OK, couple quick hits from the question thread today:
Josh Y wanted to know what a typical day is like for me? Really? Erm... I wake up, I make coffee, if I've woken early enough I go to the gym, I do Leaky work for a few hours, I work on my book, I fend off my cat, I clean just enough to make it livable in here, I work on the book more, I stop at night to either see friends or watch some TV or play some video games or read. I've been starting to read Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, which I didn't know he had actually written, and color everyone here surprised (not), I'm very impressed. If I went into more detail you'd be bored stiff, if you aren't already, so yeah, it's pretty boring around here. Quiet. That's why I blog.
(And I say that with full awareness of what it USED to be like - i.e. craziness on a stick - so don't think I'm not grateful.)
Kendra wanted to know about ideas for car games - like what we played on tour? We had a GREAT one that John had us play but...hm...maybe we'll just play it on PotterCast. OK, I'll wait to explain it.
Kendra also wanted to know:
-How many hours we spent in the car this summer - ummmm...someone on PC figured it out, but I can't remember. Had to be over a hundred.
-Non-HP books that I enjoy - I usually tend to nonfiction, and always have. HP was a big aberration for me as an adult; as a teen and young person I read a lot of fiction, but not as an adult. I tended to biographies and commentary on theater. That's not to say I don't enjoy some good fiction, but I usually read the pretty well-known fare - I'm not that person who knows every fiction book ever written by anyone ever, or even what was on the NYT bestseller list this week, without checking.
-What I want to do when the book is done - start work on the next one, the subject of which I am completely unsure of right now. I have some ideas, none of them to do with Potter (though I may go back to Potter later). Some have to do with my family - I have a great title for a book about them, and in an exact opposite fashion from what happened with Harry, A History, I'm trying to figure out exactly the type of content to fit it (by which I mean, I don't know if it's a bunch of funny stories, a more serious narrative, a coffee-table book, what - I do know it's not a memoir, we can wait some decades for that please - I just know the general overtone of what I want it to ultimately be about, which is a TOTAL 180-degree turn from the process on this book). I also want to go to Italy and do some hard-core research into my family tree, and see what comes of that - whether fiction or nonfiction, I have no idea. And I have an idea for a television series, how crazy is that? I have no idea how that world even works or if I'm totally insane for thinking it's possible to get into it with just an idea and a pilot script; but the idea has been mushrooming in my head for years, and it's based on something I realized during my real life. I don't know if that will ever come to fruition - it's a definite back-burner type thing, a sort-of, "well, I'll play around with it and just see."
-Do I ever need a break from the HP world? Yes, but luckily, I have a lot of other interests and ways of indulging those interests to keep things, well, interesting. :) Project Runway alone, child. FIERCE! lol. I love Christian. Love him. Also have you read Project Rungay? Hilariously named blog on Project Runway, and it's like sitting down with two marvelously bitchy friends over Cosmos.
Lastly, Beccy asked how Moochka was, and to this I say, she's a chubby, protective, smug, privately sweet and publicly mean, little ball of love. When it's just us she's the happiest little cat ever. Sleeps on my arm, cuddles with me on the sofa. When anyone else is around she goes into attack mode. Imagine what would happen if I brought another cat in here! When she's sleeping I tickle her under her chin and she just lets out a contented, warm meow and stretches into my hand, so that her whole chin is sitting in my palm. Then I start scratching her ears, and her ears flatten, and I imagine that if I could see behind her eyes at that moment I'd see a Moochka dreaming of a world full of playtoys and catnip. She just looks so blissful. I love my little fierce mama.
PS, watch this. No matter WHOM you support, this is a huge "yeow" moment.
A TV show would be cool! =] And I like the whole memoir thing! Based on what you've said about your family, they seem great and funny! =] Would it be like a David Sedaris type thing? And THANK YOU for posting that Keith Olbermann clip! I watch his show everyday (Mon-Fri) and I just love his comments because they are SO true! And he's been really ticked off at the Hilary campaign, and quite frankly so have I. Have a great weekend! :)
-Helena
The book looks amazing...*sighs*..no, really. I mean, that its all in sheafs of papers and then it'll be published and bound, and you'll be the author...whoa.
WHOA!
MELISSA! CONGRATUALTIONS! It just hits me everytime I think, "wow, ok, she's writing a book. "
"BLIMEY, SHE'S WRITING A REAL BOOK!!!"
And you wonder why people look upto you? :) ANd I finally know your cat's name..
Mel! Thanks for the answers to my questions...and seriously, project runway is divine. i haven't watched the finale yet, i taped it, but i could watch that show for hours. I am very glad to hear that life has returned to a more normal speed, although i'm sure it will pick up again soon. Can't wait for the book tour--you'd better come to Kansas City!! :)
Lots of Love,
Kendra
Wow, thanks Melissa for answering my question. It's so weird that we are able to communicate with someone like you over this medium, but very cool too. Thanks for being so dedicated and remembering to answer those old questions. Good luck with the editing stage of your book. For me that seems to be an almost not achievable reality, as I am in the ever consuming planning stages of my novel series, which I hope actually one day to start writing (well at least more than a few bits and pieces anyway).
I can't wait to watch your tv series. Knowing a little bit about you, I'm sure it Will get made one day.
Don't over work yourself.
Warm wishes,
Josh Y.
Hey Melissa!
I looooove to research genealogy in my spare time. If you need help or would like me to get a head start, I'd be happy to help. I'd just need some basic info to get started. If you're interested, just let me know. If not, good luck in your search. I'm sure you'll find it interesting.
Katherine.
Another person who likes Harry Potter and nonfiction! Fiction just didn't do it for me until my son brought HP and the SS home. Now I'm addicted to middle grade fiction. And writing it. That's how I met Rebecca, over dinner at a children's writing conference. She told me she was representing you, and I was so pleased to hear about your book. I've been a regular lurker on TLC for years, even though the world (well, a very small part of it)knows me as a serious nonfiction writer.