What, When, Where, Why, How with Renee Wildes

Welcome to the inaugural week of my new, fun game of silly questions and interesting answers. Today, I get to torture Renee Wildes!

What was the last movie you watched?

I took my kids to see the movie BOLT.

Which surprised me in the fact that it reflected a premise I use all the time -
What happens when a character finds out the truth they've been told their entire life turns out to be a lie? What do they do when they find out the "real" truth? How do they initially handle it? How do they come to accept it and how do they use it to go forward with the rest of their life?

In my current release HEDDA'S SWORD, my heroine Maleta spent her life chasing down the Black Wolf, the man she holds responsible for stealing her home and killing her family, only to find out the entire attack was orchestrated by the Queen herself because Maleta's father was fomenting rebellion against Queen Sunniva's corrupt regime. Maleta's fight for personal vengeance becomes a full-scale rebellion to free a country.

When did you start writing?

In real life since I was six. Since nobody (besides my mom and grandma) wants to read horse stories penned by a six-year-old, officially I'd have to say since 2002. That's when I joined RWA and started entering unpubbed chapter contests and going to conferences. I switched from short contemporary to my true love, fantasy, in 2005, joined a couple critique groups and sold my first fantasy romance to Samhain at the 2007 NJ RWA PYHIAB Conference. My current title is HEDDA'S SWORD, and it was released 1/6/09. It's Book 2 in my Guardians of Light series.

Where were you when you got your first kiss?

I was a late bloomer - I was the horse-crazy tomboy who had no time for boys. Seriously. I went to parochial boarding school for high school and I got in trouble with the dean by forgetting a formal banquet and going riding in the mountains - leaving my date, corsage in hand, standing in the lobby looking like a fool. I wasn't trying to be mean - it honestly just was that low on my radar when I was 15 and I forgot it was that night. (My sister still tells me I probably scarred that boy for life.)

So my first kiss was when I was 18. He was 36. I went through a LATE rebellious stage of "sex drugs and rock and roll" - I was a roadie for a hard-rock band for 10 years in what my mom and I refer to as my Bad Decade. My first real boyfriend was twice my age, but there's something to be said for older men! We were taking a bike ride on a trail through a wooded park, and stopped to rest on a big rock by a creek. It was fall, so it was a bit chilly once you stopped moving. So I shivered, he moved closer to put an arm around me...and kissed me. Warmed me up in a hurry!

Why is the sky blue?

The Blue Fairy won the coin toss. (Payback for losing to the Pink Fairy in Sleeping Beauty!) If you notice, the Pink Fairy tries to sneak in at sunrise and sunset, but the Blue Fairy puts her foot down and ultimately wins.

How can you solve a Rubik's cube?

Never figured it out. A friend of mine in one of my local writers groups says to just switch the stickers around *LOL*.

I'm not one for logic or mind puzzles. I SUCK at crossword puzzles, too. I'm more of a word search kinda gal. I'm better at Scrabble, Boggle or Best Sellers. Best Sellers is a great game for writers meetings. You pick a genre card and two letter cards, and you have X # of minutes to write a story in your selected genre using as many words starting with your two letters as you can cough up. It's great fun - except for the poor person who invariably picks X or Q!

I’m a study in contrasts. I’m a Navy brat and a cop’s kid. I’m the lone vet tech in a family of nurses. Growing up all my friends were boys and Arabian horses, but I’d stand a date up to go horseback riding in the mountains. My ideal weekend is caving, the muddier the better, or rappelling, but it takes me twenty minutes to lean back over that cliff – every single time. Steve Irwin was my hero, but I’m deathly afraid of snakes and spiders.

When I’m not writing, I’m running between my day job as an insurance customer service phone rep, figure skating lessons, flag football & karate lessons. I drive a minivan. I am not a soccer mom. I HATE to shop, unless it’s horse stuff. I own 2 pairs of shoes, 3 skirts and 1 dress. I live in jeans in the summer and sweats in the winter.I have pierced ears but never wear earrings. I love the Dark Ages, Medieval Renaissance fairs, and scrapbooking. My favorite flowers are lilies.

When I get time to read, I love fantasy, action, and dark paranormal. My favorite book is The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly. I want to be Mercedes Lackey when I grow up. I love reading Suzanne Brockmann, Lori Foster, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan & Angela Knight. In non-fiction I love history from Ancient Egypt & Greece through the Dark Ages, also New Age/Magical Arts. I’m a writing book junkie. I could start my own reference librarian/research business.

I will have to die in my current house because all my friends refuse to haul my book collection another foot. Not even one little box.

my website http://www.reneewildes.com/ Where Believing Is Seeing
my personal blog http://www.reneewildes1.wordpress.com/
my new character blog http://www.guardiansoflight.wordpress.com/