#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with M. A. Monnin

I’d like to welcome author M. A. Monnin to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite fall traditions: Some of my favorite fall activities are raking leaves, sitting by the firepit with a glass of wine, and watching Chiefs games.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Go to a professional Haunted House! They’re too scary for me. My kids love them.

Favorite fall treat: I make a mix of candy corn, peanuts, and fall-colored M&Ms. The mix looks pretty in a bowl and tastes delicious.

A fall treat that makes you gag: No pumpkin spice coffee for me, thanks.

Something you’ll only do in the fall: I can’t say rake leaves, because the neighbors have pin oaks and they fall all winter long into spring. So it’ll have to be carve pumpkins. I love jack o’lanterns.

Something you’d never do in the fall season: I’d never travel to the Caribbean in fall. Hurricanes!

Favorite autumn beverage: Hot buttered rum, according to an old Southern Living recipe: a cup of hot apple cider with a shot of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, topped with a sliver of butter.

A drink that gives you a sour face: Moscow mules. For me, a little ginger goes a long way.

Favorite fall smell: The scent of fallen leaves. They smell cozy and warm to me.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Fallen hedge apples, also known as Osage oranges. The squirrels love them, but any that they leave behind stink to high Heaven.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in the autumn: I make a wonderful pecan-orange pie.

Your worst kitchen disaster: Had to be that Thanksgiving when I had the whole family at my house and ordered the meal from a store like my mother did. Only I ordered from a different store, and while her meal was always fully cooked and piping hot when they picked it up on Thanksgiving morning, my turkey and fixings were frozen solid! I did learn that if you have enough sides, you can comfortably feed 12 people on a one pound turkey loaf.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: Arrowhead Stadium watching the Kansas City Chiefs play. Loudest stadium in the country.

The worst place to spend a fall day: That would have to be Phoenix Arizona. We loved Phoenix and lived there for one year when my husband was stationed at Luke AFB, but I really missed the changing color of leaves.

Funniest pumpkin-carving story: This is my favorite, rather than the funniest. For a couple of years, our entire family and several friends got together to carve pumpkins for our local charity Pumpkin Parade. I called our grouping the Monnin Family Plot. Two of my favorite designs were my husband’s fleur-de-lis and my son-in-law’s Christopher Walken.

Your worst pumpkin-carving story: That would have to be the time I tried to do like my friend and neighbor did and attempted to make a snake ala Martha Stewart. My friend’s was the highlight of the neighborhood, with twelve jack o’lanterns strung together with white Christmas lights. I got tired after carving three. Mine was more of an inch worm.

Your best Halloween costume: My favorite costume is a gypsy. I love wearing a full flouncy skirt and layering on scarves and tons of jewelry. I even have a crystal ball that I keep close by in case any little ones want their fortune told. My husband is from Louisiana, and I have a large selection of Mardi Gras masks that I can choose from.

A Halloween costume that wasn’t quite what you imagined: That would be the year I decided to go as a devil, wearing a Venetian leather mask we’d picked up, a red cape and a plastic pitchfork. It was only when I saw photos later that I realized I’d put on my reversible cape black side out instead of red, so I just looked . . . odd.

Favorite pumpkin spice item: pumpkin bread.

Something that should never be pumpkin-spice flavored: Coffee!

About M. A.

M. A. Monnin is the author of Death In The Aegean, the first in the Stefanie Adams Intrepid Traveler Mystery Series. Her short stories have appeared in Anthony-Award-winning anthology Mystery Most Edible, Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly, and pulp anthology All That Weird Jazz. An avocational archaeologist and AF veteran, her non-fiction articles cover Victorian reception of Ancient Egypt, gardening, and detective fiction.

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#WriterWednesday Interview with Mally Becker

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Mally Becker to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite fall traditions: Baking fruit cobblers and bread once the weather cools off. Dressing up and decorating for Halloween. Rooting for the New York Mets to make the postseason.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: This is the first time in years that we won’t be buying Costco’s 10-pound bag of candy for Halloween. The purchase was just our excuse to have eight pounds of leftover chocolate candy in the house. Time (for us) to grow up!

Favorite fall treat: Warm apple pie a la mode.

A fall treat that makes you gag: Pumpkin spice anything.

Favorite autumn beverage: Apple cider mimosas.

A drink that gives you a sour face: Pumpkin spice coffee.

Best fall memory: Taking our son to college football games when he was young.

Something you’d rather forget: The 10-day power outage following a freak October snow storm here in New Jersey.

A tradition you share with others: We place a scratch-off lottery ticket beneath everyone’s plate at Thanksgiving, then wait ‘til dessert for everyone to try their luck.

A tradition that can be retired: Aiming for perfection at holiday meals! It took me a long time to notice that everyone’s just grateful to be together with or without the “perfect” meal.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in autumn: Chocolate chip apple cake.

Your worst kitchen disaster: I pulled the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven and realized that I’d never removed the bag of giblets it came with.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: Paris.

The worst place to spend a fall day: At a football stadium during an icy late-November rainstorm.

Your best Halloween costume: I cut giant sheets of upholstery foam and used spray paint to create a human-sized ham-and-cheese sandwich costume. (Can you tell that Halloween’s my favorite holiday of the year?)

A Halloween costume that wasn’t quite what you imagined: A neighbor walked into a Halloween party wearing a hospital gown to which small cereal boxes had been stapled. A plastic knife stuck out of each small box. I was baffled and asked him about his costume. “I’m a cereal killer,” he said.

Best Halloween costume ever: A neighborhood friend purchased a full-sized gorilla costume for a costume party. He also wore it round the neighborhood that year on his usual morning walk, giving kids waiting for the school bus that day quite a start.

Worst Halloween costume disaster: Nope. We won’t be discussing the year I created a tutu that wouldn’t stay tied around my waist.

Best Halloween memory: My friend’s annual Halloween costume party was scheduled for the night of the October snowstorm I mentioned above. It was snowing, power was out, and trees were down all over the neighborhood. She held the party in the dark for the few of us crazy enough to walk to her house in the storm.

Worst Halloween experience: Traveling for business one year and missing Halloween entirely.

About Mally:

Mally Becker combines her love of history and crime fiction in mysteries that feature strong, independent heroines. Her debut novel, The Turncoat's Widow, was nominated for an Agatha Award in 2022. Kirkus Reviews called it, "A compelling tale ... with charming main characters.” The Turncoat's Widow was also named a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion finalist and a CIBA Mystery & Mayhem finalist.

The Counterfeit Wife, will be published on September 20, 2022 by Level Best Books, and she is at work on the third installment in her Revolutionary War mystery series.

A member of the board of MWA-NY, Mally was an attorney until becoming a full-time writer. She's also an instructor at The Writers Circle Workshops. She and her husband live in New Jersey, where they raised their wonderful son.

She thought she'd be clearing trails when she volunteered at the Morristown National Historical Park but found herself instead assigned to work with the Park's archival collection of letters. That's where she found a copy of an indictment for the Revolutionary War-era crime of traveling from New Jersey to New York City "without permission or passport." That document became the spark for The Turncoat's Widow and her Revolutionary War mystery series.

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Preventing Your Writing Time from Slipping Away

Time is a precious resource. You need to guard your writing time. Here are some things you can do to eliminate some of the distractions and time hogs.

• When you’re writing, make notes in your manuscript of things you need to research. Then later, go back and do all your research at one time. If you hop on the internet each time you need to check something, you could be on there for hours looking at llama videos.

• Figure out how much time you have for your writing and put it on your calendar or task list. We reserve time for things we need to get done.

• Turn off the TV. We often spend hours watching television or movies. You may be able to use this for extra writing time.

• Record shows that you want to watch, so you can fast forward through the commercials. It does save a lot of time.

• Schedule your social media posts for the week.

• Don’t check your phone every five minutes. It’s too easy to get sucked into email or social media feed when you’re supposed to be writing.

• Training and learning are good things. Just be careful not to over schedule so that you’re always attending training or watching training videos. I did the same thing with writing books. I was always reading about writing instead of writing.

• Networking is great and much needed. I am on a lot of online groups where each post creates an alert to all the members. I adjusted the frequency of the emails for these sites to a daily digest when I didn’t need to follow the conversations in real time. This helped me cut down on the emails.

• Spend a few minutes unsubscribing to sites and newsletters that you don’t need or aren’t interested in. By pairing down your inbox, it saves you time when you review email.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Allison Brook

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Allison Brook (Marilyn Levinson) to the blog to talk about her latest book.

Favorite thing that you always make time for: email, talking to my grandkids, reading

The thing you’ll always do just about anything to avoid: writing. Well, only for a brief time, until I get into my writing groove.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: reading glasses and wrist brace

Things that distract you from writing: email, phone calls

The thing you like most about being a writer: readers telling me how much they like my books; finishing a book.

The thing you like least about being a writer: sitting down each day to write. Once I get started I'm all right. All the promotion I have to do for each book.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: Nothing. I have enough discipline to wait till morning.:)

Things you never put on your shopping list: cake, soda.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: the camaraderie and generosity of my fellow writers; comments from readers who love my characters and my books

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: I wish it hadn't taken so long for me to get established as an author, though I don't know what I could have done differently.

Something you’re really good at: finding outlets on social media to promote my books

Something you never learned how to do: truly understand and buy stocks and bonds on my own.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: a ballerina

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: keep on writing at my age.

Your best recipe: I've several: simple blueberry cake; apricot chicken; broccoli and cheese casserole; honey-soy sauce salmon

Something that didn’t turn out like you planned when you made it: I made a goose, and it was sooo very fatty.

Things you always put in your books: three-dimensional characters; characters relationships; a romantic interest; usually a dog or a cat; murder.

Things you never put in your books: torture; physical cruelty; death of my protagonist.

Favorite things to do: reading, crossword puzzles, yoga, sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with my grandkids.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: something new that I've never done before

About Allison:

"I was a bookworm from the moment I learned how to read. I devoured Nancy Drews, Judy Boltons, and Trixie Beldons – sometimes two books in one day. Was it any wonder I ended up writing mysteries?

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I dreamed of becoming a ballerina or a writer. I practiced my pirouettes and penned short stories. My family moved to Long Island, where I continued to write stories until I was discouraged by a high school English teacher.

Turned off to writing, I continued to read voraciously in college and concentrated on my major, Spanish. I studied in Mexico and Spain, intent on becoming fluent in the language. I taught high school Spanish, married my dentist husband, and we started a family. When our two sons were small, I found myself drawn back to writing fiction.

A writer is a writer forever. We may have more than our share of disappointments, but the rewards are many – knowing you bring joy to readers; sharing the camaraderie and support of your fellow scribes. Writing is a way of life, one I wouldn’t relinquish for anything.

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#WriterWednesday Author Interview with Judy L. Murray

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Judy L. Murray to the blog for #WriterWednesday. I had the privilege of reading an early version of her latest mystery.

A few of your favorite things: My books, all of them. Antiques and prints I’ve collected over the years. I remember where I found each one of them. It’s fun to reminisce about the hunt for treasures.

Things you need to throw out: Clothes I never wear. I always think – maybe next year I’ll wear this. I’m usually delusional, either because it will never be back in style, or I’ll never fit into it again.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet, and my cats, Agatha and Dr. Watson.

Things that hamper your writing: Getting distracted by social media and the news. That’s a rabbit hole I still haven’t mastered.

Things you love about writing: Hearing from readers who love my people and all the twists and turns. That they relate to my characters. When someone asks me, “what will happen between Helen and Joe?” I smile. It means that they’re real people to my readers. Readers seem to love my Detection Club of famous sleuths in my series.

Things you hate about writing: Outlining. Hate it! Trying to improve my attitude but not being very successful.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Did I mention outlining?

Easiest thing about being a writer: Feeling good about giving yourself time alone with your thoughts. The excitement when I know my story is on a roll.

Things you never want to run out of: New ideas…and paper. Maybe pretzels. Chocolate to eat with the pretzels is nice too.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Any silly device for neck pain from working on my laptop. I think I’ve tried most everything. Heaven forbid, I force myself to exercise every day.

Words that describe you: People person, micromanager, persistent. I talk to anyone anywhere, especially in the grocery store. Yes, I’m one of THOSE.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Not enjoying the moment when I should. A worrier about things that may not ever happen, especially involving my children. I’ve improved over the years, but not enough.

Favorite foods: Cake, ice cream, twice-baked potatoes, red wine in the winter.

Things that make you want to gag: Beets and other odd vegetables. Give me the basics.

Something you’re really good at: Being creative. I’m usually a problem-solver. I’m also very good at seeing the potential in neglected houses. My husband and I have been rehabbing all our lives. It truly is an addiction.

Something you’re really bad at: Holding back on giving my advice to my grown children. I’m not sure about yours, but mine usually don’t want it!

Something you wish you could do: Speak a foreign language. I just can’t roll my r’s. I’m terrible at it. This is from someone whose maiden name is Casanova. I admire people who speak other languages.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Clean house.

Something you like to do: Jump in and help.

Something you wish you’d never done: Shovel plaster off old walls into dumpsters. You have to be young!

Things you’d walk a mile for: My family when they need me. I’d go through fire. Or, run through the woods in the dark, like my protagonist Helen in her first mystery.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: A house with more visiting dogs than people after a long weekend. My cats will come with me. But please don’t tell my children.

Things you always put in your books: A little romance and a happy ending. Life should feel good at the end of a story.

Things you never put in your books: Sex. I’m too self-conscious and inhibited.

Things to say to an author: Keep writing, welcome feedback from your editors. Revise, revise, revise.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I can’t believe you wrote that!”

Favorite places you’ve been: The Adirondacks, the Chesapeake Bay, and Bath, England.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas. It’s just not my scene.

Favorite books (or genre): Books by other mystery writers. Jane Austen’s books – I own multiple sets. I re-read Rosamunde Pilcher’s whenever I need to sooth my mind.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Books about serial killers and explicit thrillers. They’d keep me up at night and I’m already a poor sleeper.

Favorite things to do: Sailing and sleeping overnight on our boat, Persuasion which was named after Jane Austen’s book and my forty years in marketing. Spending time with my family. If I can do those together, even better.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Moving. Which is pretty funny coming from a Realtor of forty years. I get very attached to my surroundings. And doing taxes. I hate anything to do with accounting.

Things that make you happy: Meeting friendly people.

Things that drive you crazy: People who don’t smile. Smiling costs you nothing except the lines around your eyes. I have many.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Actually, a couple things: Teaching my children the importance of family. Also, I’m not sure if it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, but getting my first book, Murder in the Master, published.

Biggest mistake: Waiting so long to find time outside of work to write.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I love your mysteries. Brillant!” Ahhh.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Are you Helen?” “No. I’m not nearly so Nancy Drew brave!”

About Judy

An IPPY Silver Medalist, a Silver Falchion Award Winner, and Agatha Award Nominee for Best First Mystery. Judy L Murray’s debut novel, Murder in the Master – A Chesapeake Bay Mystery, came out in 2021. Her second in the series, Killer in the Kitchen, was released late September 2022.

The Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series Book One, Murder in the Master, introduced Helen Morrisey, a quick-tongued, gutsy, and mature woman long on loyalty and short on romance. A mystery story addict, Helen’s approach to solving problems was to call on the talents of her favorite, strong-minded female detectives within her own Detection Club, much like Agatha Christie formed in 1930. 

A real estate broker in the Philadelphia area and restoration addict, Judy has worked with enough delusional sellers, jittery buyers, testy contractors, and diva agents to fill her head with back-office insight and truth versus gossip. She lives atop a cliff on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband where she writes long after sunset. They're buffeted by winds in winter and invaded by family and dogs in summer.  Judy holds a newspaper journalism degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and an MBA concentrating on marketing with Penn State University. She began her writing career as a newspaper reporter and magazine columnist. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Judy is represented by the Blue Ridge Literary Agency and Level Best Books Publishers. Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Follow her at www.judylmurraymysteries.com with her newsletter and Judy L Murray Author on social media. She welcomes your conversations. You can also reach her directly at judylmurray@gmail.com She’d love to hear from you!

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Stay Focused and Write Your First Draft

I hear from writers all the time that it takes years and years, and they still haven’t finished their manuscript. The first Delanie novel took me about five years to write and revise (and revise and revise). Then it took about another two years to get published. Here are some things that I’ve learned along the way that work for me.

• Plot your book. I write mysteries, and I need to know “who done it” and where to put the clues. I’ve “pantsed” a couple of manuscripts, and I found that without an outline or at least a summary for each chapter, I got stuck in the middle.

• When you get stuck, figure out what you need to do to get unstuck. The longer you leave a manuscript, the longer it’s going to take you to catch up and get back in the rhythm. Exercise, do something creative, read, or work on a totally different kind of project. Sometimes the activity is enough to spark your creativity and get you moving again.

• Sometimes, you’re stuck because you have a plot hole or you’ve written yourself into a corner. This is where the outline/chapter summary comes in handy. If you stick to the plan, you know what happens next.

• If you absolutely don’t feel like writing or don’t have the time one day, try to do edits, revisions, blog posts, or other book marketing tasks instead.

• Life does get in the way sometimes or you just need a break. When that happens, don’t beat yourself up. Figure out how to get on track. Sometimes, if I know I have an obligation or event, I’ll try to write more on other days, so I don’t lose momentum, and I still hit my word count for the week.

• When I start to write (after I have a high-level outline or chapter summaries), I keep track of my daily word count to show my progress. On days that I work at my other job, I try for 1,000 words, and on weekends/holidays, I aim for 3,000. If I can stick to this, I can usually finish a first draft in 2-3 months.

• Finish your first draft. Keep writing. Don’t keep going back to try to perfect one chapter or a paragraph. If you do, you will never finish. If there is something you want to remember, make a note and keep going.

• Try not to stop every time you need to research something. Make notes and do your research later. It’s too easy to get distracted when you hop on the internet to check something every ten minutes.

• When you’ve completed your first draft, print it out and do a full read through. Fix plot holes, inconsistencies, grammar problems, and typos. I probably do three or four full revisions like this before I’m ready for the manuscript to go to a critique group or beta readers.

I am definitely much faster when I plan out my story and write every day. If you’re having trouble finishing a manuscript, try some of these ideas and see if they work for you.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Rose Kerr

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Rose Kerr to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things:

Books, my wireless headphones, and handprints made by my kids and grandkids.

Things you need to throw out:

Blurry photos (who are those people?).

Things you need for your writing sessions:

An outline, my computer, a notebook and pen, instrumental music playing, and my wireless headphones.

Things that hamper your writing:

Not knowing what’s going to happen. I need to outline my work before I write, otherwise it doesn’t happen.

Things you love about writing:

Making up characters and putting them in challenging situations.

I love to research all kinds of different things.

Things you hate about writing:

Fiddling with grammar and punctuation. Thank goodness there are software programs to help and excellent editors.

Favorite foods:

Pizza, my lasagna, and Rappie Pie (a traditional Acadian dish). I’m Acadian and when I go back to visit my family in Nova Scotia, Rappie Pie is one of the meals we have at least once or twice.

Things that make you want to gag:

Liver and onions.

Favorite smell:

Wild roses and the smell of the ocean. In the summer, in Nova Scotia, wild roses grow in abundance and the ocean smells amazing. Combine the two and I’d buy all the candles!

Something that makes you hold your nose:

Wet hockey gear that’s been left in the bag. Yuck!

Last best thing you ate:

My lasagna.

Last thing you regret eating:

That bag of sour cream and onion chips.

The last thing you ordered online:

Pens and office supplies.

The last thing you regret buying:

Organizing bins that don’t fit the space. I’ve since used them elsewhere, but the original space still needs bins.

Favorite places you’ve been:

Boston, Australia, South Korea, Mexico. In Boston, my husband and I toured Fenway (twice!) and took in two ball games. In Australia, we visited with my brother and his family, South Korea was where my son and daughter-in-law were married, and Mexico was a fabulous place to relax and unwind.

Places you never want to go to again:

The mall on Christmas Eve! I’ve done that a few times and have vowed to never do it again.

Favorite books (or genre):

I love cozy mysteries but read other mysteries and thrillers. And I enjoy a good biography.

Books you wouldn’t buy:

I can’t read horror.

Favorite things to do:

Spending time with family, reading, walking, spending time in nature.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing:

Going to the opera, just not my thing.

Best thing you’ve ever done:

Married my husband. He’s my best friend and biggest supporter.

Biggest mistake:

Finding the “perfect” time to start writing. Just start, there isn’t a perfect time.

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

I loved your book! I couldn’t put it down!

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

I’ve always wanted to write a book. It must be so easy.

About Rose

Rose Kerr lived most of her adult life in small towns. She and her husband raised their family in a small town in Northern Ontario, on the shores of Lake Superior. Currently, they live in Southern Ontario with their dog, Jake. Rose is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Guppy Online Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and Crime Writers of Canada. For more info visit: www.rosekerr.com

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#ThisorThatAuthorInterview with Belinda Betker

I’d like to welcome Belinda Betker to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: poetry books, original artworks, and almost all genres of music

Things you need to throw out: I recycle, repurpose, reuse as much as possible, but I do need to reduce the amount of paper I keep, and random other things I keep ‘just in case’ they might be useful some day

Things you need for your writing sessions: my favorite refillable blue ink pens; journals, preferably with ruled lines and built-in ribbon page marker; and really great music (especially CBC’s “After Dark” programming hosted by Odario Williams)

Things that hamper your writing: getting in my own way by getting caught up in distractions rather than just getting straight to my office and journals and PC

Things you love about writing: the constant surprise of starting off with a specific poem idea in mind to write about, but having something else emerge that I like 

Things you hate about writing: nothing! I love writing, and everything about it, including exploring topics, getting details right, revising, editing, etc.

Hardest thing about being a writer: dedicating the amount of time to writing that I want to

Easiest thing about being a writer: just sitting down to do it

Favorite foods: potatoes in any form – baked, fried, mashed, roasted, etc.; popcorn; rye toast; home-made soups; all kinds of cheese

Things that make you want to gag: raw bananas (baked is fine), hot chilies, hot peppers

Favorite smell: star-gazer lilies

Something that makes you hold your nose: any burnt food

Something you like to do: read; write; word puzzles; listen to good music; attend concerts, live theatre, musicals, and dance performances; explore art galleries and museums

Something you wish you’d never done: wasted time by procrastinating

Last best thing you ate: home-made tomato soup from my own garden-fresh tomatoes

Last thing you regret eating: that too-sweet icing on a friend’s birthday cake

Things you’d walk a mile for: a visit with a good friend; a bento box lunch at my favourite Japanese restaurant; a trip to an outdoor pool in warm weather

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: meaningless or inane conversations; racist, homophobic, and other discriminatory behaviours and language

Things you always put in your books: poems about lived experiences; connections to inner and outer worlds 

Things you never put in your books: gratuitous violence; hatred

Things to say to an author: I loved your poem(s)/book because …(be specific)

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: what do/does your poem(s) mean?

Favorite places you’ve been: boreal forest in autumn northern Saskatchewan; shoreline of any ocean; anywhere in Australia

Places you never want to go to again: any place where I got lost and felt afraid