#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Michelle Prosser
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I’d like to welcome author Michelle Prosser to the blog today!
A few of your favorite things: Expensive chocolate, Champaign, books, my Kindle, and my yoga mat
Things you need to throw out: Skunky wine, cheap chocolate, much of my freezer.
Things you need for your writing sessions: Solitude, quiet, nature and a calm mind
Things that hamper your writing: Interruptions, people talking to me, loud music, worry and anxiety.
Things you love about writing: Being in the flow
Things you hate about writing: Too much sitting
Things you never want to run out of: Comfortable shoes
Things you wish you’d never bought: Shoes that looked comfortable but are torture devices
Words that describe you: Deep thinker, bubbly, positive, and loving
Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Bossy, anxious, caretaker, family matriarch (I’m TOO young but that is what everyone calls me)
Favorite foods: Lobster, shrimp, Brussel sprouts, filet mignon, tiramisu, brownies
Things that make you want to gag: Blue cheese, dill pickles
Favorite music or song: Bridge Over Troubled Waters (my Dad used to play it on the piano when I was going to sleep as a kid)
Music that drives you crazy: Heavy metal
Something you like to do: Climb Machu Picchu in Peru
Something you wish you’d never done: White water rafting on the Gauley River in Class 5 rapids. Boat hit a rock and broke a passenger’s leg. Was positive I would orphan my 3 little kids.
Things to say to an author: Beautiful turn of phrase, you took me there, your prose shimmered
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: You are a hack,
Favorite books (or genre): Magical Realism
Books you wouldn’t buy: Mean gossip and lies whether Hollywood or politics
People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Oprah Winfrey
People you’d cancel dinner on: Tucker Carlson
Things that make you happy: Dancing, writing, hiking, yoga, hanging with my family
Things that drive you crazy: Being stuck with certain family members
Most embarrassing moment: Two of them: As a junior in high school my halter dress fell down at a Homecoming dance. As an adult being asked to be the executive coach for the man who was my date when my dress fell down. I knew at that point he was gay and was probably over it but I wasn’t!
Proudest moment: I was a speaker at the Virginia Festival of the Book and many of my coaching clients, friends and Festival participants came to support me. The room was overflowing with 200 people and my children and family sat in the front row. The bookseller sold out of my books, and I spent an hour autographing books for both loved ones and strangers. People I barely knew came and videotaped it to put it online. I was so touched!
The coolest person you’ve ever met: Rosa Parks
The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Daryl Hannah
The nicest thing a reader said to you: You changed my life
The craziest thing a reader said to you: Your book is not based on Scripture
About Michelle:
Michelle Epiphany Prosser, is Director of Talent Development and Learning for the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA). Previously she served as Assistant Vice President/Learning Manager at Union Bank & Trust and as Director of Employee Development & Engagement for Lumos Networks.
Since 2001 she has been President of Energy Focus Coaching and Consulting either as a full-time or part-time consultant. In 2011 she established the Leadership program at Virginia Military Institute for staff and faculty which she continues to lead through the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics (CLE). She holds an M.A. in communication studies from the University of Virginia and is a trained executive coach. Prosser is working towards Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Organizational Innovation at Marymount University.
Prosser is a published author of Team Medicine, Coaching Your Team to Success with Native American Wisdom by Maven House in 2019 which is the first team-building book to draw upon the wisdom of the Native American tradition for a philosophy and tools for strengthening teams. Team Medicine is for leaders who work in organizations that value collaborative teams. It focuses on how teams progress through the stages of the Medicine Wheel (similar to forming, storming, norming, and performing) and the key concepts of working together in a Sacred Circle. She is also the author of the coaching/spiritual book Excuse Me, Your God is Waiting, Love Your God, Create Your Life, Find Your True Self published by Hampton Roads Publishing Company in 2008. She is completing a book that uses Native American archetypes as models for leadership energy entitled Leadership Medicine.
Before becoming a coach, Prosser worked for twenty years in government and politics, including leadership positions for three Virginia governors and a congressman.
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