Beautiful People - Kendra Edition

Greetings fair people of the internet! Cait and Sky have once again issued a Beautiful People tag. This time, we get to interview moi. Me. The author person.

So without further ... uh, Maryanne ... what are you ... Maryanne ...

*Sound of someone (namely me) being shoved out of her office chair*

Guten Tag. Maryanne here. Since usually, when these sort of questions happen, Kendra just answers them for us, I thought I'd return the favor and answer the questions for her. Hush, Kendra, I know you as well as you know your self. How could this possibly go wrong? Don't answer that.

Now just to figure out how this copy-paste thing works.

1. How many years have you been writing? When did you officially consider yourself a ‘writer’?

Oh ... That's a number answer ... hold on a moment while I consult Kendra. Okay, she says she's been making up stories since she understood the concept, writing them down since kindergarten (though what children and gardens have to do with writing, I have very little idea), and she was got serious about it when she was about eleven. She also says she's pretty much always considered herself a writer.

2. How/why did you start writing?

Because she wanted to write about me! Oh, Kendra's giving me a Look again and is reminding me that I'm technically a "new" character, and she was writing long before she created me.

She says she started writing because she wanted to share the stories in her head. She started writing seriously because some friends and her wanted to put on a really long complicated play based on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which is a book she liked to read, and as the oldest and most adamant about the plot, she got to write it.

What’s your favorite part of writing? 

From what I know of Kendra, it seems to be the plotting part, since she always seems to be working on that. She says she also loves rewriting and editing, and I'll believe that, since she does quite a bit of that, too.

What’s your biggest writing struggle?

Getting her to sit down in her chair and concentrate on writing. It is quite difficult.

Do you write best at night or day?

She does a lot of writing at night, but she also writes really well during the day if she wakes up properly. 

What does your writing space look like? (Feel free to show us pictures!)

Alas, but I don't know how to work those picture things.

Kendra's writing areas are a mess. She has four "desks," that she bounces between. Most of the time, she's at her computer desk, but sometimes she'll turn around and work at her notebook desk. Both of them are under her loft bed. On the other side of her room, she has a pillow pile and a folding lap desk in front of one of her bookshelves, and a standing desk, which is actually a cabinet door that folds down to the right height.  Currently, only two of them, the pillow pile and the computer desk, have enough exposed surface so that she can use them.

How long does it typically take you to write a complete draft?

Oh, another number question. Well, sometimes she can finish one in a month or two, other times it takes years and years. She's funny like that. What isn't funny is the fact that she's never finished a draft about me! I'm her favorite character.

How many projects do you work on at once?

A lot, I know that. Hang on ... if it isn't too big of a number, I can probably count it, since there are physical items for me to look at.

Currently, she has eleven documents pulled up on her computer, and five or six notebooks running around her room in various stages of done. They look funny running around. I don't know if any of you have ever seen a notebook with legs but ... Oh, I'd better move on.

Do you prefer writing happy endings, sad ones, or somewhere in between?

She likes happy endings, don't you Kendra? Ooh ... she's glaring at me. I'd better hurry up before she decides to give me an unhappy ending. She's been saying things that have made me worried.

List a few authors who’ve influenced your writing journey.

C. S. Lewis

Andrew Lang

J. R. R. Tolkien

Gail Carson Levine.

Laura Ingalls Wilder.

That's what she just told me when I asked.

Do you let people read your writing? Why or why not?

Yes, but she makes them pay to do so. Although, sometimes she's nice and just gives her writing away. Depends on her mood.

What’s your ultimate writing goal or dream?

To finally write my book, isn't it Kendra? Either that or have people pay her enough money so they can read her books that she can live off of it. She doesn't have a nice castle like I do.

If you didn’t write, what would you want to do?

She would go crazy.

And she's glaring at me.

Okay, she says she'd be knitting and working at McDonalds, whatever that is.

Do you have a book you'd like to write one day but don’t feel you’re ready to attempt it yet? 

Clearly, it's my books, because it still isn't finished. Though the fact that she only just got to the point where I'm introduced in the series may have something to do with it, she's just pointed out. She says that book is Silivock, which I think has something do with stars.

Which story has your heart and won't let go?

I'd like to say that it's my story, because I'm her favorite character and all that, but I think in reality it's Rizkaland. They just won't leave her alone. 

And yes, Kendra, you may have your computer back now.

Sigh, sometimes I wish that I hadn't allowed her to say something on that tag about two years ago. Now she thinks she can just take over my blog whenever she wants.