Questions and answers continued!
Kim has four questions:
1. What would you do if faced with an ant invasion of your home?
Well, I'd scream, cry, run, spray the place with a pestilent hue, and move into a new place with nothing but me, the clothes on my back, and a roomy duffel bag to sleep in at night.
2. Which would you choose if you had to give up either coffee or HP for life?
Oh, coffee. I've tried to give it up cold turkey a few times before to limited effect. But I couldn't give up my HP books, which are early in their becoming-worn-and-harried stages. I couldn't give up my dream of reading it in Italian, either.
3. How difficult / easy was it to write Harry, A History?
That depends which day you chose to ask. There were days when it flowed easy and free. There were days when I felt like my head was going to explode. Right before deadline I got stomach-achingly sick - seriously, it was like six cases of cramps at once, and I am sure, now, that it was psychosomatic. Every time I would get to this point, in the last two months before my first deadline at least, my temporary personal assistant, Jo, in her cute little British accent (coincidence, I swear), would pop her head in and ask, "Bit of Guitar Hero?" Because that's what destressed me. Guitar Hero. I'd play for 10-15 minutes and feel better.
For most of the year, though, it wasn't that hard, because I'd been thinking about it for a long time and experienced a lot of it. However, in the final three or four months before a deadline, the entire world becomes a pressure cooker and while you focus on one foot forward, bird by bird, you are always mindful of that looming date when you have to let it go. I was pretty depressed the day I sent the book in; I thought it would be a moment of joy, and instead it was one of extreme panic cloaked by what must have been some thin version of post-partum. Then my Leaky friends came to visit and we had a party and that made everything better. :)
4. What major writing piece are you working on right now?
I am developing a seminal piece of nonfiction. It's called My 2008 Tax Return. Love, death and taxes, all in one, man. It's going to tear things up.
(More later, and if you have more to add, as always, hit the comments.)
Quick updates:
- I just got back from the UK, where I was because I was asked to be part of a project, along with John and Frak (who ironically was asked well before he became part of PotterCast) and some others representing different parts of the HP fandom. What was nice about this project, to me, is that it's exactly how the girls running it imagined it going from day one, and it's been idly talked about for years. It was really pleasant to see that idea of theirs come to fruition with the exact group of people they've always planned it, and it was an honor to be chosen for it. I would talk about it more, but it's not mine to reveal; it has nothing to do with PC or Leaky, it's simply something I agreed to do, so as those in charge reveal info I'll be able to, as well. :)
-I got interviewed last week by the paper I used to write for. That was a lot of fun, being interviewed by Jodi Reifer, with whom I worked on so many arts stories while being a the paper; it was more like a catch-up phone call than an interview, and made me miss the ever-changing nature of work on a daily general news publication. We talked about podcasting, and though it feels extraordinarily strange to see that I really did say something about 'free market' (since I'm about as far from an economist as I am from an anthropologist), I did also include a caveat that there are exceptions based on podcasts with pre-existing bases, such as ours. (IE, we're not popular purely based on podcasting talent, flattering though our fans can be at times; we owe a huge debt to the large audience already in existence at Leaky when we started up. I suppose we can take some credit for keeping that audience going well into this post-DH time.) That wasn't in the article, and I don't blame her at all for it; space requirements still exist at newspapers, and it's probably a cut I would have made as well. Just clarifying in case anyone is really so easily led (or knows so little about me and/or is operating under such severe delusions) as to think I was calling PC the cream of all podcasting crop. Hi, no, love PC though I do.... NPR for that, thanks.
-The latest entry on HarryAHistory.com appears to be getting picked up around the fandom, which is cool; it was Sue who had to write to me to say, "Um, hey, Melissa, shouldn't you, like, make this a LEAKY news post?" LOL. Yeah. It's been a strange balancing act, but it's enormously gratifying to see people doing canon-discussion, agreeing vehemently or disagreeing wildly with what was said. I like that tug-of-war, it reminds me so strongly of the fierce debates going on between books four and five about the future shape of the series. It probably reminds me of that because that's where I spent most of my early fandom time: discussion boards and canon thumps.
-I just found out my release dates are as follows:
November 4: US
November 19: UK
November 23: Australia
Not sure yet about Germany and whatnot.
-I'm itchy to redesign this site. I also have no time to redesign this site.
-I purchased a Hogwarts Express sign to hang above my bookshelf.
-I have never been as obsessed with anything as I am about the crazy presidential election that is going on right now. Oh, hell yes, am I an Obama supporter, but that doesn't think I mean he's been perfect throughout this cycle or do I think he'd make The Best President EVAR. I simply think that he's the better choice, and it is for once not a lesser-of-two-evils choice. It's between someone who has just barely enough experience to make it through, and someone whose experience seems to have flung out the window in his wild attempt to attract female and religious voters and make himself seem like a maverick by taking huge political gambles that reveal an unstable judgment structure and scarily Machiavellian mind at work. And don't get me started on Palin.
-Publication is about six weeks away and therefore my nerves level is starting to truly rise to insane levels.
That's all for the moment!
I love Improv Everywhere:
But make sure you catch the Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DDR concert in DC:
