your doctor’s anomalies…at least he remembers me! And this is very morbid, but I always think if my family ever had to identify my body at least I wouldn’t be lost because I’ve got some great dental records to go off of!
9) I Have Encyclopedic Knowledge of Dog Breeds
Growing up I really, really, REALLY wanted a dog. I watched endless hours of Breed All About It and The Eukanuba Tournament of Champions on Animal Planet, and spent time scouring the internet to learn even more about the dog breeds I thought would be the perfect fit for our family. I never got my dog (not as a kid anyway), but in the process I gained an encyclopedic knowledge of man’s best friend.
I finally have a dog now. Can you guess what breed of dog I ended up going with after hours and hours of research?
…
A MUTT!
10) I’ve Never Taken a Formal Grammar Class
This one is maybe the most surprising on the entire list…am I right? Let me know in the comments below!
Everything I know about writing and sentence structure I largely learned from reading and doing. I never took one of those classes where they sat you down and said, “this is a preposition” and “here’s how you create a compound modifier”.
Another bonus fact a lot of people don’t know about me is that for a long time, I must have been an awful test taker because I constantly tested into the wrong classes. If any test was given in order to split a class into smaller groups based on skill level, I invariably found myself assigned to the lowest group only to be moved a few weeks (or months) later when my teachers realized a mistake had been made. On the upside, my self-esteem got a nice boost whenever that happened. On the downside, it created gaps in my education because usually the group I got moved into had already covered the stuff I actually didn’t know.
But I’ve learned a lot about grammar over the years through osmosis, observation, and being corrected by others. And now that I work on a computer all day, it’s easy for me to look up anything I’m not sure about. Still can’t tell you what a conjunction is without looking it up. But hey, there’s something to be said for being industrious!
Now it’s your turn…what’s something most people don’t know about you? Leave me a comment below!
