Friday Friends: C'est Moi!

Today is the first day of my Birthday Month. Naturally I thought, "What better time to let people know more about me--right when they're deciding on the perfect birthday present?" So, to help everyone with that, I decided to fill out the survey I've been sending to my wonderful Friday Friends guests. Here's the result of this crazy experiment:

Of all the characters you've created, which one is your favorite? Why do you love them best? Dang. This is hard. How do you guys manage to answer this? Maybe I'll skip this one and come back to it later. . . Uh oh, a whole gang of characters just blocked my escape route. Okay, characters, everyone in a group hug! (Hopefully that will distract them long enough for me to weasel out of answering this.)

What's your go-to "writing avoidance" technique? Hah! I have so many. Twitter was probably the biggest, until the recent change that aggravated me so much that I'm hanging out on Facebook even more now. Which means I have twice as many writing avoiders than before.

If you were able to go on a writing retreat (and bring everyone along, of course!), where would it be? Well, we all know it would be someplace tropical, because I have to have my flip flops, and I wouldn't mind a mojito or two. So we could start with Hawaii and then start hitting all the tropical locales I haven't had a chance to visit yet.

What's the word you love to use (and overuse, so you have to take it out of your book during edits)? I think "just" and "then" are probably the workhorses. But as soon as I take those out, there's always a runner-up waiting, one that I didn't know was so prominent until I removed the frontrunners. Ack.

Name the first thing you'll do when you make a million dollars from your books. Squeal like a maniac while I race to buy a zillion books for my Nook and my bookshelves. Hopefully there will still be money left afterwards, because I'd love to set up a foundation that would pay writers a little something so they could focus on their writing, even if it was only one day a week.

Thanks, Donna, for being here today. No, thank YOU, Donna. I had a great time! I hope you'll have me back sometime.

Okay, and now for the Tasty Ten speed-dating round . . . which sounds like I'm speed-dating myself. #awkward

Coffee or tea? Does anybody NOT know the answer to this? Raise your hand and we'll chat privately.

Drafting or revising? Drafting. I love that high-speed, coffee-fueled typing of the story as it's happening inside my brain. Revising is so sloooooow. It's like carving Mt. Rushmore with a butter knife.

Twitter or Facebook? Last week I would have happily said the T word. Today, FB gets the edge.

Winter or Summer? Does anybody NOT know the answer to this? Raise your hand and we'll chat privately. I'll bring the coffee.

Baseball or Football? Baseball (except without beards).

Contemporary or historical? Yes

Pirate or cowboy? Oh boy. Why did I think either/or questions were a good idea? I love them both. I'm willing to split my time evenly between them, so neither one feels neglected. Or we could have all three of us at once. . .

Pecs or abs? I think there's a typo in there. I'll just change the "or" to "and". Yep, that's much better. Sometimes revising isn't so difficult.

Scrambled or fried? Scrambled. Or even better, part of the ingredients for brownies.

Biter or licker? (Hey! I'm talking ice cream cones here!) BITER!

I hope you've enjoyed me interviewing me. If you'd like to see an interview of Aphrodite--the matchmaking Goddess of Love from Lord Rakehell's Love--you can find it at the Romance Lives Forever blog. I hope you'll check it out!

Comments

[Karla Doyle]

I love you, Donna! You always make me laugh. :)

But what's your beef with beards? Do you discriminate against all facial hair, or just (<--see that, haha!) certain kinds of beards? Please elaborate.

Have a great birthday month! (It's my birthday month too. We should have a coffee party or something.)

[Donna Cummings]

Karla, I'm glad I make you laugh! And it's your birthday month too? It's Lorraine Paton's too. We're going to have a grand celebration!

I don't really have a problem with beards. I'm not a big fan of them tho. . .or chest hair either. Eeek. You're getting me to spill all my secrets. LOL That's all the elaborating I'm gonna do!

[Juli Page Morgan]

Happy birthday month, Donna! I loved your interview with yourself! (I'm kind of with you on the beards thing. Maybe it's because they tend to let them get all scraggly and stuff. But then, baseball pants tend to make up for all that. :))

[Donna Cummings]

Juli, thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed the interview. I didn't realize how hard the questions were until now. LOL

And yeah, the beards getting all scraggly and stuff -- definitely not for me! I understand the superstitions and all, and I do love the baseball pants though. *swoon* That can distract a girl. LOL

[Mae Clair]

That was hysterical! You have to interview yourself more often, LOL. And I'm with you on the beard thing...I like clean-shaven best. :)

Happy Birthday Month!

[Donna Cummings]

Mae, glad you enjoyed it! It *was* kinda fun interviewing myself -- although it was tricky trying to avoid answering certain questions. LOL

Looks like "beard-free" is the crowd favorite today. Understandably. :)

And thanks for the Birthday Month wishes!

[Samantha Hunter]

Nice to meet you, Donna! LOL

Thanks Donna, for introducing us to Donna... ;)

Sam

[Donna Cummings]

LOL, Sam -- glad I could get you two together! Or is it three? Dang. I'm horrible at math. :)

[A.S. Fenichel]

Donna, you are a hoot!

I don't mind a little facial hair as long as it's neat and clean.

[Donna Cummings]

Thanks, A.S. -- and congrats on your new release today! I agree, neat and clean facial hair can be good, like a goatee. Just not the ZZ Top kind of stuff. LOL

[Lorraine Paton]

Great interview, Donna! :) You always make me smile! Happy Friday! AND Happy Birthday Month!

[Donna Cummings]

Lorraine -- thanks! I love making you smile. And Happy Birthday month back to you. I'm sure we'll have plenty of festivities to enjoy. :)

[Quantum]

I was listening to a politician being interviewed on the radio this lunch time and he always answered a question that he wanted to be asked rather than the actual question posed.
I can just imagine him interviewing himself! LOL

**Thanks, Donna, for being here today. No, thank YOU, Donna. I had a great time! I hope you'll have me back sometime.**

Most surreal blog of the week .... hilarious. LOL

Love the cover ... says it all.

[Quantum]

Forgot the most important point!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Donna!

[Donna Cummings]

Q, I love the politician's strategy. I might start doing that now. LOL I can imagine him interviewing himself: "That's an interesting question. But what I *think* you meant to ask me is this . . ." :)

And thanks for the birthday wishes! I do the whole month, so feel free to come back and say it again. LOL

[Virginia Kelly]

Happy Birthday month! Fabulous interview. Whoever came up with the questions is a genius :-)

"Revising is so sloooooow. It's like carving Mt. Rushmore with a butter knife." Love it!

Thanks for a great interview.

[@chingfordwibble]

I definitely prefer women WITHOUT beards.

[Donna Cummings]

LOL, Virginia -- that first one was tough! But you answered it very well. Me? Not so much. :)

And yes, that's definitely how I feel about revising. It takes sooooo long!

[Donna Cummings]

LOL, @chingfordwibble -- I can't imagine there would be a lot of them to choose from if you DID prefer bearded women. :)

[Kate Warren]

Well I've decided on your present, but I'm not telling you what it is yet!

[Donna Cummings]

LOL, Kate -- I'm guessing it's not a beard!

[S.J. Maylee]

No, thank YOU, Donna. <-- lol! you crack me up, Donna. This was hilarious. Happy Birthday month, Donna. *throws coffee beans* :)

[Donna Cummings]

*ducks* Hey! I think you're supposed to throw those IN THE AIR. LOL And, on behalf of ALL of us Donnas, thank YOU for the birthday month wishes. :)

[Kate Warren]

Ok, I'll tell you what it is now. I have named an elf after you in the new novel. She's Santa's executive assistant, and she loves coffee and chocolate.

[Donna Cummings]

An elf that loves coffee and chocolate? How perfect! I'll bet she keeps Santa on his toes! I love it. :)