Tag Archives: Arts

20 Random Questions With Author, Raelee May Carpenter

My friend and La Literati cohost, Tosha, has posted interviews with guests we have had on our podcast to her blog. You can find her blog here. It seemed like fun, so I invited our recent guest, the writer Raelee May Carpenter, to answer 20 random questions from me. I hope you enjoy reading, and check out Raelee’s books if you haven’t already.

 

1. What three items do you always have with you?

A pencil or pen with sticky notes. My iPod. And lip balm, because I am an addict.

2. If you were going to write an article about yourself, what would the headline be?

“Grace In the Gutter”

3. If you were a drink, what would you be? Why?

Irish Breakfast Tea, bold yet surprisingly comforting. But with fresh cream and local honey, because I ain’t low cal.

4. What childhood fear do you still have as an adult?

Spiders. Seriously. Not even Charlotte could save me from that.

5. If you could choose just one thing to change about the world, what would it be?

Everyone would quit devaluing people based on stupid things like poverty, lack of education, nationality, developmental disabilities, etc. It would solve so many other problems if we truly believed all were created equal.

6. What’s your favorite poem?

It’s a hard choice, but “The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost immediately comes to mind. It’s such a good picture of grace, and I love the line, “Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

So either that or Psalm 46. It’s so descriptive and inspiring, my favorite Psalm, definitely. It got under my skin in a big way when a certain politician misquoted it in a huge televised speech a while back. I’m still trying to let that go. If I’m ever famous enough to meet said politician, I’ll probably make a little mural of my favorite Psalm—with the right words, frame it, and present it to him as a gift.

7. Does darkness soothe you or frighten you?

It depends. I love sunshine during the day, but when I’m trying to sleep, I need dark. What I don’t like is gray, like the sky can’t make up its mind. That’s just frustrating.

8. If you ruled your own country, who would you get to write your national anthem?

Adam Levine, because if my country’s gonna have an anthem, I want it to be a Hit. Mad royalties and all that.
Seriously, though, am I allowed to go back in time? I’d really want Fanny Crosby to write it. She was awesome. “Blessed Assurance” is my anthem. If I have to pick someone who’s alive today, I don’t know…maybe Stevie Wonder?

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would play you? What would the title be?

Geez, I don’t know. I love Taraji Henson, but I’m so pathetically white. How’s Keira Knightley’s American accent? Maybe Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, or Ellie Kemper, who plays Kimmy Schmidt. Haha, how’s that for variety?
The title would be “ImPossible.”

10. Clowns- creepy or cool?

Creepy. So, so creepy. I think It ruined clowns for my entire generation. Thank you, Stephen King.

11. If you made a documentary, what would it be about?

Modern Day Abolition work

12. What’s your favorite song?

Today, I’ll say Britt Nicole’s “Still That Girl,” because hazel eyes notwithstanding, I am that girl.

13. Your favorite country to visit?

Hard choice. I have a list of places that I haven’t been yet, but Ireland is a wonderful place that I have been, and I’d like to go back someday. There are still a lot of places here in the US that I want to see or go back to.

14. Does pressure motivate you?

I have ADHD, so I have this constant drive in my brain and my limbs that makes it hard for me to relax. I tend to get a lot done on my normal setting, and added pressure is more of a distraction than anything else.

15. Does love dry up your creative juices, or make them flow faster?

Faster. Definitely.

16. Do you hear voices?

I can hear my character’s voices. That’s why I’m so good at writing dialogue. So good, in fact, I can make you hear them, too. 

17. Are you the paranoid type or calm, cool, and collected?

I’m not paranoid, but I do have ADHD, so I don’t think anyone would describe me as “calm.” Haha.

18. Narnia or Middle Earth?

Oh, I don’t know. Narnia is the fantasy of my childhood, but Middle Earth has so much adventure! I’d also really, really love to have a TARDIS. So many ‘verses, so little time!

Unless you do have a TARDIS… 😉

19. Are you more like fire or earth?

Fire. Yeah. LOL

20. What makes you, you?

Oh, I think you’d have to ask God that. I am His, as He made me, and I’m still trying to figure it all out.

Raelee May Carpenter is the author of “The Lincoln High Project”, “Kings & Shepherds”, and the upcoming novel, “Liberation Song”. You can find information on her and her books at raeleemaycarpenter.com

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2012 Books In Review

I didn’t read quite as many books this year as I have the past few years. The best new book I read this year was The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw. This was Shaw’s debut novel, and I read it on the recommendation of my friend, Jane. It is a wonderfully well-written love story/fairy tale/myth hybrid. I highly recommend this book, and Shaw is an author I will look forward to reading in the future.

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2012 also gave me a book quest of sorts. I read somewhere about a book titled Winter In Maine by Gerard Donovan. The book was published, as best I can tell, sometime between 2008-2009. The only copy I have found is in German, which I unfortunately cannot read. If anyone finds this book in English, I would love to know. Also, if any of my friends reads German and would like this book, email me and we’ll work something out. Meanwhile, I will continue my search.

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Honorable mention goes to Strong Is Your Hold by Galway Kinnell. This is a book of poetry that will be the next new book I read, whether it is 2012 or ’13. (I am reading two books right now, and I am a slow reader). This book is special to me because it was given to me as a gift by my dear friend, Tosha. I love poetry, but do not tend to read much of it. One of my reading goals for 2013 is to read more poetry.

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So, these are a few books that stood out to me over the last twelve months. Have you read anything good lately? Or this year?

Writing

This post is a spinoff of my post about reading. I love to write just as much as I love to read. It is one of my favorite means of communication. I get excited when I see words that I have written in print. I’m sure this is one reason for deciding to finally start a blog of my own. Since I am not a student anymore, I don’t have anyone telling me to write. So it’s up to me to practice and try to improve (or at least maintain the status quo).

My first memory of enjoying the activity of writing was when I was eleven years old. I was in sixth grade and the curriculum called for an emphasis on creative writing. In order to progress to the seventh grade, my classmates and I had to do well on a writing test at the end of the school year. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit.

I didn’t have much prior experience with writing so I was very unsure of how I was going to do. With every assignment I received more positive feedback, which led me to work harder and see just how well I could do. At the same time, I was discovering a fun, new means of communication as well as a new hobby. And my essay ended up as one of my teacher’s favorites.

In middle and high school creative writing was replaced more by term papers and research papers. But I still enjoyed it as a means of expressing myself. My experience as a college undergraduate served to encourage my love of writing even more. The Sociology department sponsored a journal in which the chair of the department picked what she considered the best student writing over a two or three year period. These essays were published in a professionally done journal that I still take pleasure in looking at even now. I was fortunate to have three of my essays published in the two years I attended Mercer University.

I set my dreams of being a published writer aside for a bit while I worked at a bookstore and then studied for my Masters degree. But something brought it back to the front of my mind. That something was a test by Longridge Writer’s Group. This is the equivalent of a school course of study on writing. I decided not to enter since I was already in graduate school at the time. But the group touted a test that you took to determine whether you were a good enough writer to enter the program.

They accepted me, which was another means of positive reinforcement about my writing. Since then, I have actively pursued a teaching career, while keeping the writing in the back of my mind. I hope I can somehow combine the two careers, academics and writing, in the future. Maybe as a college professor. I thank those of you who have stuck with me through this long-winded ramble of a post. As always, thanks for reading.