#I know at least that I have to write it before Rifters Series 1

[larissa-the-scribe]

Lenesse?

I was smol and wanted to be a cool fantasy action heroine. So I started making up stories where a very thinly veiled self-insert was a main character (featuring equally thinly veiled inserts of some of my friends) in a portal fantasy.

Then I grew up, and she kinda... grew up with me. I've had other more self-inserty characters that were too thin so they just disappeared, but Lenesse and her cohorts had become too separate and realized, so they stuck around. The story also stopped being a portal fantasy, because it made less and less sense that they weren't from Kaslay.

Thanks for the ask!

[easterwings]

11 Questions

RULES

1. Always post the rules 2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you 3. Write 11 questions of your own 4. Tag 11 people (or however many you want)

I got tagged by @1000-directions @dearmrsawyer and @alligatornyc    

Thanks all of you for thinking of me! And @writsgrimmyblog said I could consider myself tagged and I’m gonna. :)))   I hope my answers are at least a quarter as interesting as all of yours were.  :)))  I’m going to put them under a cut as it got a bit long:

what is a food that you associate with your heritage or culture, whatever that means to you?  Cornbread.  When I was little my grandmother use to make it in a certain baking tin so it’d come out shaped like ears of corn.  I wish I knew what happened to that baking tin.  Also, iced sweet tea.  Ya’ll.

what is the best smell?  Clean baby, rose petal black tea, both old and new books

what’s a bad habit you wish you could change?  I overthink things a lot. I wish I could turn it down a notch or eight.  I also care a bit too much about things and people and I wish I could turn that off sometimes.

what’s something you like about yourself?  I like to think I’ve got good taste.

what’s a book from your childhood that had a huge impact on your life? A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  I barely remember it because I’ve read so, so many things in my life, but I do remember it, and that’s really saying something.

what’s your ringtone? The Verizon default.  On my old phone it was one of the Tenth Doctor’s opening titles but I don’t remember what I did with the audio file.

what do you wish more people realized about you? That I’m really not someone to be intimidated by.  I’m awkward and horribly socially anxious, and I don’t initiate conversation a lot because I’m terrified I’m going to screw it up. 

what song always pumps you up?  “21 And Invincible” by Something Corporate.  I have it on my walking playlist and it always makes me want to move a little bit faster.  

do you grocery shop with a list or do you wander aimlessly?  I have a list I make using the Google Keep app on my phone.  I have a really bad memory and I’d be lost without a list.

what is the best dessert?  Cake.  Give me all the cake.  Yes, even that weird American fruit cake.  Give me that too.

will monsters get you if your feet are not completely under the covers at night?  Whether they will or not, I’m still sleeping with my feet sticking out.  I hate having hot feet.

Do you have a favourite plant?  I realize this is probably a general question, but I’m going to say that my favorite plant is the Calibrachoa I have hanging on my porch.  It’s very fluffy and it’s got loads of little yellow flowers.

Have you travelled anywhere internationally? If so, where? If not, where’s your number one place you’d like to go?  I haven’t but I really really really want to go to Japan.

What do you feel when you look at the stars?  Like the universe is looking back at me.  It doesn’t scare me, though.

When you study/write/do whatever you do, do you feel more productive working on paper or on screen?  Depends.  Usually I’m more productive when I’m working on screen, but sometimes the only way to get the story moving is to write it out by hand.

What is the pillow situation when you sleep?  One pillow, can’t be too soft. 

Do you still buy DVDs or do you prefer to just have everything digitally?  If it’s something I really love, then I’ll buy the DVD.  Same with books.

What’s your favourite kind of jewellery to wear? Do you like earrings, necklaces, rings, etc?  I suppose it’d be rings.  Right now I’m just wearing my wedding set, but eventually I’d like to get a set of stackable birthstone rings, one for my son (garnet), one for my daughter (diamond), and one in memory of August Baby (peridot).  I also want something huge and ridiculous to put on my index finger.

Favourite concert experience?  This is going to make me sound five million years old, but R.E.M. was playing The Omni, and I went to see them when I was about fifteen.  They had an open stage and during “Nightswimming” (my favorite R.E.M. song at the time) they turned toward our section and performed it facing us.  

What’s a book on your shelf that you haven’t yet read, but are really looking forward to?  Tokyo on Foot by Florent Chavouet.  Chavouet is a graphic artist and he went with his girlfriend to Tokyo for her internship.  And he’d wander around while she was out and draw what he saw, so it’s full of his little sketches.  

Do you still have any favourite toys from your childhood? I still have my Bunny Beans from when I was a baby.  It’s a baby doll in a very faded pink bunny suit.  I gave it to my daughter.

Do you hold onto old things or do you enjoy throwing away things you no longer need?  I tend to hold onto things until they’re absolutely falling apart and can’t be salvaged.  And even then sometimes I’ll keep it anyway.

When do you feel sexiest and/or most confident?  When I have on very high heels.  Not stiletto heels, because I’m not graceful enough for that, but definitely something four inches or more.

Mortifying teen-aged memory?  I’m sure there’s tons, but I’ve managed to block them all out.

Go-to outfit?  Sweater and a skirt.

Dream job?  Book shop owner in a little village on a coast somewhere.

Favorite villain?  Laurie from The Rifter Series.  I get her.

Tumblr pet peeve(s)?  The inability to use XKit on the mobile app.

Kindest gesture you’ve ever received?  I don’t know if it’s the kindest thing ever, but a few nights ago someone sent me a very lovely message right when I needed it.  They don’t follow me but they’d noticed the tags that I’d put on a post that I reblogged from them, and it was so kind of them to send that lovely note and one of the best possible ways to end what was a really bad day.  And my readers, they’re always kind too.  They say the loveliest things.  And while I was filling this out, Steph wrote me a story and it has so many of my favorite things in it.  <3 <3 <3

Kindest gesture you’ve ever done for someone else?  I like to make grids and things for fics that I like, but I don’t know if that’s something that’s considered kind or not.  And sometimes I like to go on anon and send people nice messages, especially if I see someone getting really shitty anons.  And one day I spent hours trying to hunt down the owner of $500 in cash that I found in a parking lot, but I think that’s more along the lines of doing the right thing.  

One Direction and/or solo 1D member dream photo shoot?  Louis, hands down.  I don’t care what else is going on as long it’s Louis.  They can take pictures of him wearing a bin bag eating bran flakes, and I will stare at them endlessly and love them.

Relationship/views on money/personal finances?  My husband and I have separate checking accounts and one joint savings account, and we’ve split up the household bills to where he pays some things and I pay others and we buy fun things for ourselves and each other and the kids out of our own accounts.  I have no idea what that’s called (or even if that makes sense) but that’s how we’ve been doing it for who knows how long now.

Favorite dynamic/type of chemistry you like to read about in novels/fic or see on TV/movies?  I usually like a snarky smart-ass and the person who’s done with their shit but who also cares about them deeply.  And I like it if they’re kind to each other underneath all the gentle teasing.  I just really like it when they’re kind.

BONUS: Song, including lyrics, that best describe you?  Well, if we’re going for honesty, probably all of Garbage’s “Only Happy When It Rains.”   

What’s your favourite quote from a book or poem? From The Fellowship of the Ring, “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

What song makes you want to dance like nobody’s watching? “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna

What’s your favourite ship to read? Tomlinshaw, forever and always.

If you could own one item of clothing belonging to any celebrity what would you pick and why?  I want one of Nick’s coats.  Or one of his jumpers.  I like his taste in clothing and I adore him.  Or Louis’s Skate Tough top.  I love that one and him.

Gif with a hard or soft ‘g’?  Hard ‘G.’  Otherwise I’m going to think we’re talking about a brand of peanut butter.

What’s your favourite fanfic ‘getting together’ trope?  I do like a good drunken snogging.  And it’s cheesy as hell, but I also love the whole “realizing feelings while being sang to during karaoke” thing.  I love that a lot.  And also if they were together before but split up because reasons but then get back together somehow later.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure? This is going to sound so boring but probably Tim Tams.  I don’t let myself buy them too often, because I could probably eat all of them in one sitting.

Most relatable 1D (or solo 1D) lyric? Louis’s solo from “Moments.”  Sorry.  June’s just been a really shitty month.

If you could give one piece of advice to a celebrity, what would it be?  Illegitimi non carborundum

Tell me your favourite joke.  I really love puns and this one from the Gryles interview of legend is one of my favorites:  “I was just looking at my ceiling. Not sure if it's the best ceiling in the world, but it's definitely up there."

If you were famous for a day, what question would you most dread being asked during an interview?  Probably the what do you do in your free time one.  That’s the one I can see myself freezing up on the most.

If you’ve managed to get this far, thank you so much for reading!!!  I will write something in your honor if you tell me what you want.  <3 <3