List up to 5 books or films (or both) that have made a profound impact on you and explain why. — Starting from Scratch, by Rita Mae Brown I am convinced that most books on writing or being a writer are written by writers who are going through a dry spell because they know they’ll never starve so long as they’re feeding the hunger that novice writers have for books on how to write. …

If given the choice, which time period (past, present, or future) would you like to live in and why? — While I enjoy reminiscing about the past, I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s static, unchanging — I can read about it in a book and enjoy it again and again through photos. But I can’t travel back in time. If I could travel to the past, would changing something…

One of my retirement plans involves seeing more of the world — I used to say that I had seen more of the world outside the US than in it, but my husband, who was born outside its borders, is working to remedy that! We both retired early a couple of years ago. …

It took me a week to think of something that IS “outside my comfort zone,” and it’s a two-fer — My son was thirteen, and like most thirteen-year-olds, he was quite interested in video games. He saw a flyer from the Houston Symphony advertising a concert called “Distant Worlds,” featuring music from the game Final Fantasy. He asked if I’d take him; he offered to pay for both our tickets.

But it’s not quite as you imagine it — “If all jobs were paid the same, what would you choose to do?” I would choose to write. I did choose to write. If teachers were paid anything near what they’re worth — or if parents and administrators partnered with them in a less dysfunctional manner — I might have…

But someone will ask you to be a judge — I didn’t enter any writing contests this year. I planned to. Time just got away from me. So instead, I judged two. I won’t publicly say which two. I will say that it was fun and gave me a chance to see what other writers submit to contests. If you’re…

Go look in a mirror. Describe what you see. Give us the details. — I searched my old photos for “mirror.” I had to laugh when this came up. Good hair day! What I see is me looking surprisingly great, considering it was about 105° in the shade. By all rights, my face should’ve been covered in beads of sweat; my hair should have…

What keeps me awake, palms sweating, in the middle of the night? — “Describe your worst fear.” I looked at the card, tempted to put it back and take the dare instead of telling the truth. Every nerve ending screamed, “NO!” But vulnerability lies in the heart of a good storyteller, and so I glanced around the room at my friends’ eager faces…

What would you wish for? — My seventh grade class on “Basic Rescue and Water Safety” hadn’t prepared me for long hours spent bobbing up and down on twenty-foot swells, trying to breathe and stay awake while keeping salt water out of my nose and mouth. Trying not to panic. …