7SS: Michelle Hickman

Sorry for my absence, my dear readers. I have strep throat, and yesterday was the Bear's fifth birthday, and....did I mention strep throat? I know I need to pick a winner of The Lost Hours (feel free to enter until I do!), and I want to give you a delectable peek at the authors I have on the 7SS tap for next week.  Plus, I've finished - um, five? - yes, five books in the past 36 hours that I will be reviewing soon.  For now, back to A Month of Interviews!


In the meantime, I want to introduce you to Michelle, the very funny and very wise author of "The Surly Writer." Go right now and read. Yes, now. I'll wait.

Did you really read all the way through? Uh-uh. Don't come back until you do.

Okay, welcome back. You can see how any introduction of this Surly Writer falls flat.  Let's just get on with it, shall we?

Step #1
LIGHTNING ROUND

• pen or pencil? Pen - they are easier to chew on.
• keep or toss? Keep
• aisle or window? Window
• Boston or DC? I’ve never been to either place. Coin flip! Heads - Boston. Tails - DC. *flip* Heads. I hear Boston is a great place.
• sweet or salty? Sweet
• Midsummer Night's Dream or Much Ado About Nothing?  Forsooth! Mine eyes doth wander toward Midsummer’s Night’s Dream
• summer or winter? Winter
  

Step #2
TELL US about any of your weird writing habits or idiosyncracies. (ie, What's one “thing” you need to write, the thing without which the creative juices would cease to flow?)
I have to write something surprising. I love those twist endings that leave people gasping or laughing or weeping with laughter.

Step #3
TEACH US one or two of your favorite vocabulary words.

Fisticuffs - fighting or boxing. I just like SAYING the word.

Anthropomorphism - it is the ascribing of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. Yes, I did look up the meaning in the dictionary so I wouldn’t mess up explaining it. For example: “Mother Nature’s cruel temperament” when it comes to harsh weather.

Step #4
BOOK BLANKS

• The last book I finished reading was The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
• I gave it 5 ½ stars.
• One word to describe it is Intense.

Step #5
QUESTION: How and why did you start blogging?

I remember the exact moment: November 12,1997 at 11:15 p.m. I happened across Victoria Strauss’s, Writer Beware, website and saw the little blogger icon on the sidebar. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on it. The word “FREE” did it for me. I believe this is an incredible tool to connect with so many people through my writing. I take sheer pleasure in honing my skills, and this allows me to do so in short posts.

Step #6
QUESTION: What are the projects you've got out seeking representation?

Our Perfect Thorn - This is my current mystery/suspense project. It is the loose remake of the story “Little Red Riding Hood,” but I used the wolf character in a more metaphorical sense - like the terrible viceswithin people: greed, lust, addiction. Also, I take it a step further by making the wolf as a second personality within the grandmother’s mind.

The Stone Man - this is my current work in progress that will be finished within the next two weeks. It deals with a man’s moral choice if, granted the power, whether he would swipe the life energy from innocent people’s bodies to heal his critically-ill son.

Step #7
GIVE US THE SCOOP. Tell us something about yourself that's exclusive to In Search of Giants (ie, has never been publicized in print or podcast interviews.)
I never thought of pursuing a writing career until in my late twenties, which is strange considering how often I had been encouraged about it throughout high school. Four different English teachers said
I should take creative writing classes, and I shrugged it off. I haven’t stopped kicking myself in the butt because of the lost opportunity.

 

Michelle, my dear, thank you for letting me interview you!