I’m so excited to welcome Michelle Hillen Klump to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: I love chai tea, old books, fat cats, wildflowers, chocolate, my family, newspapers and my Kitchen-Aid mixer.

Things you need to throw out: I need to throw out the five pairs of old running shoes collecting dust at the back of my closet.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need a comfy couch, my laptop computer and my cat for company.

Things that hamper your writing: I can’t listen to music, television or any other sounds while I’m trying to write.

Things you love about writing: I love coming up with an inventive solution to a plot problem, and playing around with language to make a piece more lyrical or descriptive.

Things you hate about writing: I hate the process of trying to start writing when I am feeling particularly stuck. I try to write at least 500 words a day, and if I’m stuck on something, that can feel like torture.

Favorite foods: Anything Tex-Mex, fruits of all kinds, pasta and chocolate.

Things that make you want to gag: Olives and hardboiled eggs.

Favorite smell: The combination of mint and rosemary.

Something that makes you hold your nose: fish fertilizer – my garden loves it, but the smell is so awful!

Something you’re really good at: I am pretty great at Scrabble and Upwards. My family groans when I ask to play!

Something you’re really bad at: I am so bad at decorating baked goods. I’m pretty sure I would fit right in on the Netflix show Nailed It.

Favorite things to do: I love reading, swimming, biking, baking, writing, traveling, hanging out with my kid and husband.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: While I generally enjoy cooking, I hate the weekly task of planning out dinner menus with the fire of a thousand suns! I get so tired of trying to figure out new recipes to make, and how to throw in healthier options among all the family favorites.

Things to say to an author: I loved your book! I left a review for you on Amazon! I requested your book at the library!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Would I have ever heard of you or your book? Anyone can write and publish a book these days.

Words that describe you: Kind, smart, driven, creative.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Stubborn, shy, tired, impatient.

Things you always put in your books: I always include strong, capable women who aren’t afraid to ask for help, but who also aren’t afraid to find their own way when necessary.

Things you never put in your books: While it is hard to avoid any violence in a murder mystery, I don’t like gratuitous violence or graphic depictions of violence, and don’t put those in my books.

Things you’d walk a mile for: I try to walk at least a couple of miles a day, so I’m pretty willing to walk a mile for just about anything. But I would walk an extra mile for an interesting ice cream shop or a really cool craft cocktail bar or speakeasy.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Roaches and the Baby Shark song.

About Michelle:

Michelle Hillen Klump is a former newspaper reporter who covered government, courts and crime throughout Arkansas and Central Texas. Now living in Houston with her husband and daughter, she is still a working journalist and is also a member of Sisters in Crime. Her short fiction has appeared in Crimson Streets and Tales of Texas, Volume II, a Houston short story anthology. MURDER SERVED NEAT is her second novel.

Let’s Be Social:

My webpage: https://michelleklump.com/

Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMichelleKlump

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mh_klump

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle.h.klump/?hl=en

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21600853.Michelle_Hillen_Klump