Blog: Thoughts on not really being a geek.

Several years ago, I took an online quiz, "Are you a Nerd, Geek, or a Dork?"

The results? None of the above.

(FYI: Today, I took that same quiz and was told that I am now "A Modern, Cool Nerd.")

This is of particular interest to me today because I went to GeekGirlCon yesterday. I went there feeling that I'm not particularly geeky and came out of it feeling . . . mostly the same way. I think.

Being a geek seems to be, by broad definition, about being passionate about something. Whether it's comics, sports, Joss Whedon, films, Bible verses, etc., a person can geek out about anything, even if it isn't something that's traditionally considered of geeky interest.

There are so few things that I'm passionate enough about to be a geek over. The closest I ever came was during the years when I was totally into Buffy. I watched every episode repeatedly, knew all the episode titles, joined a Buffy forum. It was hard for people to have a conversation with me without me quoting the show or saying things like, "That reminds me of that one time when Spike/Xander/Willow/Buffy . . . "

I didn't take it any further, though. I've never been to Comic-Con to meet the actors. I've never dressed up as any of the characters. It's been at least a year since I've watched an episode. I don't think I'll ever NOT consider myself a fan, but it seems unlikely that I'll ever regain the passion that I once had.

Since then, I've gotten into new things, but it's usually been fleeting passions or moderate interests. I've read all the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games books. Sure, I like 'em, and I can probably debate about them, but I don't usually bother. I love The Clone Wars cartoon, and I actually can recognize some of the planets by sight now, but I don't know most of the minor character's names, or even many of the major ones. I'm not even a true Tetris geek because I cannot for the life of me get a T-spin to work!

Here's further evidence of my non-geekiness:

• I played Magic the Gathering a few times in college, and thought it was very fun to create my own deck (which I still have), but after maybe a dozen games I was totally over it.
• I attempted a role-playing game that same year, but the boys got annoyed and didn't want to play with me anymore because when we "went to the fair," I wanted to ride the ferris wheel. Which, apparently, didn't exist in this particular world where I was a twelve-foot cyclops.
• I loathe Lord of the Rings. Utterly and completely.

At GeekGirlCon, I was very interested to hear people talking about finding/embracing their geekiness (including Jane Espenson - OMG!), but I didn't particularly relate to it. It's true that I felt alienated growing up, but it wasn't because of my interests and it didn't draw me toward any particular interests. (Maybe reading?Nerdy!!!!)

And now that I've gotten this far into typing this, I seem to remember that I've blogged about passion several times in the past, and about the fact that I don't seem to have much of it. And that's the conclusion that I'm coming to once again.

Maybe I'm just too lazy to be geek?

Blog: What will my third book be about?

Hey, remember that one time when I stopped blogging, LiveJournal broke and then started working again, but I continued to not blog? Me, too! I turned in the latest draft of LIVE THROUGH THIS (aka Book 2) to my editor last night. This means I get a short break to get caught up on life before I have to dive back into the draft. During the thirteen or so hours away from it, I've watched 9/11 stuff on TV, slept, read 9/11 articles, returned emails, played Tetris Battle, and considered what my next book should be about.

In pondering the last of those, I realized something: When I started focusing on writing back in 2004, I had a very short list of things that I would NEVER write.

1. A male narrator 2. A story about sexual abuse

As it turns out, my first published book has the former. My second will have the latter. 

I think I need to make a new list of things I will NEVER write, and then I should have an easy time getting started on book 3, yeah? ;-)

Blog: Displays of Affection

I posted over at the Contemps today, detailing the (unusual?) rules at my high school against displays of affection!

Please visit the Contemps site to read it.  And, if you'd like, leave me a comment there sharing what the rules were like at your high school. Pretty please? :-)

Blog: The U2 Concert.

My friend took me to the Seattle U2 concert at the beginning of June, and I totally forgot to post about it and show you the horrifically bad pictures I took with my phone! So, Lenny Kravitz opened the show. He is a very nice-looking man, from what I could see on the screen. :-)

I'm only a casual Lenny Kravitz fan, so I wasn't sure if I'd know many of his songs. As it turns out, during his hour, he played seven songs total (I think!) and I knew all but two.

U2 played for over two hours. (I think! And this is why I should have done this post three weeks ago.) It was my third time seeing U2 because it was the third time Matt bought me a ticket! I think U2 concerts are very feel-good events, so it was a pleasant evening.

Here's a really bad picture of the stage while U2 plays as well as the backlights of many, many phones. You'll have to take my word for it that that's what you're seeing:

And finally, here's a picture that U2 took of Matt and me and some other people!

It kind of freaks me out that there exists pictures online of everyone who was in the stadium that night, but whatevs. Oh, and if you're wondering what I'm laughing about, I think this shot was taken after I'd turned toward Matt just in time to get an ASS TO THE FACE from the dude behind me. I said, "Did that really just happen?"

Matt sat, "He practically sat on your head."

I had the giggles for at least an hour afterward.

Blog: Realistic YA Revolution!

Author Tara Kelly recently blogged about the importance of realistic stories in the young adult market and how many of these titles just don't get the attention that books of other genres receive.There's a great discussion going on at her blog (over 70 comments so far) with lots of recommendations for readers who enjoy realistic YA.

In addtion, Tara is hosting a giveaway of over one dozen books! Check it out here. The drawings will take place on June 30th, so get on over there with your recommendations!