Writers and Readers

1.) To be able to read effectively, I have to be in a dimly lit room in silence. I have these massive blinds that cover my windows and they block up and the pesky sun's rays that sometimes leak through. The lights in my room are always left at about half illuminessence. I despise any background noise while I'm working; it ruins my ability to concentrate. Ideally, I'm not eating while I'm reading, but I almost always have a Diet Coke in hand as I'm flipping through a story. I read in my bed or on a couch the most, because having that security in the real world makes it easier to enter a fictional one.,
2.) I absolutely adore mystery novels. I like the way they connect, and how the details align to make a complete whole story. There aren't really extraneous details in mystery novels; either it leads you into the next plot point, or it's irrelveant enough to be pushed aside and saved for later. The best novels give every piece of evidence to you in the beginning, but as the story unfolds it reveals either how that piece of evidence ties in, or brings to light more about the evidence (like how they think that the poison in a bottle was the murder weapon, but the actual murder weapon was the bottle) that would have never crossed my mind otherwise.
My other genre of choice is fantasy. It's nice to be able to escape the rules and laws of our world for a while, and enter elsewhere were they not longer apply. You can be the wizard, the handmaiden, the knight, and the dragon. It pushes you to discover everything this world has to offer. It's the same drive that makes me want to travel that makes be like fantasy novels: the journey and the discovery.
6.) One of the first reading teachers I had was Mrs. Wakefield. I was a little behind on reading then, but then she posted a contest for our class. The top reader of each week would have their name posted on the board for the remainder of the week. At the end of the year, the person who held that title the most times would be declared the winner. For about the first month of school, I was the uncontested champion in our class. I was reading about ninety minutes a week. At least, until Zoe Ware entered out district. The new girl ended up beating my record for the fifth week with around one-hundred and twenty minutes. I was worried, so I decided to raise my reading time to one hundred and fifty minutes that week. Eventually, this spiraled out of proportion. By the end of the year, Zoe and I were reading over two thousand minutes a week (that's over three hours a day on average). I still have a bag of dinosaurs that I one, because I was victorious, and my competitive nature.
10.) My parents wouldn't let me read the Harry Potter books until I was in the seventh grade, but I honestly don't get why. The book doesn't promote witchcraft in the slightest. It's not like I got accepted into Hogwarts, and things like wizardry and the occult exist in real life. I think books have the power to encourage certain behaviors and stimulate interests, but I don't think that they necessarily do that unless it was the author's intent to begin with. I'm not personally going to read any books on the occult, but I feel like books like Harry Potter would make the actual occult feel like kind of a let-down by comparison by idealizing it. It's not like I'm going to read a book about a girl that cheats on someone else and go "Golly Gee Wilikers, I should go cheat." If a book is idealizing something like Harry Potter, I think that actually discourage  someone from participating in those behaviors. It's more of a scapegoat for things that actually get people affiliated with the occult to begin with. Of all things, Harry Potter is definitely not one of them
13.) I think that I'd like to publish my own book one day. It'd probably be a fantasy, sci-fi, or a mystery. I really love to smash cliches, so I feel like the plot line would reflect that ideology. Princesses don't need rescuing from their prince. No one has to be defined as "good" or "evil", just kind of one big gray area. Things like that are what I personally think prompts creativity the most: avoiding other peoples' ideas. Reworking those tropes to your advantage is what makes a good book into a great book. My 'about author' would probably just thank my assortment of dogs for helping me get through my publication. And of course, my cherished family and friends. Although, I think I would rather use a pen name when I write. I'd rather remain a unknown creator and see things that usually go unnoticed than to do things like publicity events and signings.