You know me, always on the lookout for fun quizzes to take and compare my answers to some celebrity’s! Found a good one in a recent issue of Marie Claire magazine, so here are a few of my answers. Actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish took their quiz and her answers are much more glamorous than mine (and we obviously live totally different lives, not unexpectedly).

Best career advice I’ve gotten: Write a book, then write the next book and repeat. Also, write a series if you can, which I’m doing now with my Badari Warriors.

Moment I felt I’d made it: When I started to introduce myself to a famous author at a conference and before I got my name out, she said she knew who *I* was and that she’d enjoyed my books.  I mean, wow! That was a thrill…

How I made my first dollar: Babysitting (but I didn’t belong to a cool club like the Babysitters LOL.) First paid job where they deducted taxes was as the counter girl at a dry cleaner’s. By the way, Ms. Haddish’s first job was babysitting as well, which was about the only similarity between our answers.

Favorite perk of the job: Meeting authors whose books I’ve loved and being able to tell them how much their words have meant to me.

If I weren’t a writer, I’d be: a frustrated writer! With manuscripts galore under the bed…And probably still doing subcontracts and process improvement at NASA/JPL (the former day job).

3 Qualities that got me where I am today: Creativity (for which I credit my mysterious Muse), ability to juggle many tasks and bring them to completion, and networking, which is my sekrit superpower.

Song I want played at my funeral: “Fun Fun Fun” by the Beach Boys and my family knows this! It’s my anthem.

What every woman should try once in her lifetime: Ok, just wow, I’d never be presumptuous enough to try to tell every other woman on Earth what to try or not try. I can only speak to my own experience and I think the times I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone have been the most rewarding. Maybe I never do that particular thing again, whatever it was, but I’m better and more self confident for having tried something that seemed daunting. The times I’ve let an opportunity to push my limits go by me (if I heard that little voice inside telling me to go for it), there are regrets. But I’ll never be jumping out of a plane, ok? Splash Mountain at Disneyland was enough terror and falling for me.

One thing I’m exceptionally good at: Networking

One thing I’m exceptionally bad at (but do anyway): Dancing. Do they need a scifi romance author on Dancing With The Stars yet? Can I have Ardem as my partner?

How I clear my mind after a bad day: Chocolate. I also meditate, pet the cat, take a walk, drive and play loud music, drink tea, read or re-read a favorite book, watch a favorite  movie – whatever seems to fit the moment and the mood. Any or all of this works…I’m also a morning person and things are always better in the morning.

My 1st kiss: That’s for me to know and you to not know. But it was very good…

Craziest thing I did for love: Fly out here to Southern California to marry my high school sweetie when we were 19 and be a USMC lance corporal’s wife…which worked out VERY well indeed actually.

Happy reading!

‘Quiz’ photo from DepositPhoto. Other photos are Author’s own.