Soup Scoop: Tagged by The Writing Nut!

The Writing Nut, a.k.a. the fabulous Nutschell, tagged me in a super-fun post.  My mission now, should I choose to accept it, is to answer her 11 questions, make up 11 questions of my own, and tag 11 other writers.

I'm mostly playing by the rules.

For starters, here are my answers to her questions:

What's your ultimate caffeine source?

I'm pretty cut-and-dried on this one: coffee… and lots of it.

If you were stranded on an island, what book would you like to have with you?

Stephen King's The Stand – the "complete and uncut" version.  It's long enough that it would provide many hours of enjoyment, and rich enough that I'd be happy to go back to the beginning the minute I finished.

Favorite music source? (Radio, Pandora, Spotify, CD, Ipod, etc)

Pandora.  I love not knowing what song is going to come next, while being 90% certain that it'll be a welcome surprise.

Author you'd like to emulate?

There are many, many, many, and for all kinds of different reasons.  That said, I'm not sure there could be anything more satisfying than to be J.K. Rowling.  Not because of her gazillions of dollars (though it's a nice perk), but because she got to birth a world that is now woven into our cultural fabric.  That's something I'd love to accomplish (though it certainly doesn't have to be on that level).

Favorite day of the week?

It changes, but lately Sundays have been pretty terrific.  I take Miss M to Krav Maga, we wander the Farmer's Market, then we meet up with Pre and play the day away.

Favorite TV show?

Survivor because I always have money on it, and I do love to gamble.  But my all-time favorite TV show is Moonlighting.  I have the episodes on DVD, and I still love them — even the ones post-Maddie-and-Dave hookup.

Movie you're planning to watch on the big screen?

Brave!!!!  Any Pixar movie is a special occasion, as far as I'm concerned.  I would say Hunger Games because I'm dying to see it, but the truth is that if I can't bring Miss M to a movie, I'm unlikely to go see it in the theater.

Actor/Actress you'd most like to meet?

At the moment, Charles Grodin.  I've been watching The Great Muppet Caper over and over with Miss M, and I swear, his performance is among the most brilliant I've ever seen.  Everything he does is beyond absurd, and he plays it huge… but he plays it straight.  He fills each bizarro moment and makes it real, so it's all laugh-out-loud hysterical.

Author you'd love to have lunch with?

Eileen Cook, as long as that lunch extended into a spa day, dinner, great wine, dancing to 80′s music… and more great wine.  I met Eileen through The Debutante Ball, we've been friends for well over a year now, she blurbed Populazzi, I'm completely crazy about her and her work… but we've never met in person.  Clearly a date is in our future, and I'm thinking it should happen in Vegas.

Favorite Writing book?

Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, with Stephen King's On Writing a close second.  Bird by Bird wins because it's not just a guide to writing, it's a guide to life.

Harry Potter or Twilight?

Oh come now — that's not even a question!  HARRY POTTER, of course!!!!  I'm going to be in London in June, and I've already made my reservation to tour Levensden Studios.  They say it's a three hour tour, but you can spend as much time as you like… so Miss M and I intend to camp out in the Gryffindor Common Room overnight.  They'll allow that, right?

Okay, now's where I start bending the rules.  I really liked Nutschell's questions, plus I've been deep in some works-in-progress and not feeling blog-creative at the moment… so I'm just going with hers.  With one exception: instead of "Harry Potter or Twilight," my final question is "Harry Potter or Hunger Games?"  To me that's more of a fair fight.

I'm also going to bend the rules when it comes to tagging, and tag just a few writers I think might enjoy playing.  Tag-ees, if you're not up for it, no worries.  It's not a chain letter; there's no threat of the apocalypse.  That said, here are the names I'm pulling from my Goblet of Fire:

Eileen Cook, the aforementioned fabulous writer with whom I'd love to have lunch.

Jennifer Jabaley, author of Lipstick Apology and Crush Control, and a fellow BookSparks PR client.

Marlene Perez, an author I was thrilled to meet at the recent Passion and Prose conference in Long Beach.

Jen Klein, a writer of TV, feature screenplays, books… and logic puzzles.  Also a wonderful friend and crit group partner… when I can pull it together to come to crit group.

Jennifer Gooch Hummer, author of the crazy-good Girl Unmoored, which I blurbed.  The book is a must-read — run out and get it!

Dee DeTarsio, an author whose blog-friendship I've so enjoyed, so I'm excited to see what she does with the question list.

Those are my tags, but I'd also love to hear your answers to any of the above questions.  Just leave them in the comments and we can chat!

Thanks for the fun, Nutschell!