Saturday, April 25, 2009

What, When, Where, Why & How with Lynn Reynolds

Today, I give you a special edition of WWWWH with Lynn Reynolds!

Lynn, what would you do with a million dollars?

Whenever I hear that question, I think of The Barenaked Ladies song:
If I had a 1,000,000
I'd but you a house
If I had a 1,000,000
I'd buy you furniture for your house ( maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)
If I had a 1,000,000
I'd but you a K-car ( a nice reliant automobile)
If I had a 1,000,000, I'd buy your love


It goes on and the things he promises to buy get ever sillier, until he's talking about buying gourmet dijon ketchup for his Kraft macaroni and cheese. I don't think I'd buy anything that quirky if I had a million dollars - for one thing, I don't think I'd like dijon ketchup. I think like most of us these days, if I had a million dollars, I'd do a lot of practical sensible things.

First off, I'd put a bunch of money aside to pay my son's tuition. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a kind of mild autism, but he's very bright. So he goes to a phenomenally expensive school especially for bright kids with learning issues. Every year has been a struggle to pay the bill, and with the current economy - next year, the money runs out. He'll finish eighth grade there, but we won't be able to send him to the high school. Unless I get that killer story idea, of course. Hmmm. Maybe something about a 108-year-old vampire who picks up girls at the local high school science lab. Think anyone would buy that one? Nah, probably not.

So after I pay tuition, I'd probably buy a different house - a big old Victorian. Maybe I'd even get a small farm and add a few goats and chickens. No horses. I have a friend with a horse farm, and once I saw the per-horse poop quota, I decided to forget the horse farm. Not unless I can afford to hire a strapping young farmhand to clean out the stables. But wait! If I have a million dollars, I guess I can hire that strapping young farmhand after all. Might be a few objections from the darling hubby on that point, though.

Maybe forget the horses and the strapping stablehand. Maybe I'll just take the darling hubby on a sexy Mediterranean cruise.

When do you write?

There have been times in my life when I have had a very nice regular writing schedule, usually several hours in the morning or late at night. But this has been a pretty hectic year, so I pretty much write whenever I can. I carry my notebook around with me and jot random thoughts and ideas down throughout the day. I tried getting a voice recording so that I could also record ideas while I'm driving, but that was a bad idea for two reasons. For one thing, trying to listen to myself talk is downright annoying. I always feel like I sound entirely too much like Lucy in the Peanuts cartoons. And for another thing, it turned out to be really distracting fiddling with all those itty-bitty buttons while weaving in and out of city traffic!

Where did you last shop?

If we count virtual shopping experiences, I just went to QVC last night and bought the spiffy new Free To Be All Natural Makeup kit from Bare Escentuals, my favorite cosmetics company. I have really sensitive fair skin and Bare Escentuals makes mineral makeup with no artificial colors and preservatives. It's expensive, but I'm worth it.

As far as face-to-face shopping experiences - well, that's kind of sad. There was the new seat cushion at Salvo Auto parts and the entire new wardrobe for my son, whom I think has grown about four inches in the last couple of weeks. Wait, I'd better check - he probably went up another size while he was sleeping.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Well, considering relativity, I'm not sure that he did. Maybe the chicken stayed right where it was and the road moved.

I just had to Google this joke when I was asked this question. I didn't come up with any particularly good answers, but I did discover this early version from a magazine called Potter's American Monthly in 1890:

Why should not a chicken cross the road?
It would be a fowl proceeding.

Now that's what I call historically funny.

How would you feel if you discovered you had the back of your skirt caught in the back of your panties and your assets showing?

I would like to think I'd be cool and calm and unflappable at a time like this, but a lot would depend on which panties I was wearing at the time. And where I was. At a nightclub, in the dark, wearing the leopard print booty shorts - hey, that might not be so bad. At a PTA meeting at my son's school, wearing those big grey mommy pants with the hole in the waistband - well, then I'd probably just want to die. But I wouldn't be that lucky. I'd have to see those people again and again and again. So that's probably where something like this would happen - because that's how things work in my corner of the universe!

Lynn Reynolds has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. She's a city girl currently trapped in a split foyer in Green Acres.Sharing her captivity are the tall, dark and handsome Matt; the always loud and hyperactive Chris; and Tiger, the lethargic wonder cat. She writes romances because she really does believe in Love at First Sight and Happily Ever After. Her first book, Thirty-Nine Again, will be released by The Wild Rose Press on June 12, 2009. Visit her website at www.lynnreynolds.com to check out a really cool trailer for the book or to sign up for her newsletter. Or visit Lynn's blog at www.lynnreynolds.blogspot.com .

20 comments:

Edie Ramer said...

Great answers! Especially the one about the dress caught in the panties. LOL

I'll have to try the all-natural makeup. I usually just don't bother.

Cara Marsi said...

Great interview, Lynn. Very funny. If you get that million dollars, go for the Mediterranean cruise. The heck with the safe stuff. Your Tiger, the wonder cat, sounds like my Killer, the fat, black lethargic, sleep all day wonder cat. I can't wait to read your book.

Susan Macatee said...

You did a great job with your first interview, Lynn! Very funny answers!

Ellen said...

Wonderful interview, Lynn! I can relate to the makeup issues, only my skin can only be called Problem. I'm into Lancome myself---and like you say, expensive, but oh so worth it.

And something else we have in common---I scribble away in notebooks whenever I can as well.

I've got my fingers crossed that you'll get that advance which will make tuition worry a thing of the past :)

Emma Lai said...

Entertaining post ladies though I must say the joke was fowl! :) I have experienced the dress in hose phenomenon...when I was eight. Obviously it made a horrific impression.

Mary Ricksen said...

Great Post and I'm glad you weren't chicken to post today.
Worse then the dress, one time in high school assembly a poor student, whom I don't remember, had a white skirt and she had just gotten her "friend", that day. Poor girl ran off stage hysterical. That hadda be the worst thing ever for her!!

Diane M. Wylie said...

Great answers to those questions, Lynn. I love the panty answers, what a hoot! I hope you get the tuition thing straightened out for your son. I know how much it means to you and to him. Good luck!

~Diane

sylvie said...

Loved your interview. Fun and informative...great job!

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Great interview. Good job. And nice job to the interviewer, too. You had some unusual questions. :)

I love the image of grey mommy panties. OMG, that would be horrifying, wouldn't it? Knock on wood, that's never happened to me.

Love your cover, FYI.

:)Becky

Ann Whitaker said...

Hi, Lynn,

I'm with you on the writing while driving. A writer (maybe Faulkner?)once said, "I have to see what I say to know what I think"? I barely know what I think when I do see what I say. Entertaining answers!

Ann

Sandy James said...

What a fun interview!! Thanks for sharing Lynn with us, Marianne!

Lynn Reynolds said...

Diane - thanks for stopping by. Yes, I know you really do understand about my son's issues!

Mary - I was wearing white shorts on the first day that "Friend" visited. Have never, ever worn white pants since. Just bought a really pale pink pair of pants last week and am hoping I'll have nerve to wear them this summer!!!

Thanks everyone for stopping by today!

Michelle Miles said...

LOL Lynn - the panty thing happened to me...at work. Of course it was years ago so I've long since recovered. But I've had to have years of therapy...in department stores. ;)

Dru said...

That was a fun interview.

Anne Carrole said...

Great interview Lynn and, as always, very funny!:) Love the answer to the pantyhose question!Can't wait to read the book!

Margaret Tanner said...

Hi Lynn,
Great interview. I enjoyed finding a little more about you.
Regards
Margaret

Nancy said...

Lynn, you are too much fun - as always! Congratulations on your first interview, and on your BOOK!!! I can hardly wait!

Light,
Nancy Haddock

Lynn Reynolds said...

Thanks for stopping by, Margaret, and thanks for the warm wishes, Nancy!

Stacey Joy Netzel said...

I'm really late to the party here, but wanted to say I really enjoyed the post. :)

Lynn Reynolds said...

Better late than never! Glad you enjoyed it, Stacey.