Getting to Know Tina's Terrific Team! Jolie!

Please join me in welcoming another one of my Terrific Team Members. Jolie has been so excited about The Challenge that she approached US about helping. Talk about dedication!  

Bio: Jolie du Pre is a full-time published author, editor, article writer and blogger. Her novella, Litria, is available at Amazon. Visit her blog at Precious Monsters. 

1. Would you ever join a team that was headed off to colonize Mars?

Heck no! Humans are destroying the Earth. I don't want to participate in the destruction of Mars too.

2. What reason did you have to sign up for the A to Z and what did you expect to gain from entering?

My blog was new, and therefore, I wanted to sign-up with A to Z to bring people to my new blog. I expected to find lots of new readers, and that's exactly what happened. I'm very grateful to A to Z!

3. What rock star would you be?

If I could be a rock star, I'd be Stevie Nicks. I greatly respect her talents.

4. How do you comment - if someone posts 5,6,7 times a week .. once - or 3 times .. then each time or once or twice .. then each time I can't keep up .. but hate not supporting everyone ..

I respond to every comment I receive, unless it's on a blog post that's really old and one I’ve forgotten about. I think it's rude not to.

5. What is the most Underrated letter of the Alphabet?

X - The characters in my novellas The M Series are called Zxxtergins. Power to the X!

6. What movie did you watch that exceeded your expectations?

"End of Watch," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, is a drama about two police officers who work in South Central Los Angeles. The movie didn't get much attention; however, I enjoyed it better than “Argo” and “Lincoln,” two movies that got plenty of attention.

7. Describe the last Halloween costume you wore.

I was a naughty nurse, complete with white boots.

8. What makes life worth living?

It’s working my dream job as a full-time writer. I’ll never go back to my old life.

9. Cake or pie?

I can't afford to indulge in either, but it's pie when I do.

10. Where do you go to "Get away from it all"?

Staying out of online article writers forums is a great way to “get away from it all.” Article writers forums are dark, dreary places filled with whiners and complainers. Other than that - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Don't forget to check out Litria!  Thanks so much for all your hard work, and for sharing your talents with us on my team.

~Tina

Getting to Know Tina's Terrific Team! Hilary!

Please join me in welcoming Hilary Melton-Butcher to Life is Good! She's one of Tina's Terrific Team, and terrific indeed. Her very popular blog is called Positive Letters...inspirational stories... and you're sure to learn something new every time you visit.

As you can see, she's also creative, so she didn't use any of the available questions...though she did use something which is about to become even more familiar to us...um...the ALPHABET!



        A: Age. - Older than 20, but younger than 80 – just!!

B: Books – all sorts ... preferably historical or reference and a good yarn

C: Cooking – love it ... great relaxation, though I don’t do much now

D: Dogs – love them, though now don’t own one

E: Elegance – wish I had it!

F: Friends – essentials to life

G: Gardens – love them and their seasonal variations

H: Height – middle to low; much the same for width!

I:  Intuition – flashes of illumination from our cognitive processes - sometimes!

J: Journeys – exploring new areas, or seeing old friends along the way

K:  Knowledge ... I can’t not find out ...  that need to know is inbuilt

L: Languages – wish I’d learnt them, and would love to grasp a few

M: Measurement ... I like to know pertinent time frames, distances etc

N:  Names and their etymology

O:  Overseas friends and bloggers – the world is wonderful

P:  Paeony – my mother’s favourite frothy (candy pink)flower

Q: Queen – I admire her dedication ...

R:  Roses – scented ones

S:   Scribes – especially those ancient scribes, who ensured we can communicate today

T:  Time – need much much more of it

U:  Undercroft – love that word ... mostly as it refers back to the medieval times

V:  Vegetables – all sorts ... and Spring is nearly here for the new young veggies

W:  Warthogs – my favourite African creatures – but all wildlife

X:  Xstatic for life ...

Y:  Yellow for sunlight, primroses, daffodils ... lifting our hearts

Z:  Zizzzzzzzing of the bees, which need our protection ....

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to this endeavor.  You were the very first to say yes, and haven't stopped working since!

~Tina

Getting to Know Tina's Terrific Team! A.J!

Please welcome another one of my Terrific Team Members, AJ! She guestposted at the A-Z Challenge blog about her novel Armageddon, so don't forget to check it out. It's totally cool – choose your own ending! Alright, let's get to know her better...

"Where do you hail from?"

I hail from the land of cheese and beer. On Wisconsin!

“Would you ever join a team that was headed off to colonize Mars?”

Maybe! I do get motion sick though, so they'd have to put me in stasis for the transit because otherwise I'd have a pretty sick tummy the whole time. 

"Which is your favorite fictional character and why?"

Anne Shirley, from Anne of Green Gables. She is such a deliciously feisty nerd, and was pretty much my hero as a young girl.

"Name a book that didn't meet your expectations."

Eat, Pray, Love. Uggghhhhhhh.... 

"Describe the last Halloween costume you wore."  

The last two times we've dressed up for Halloween, I've gone as a Korean soccer player, and Chris has gone as a German soccer player. I was in South Korea for the World Cup a few years ago so wearing my jersey is quite nostalgic.

"Do you know how to 'Gangnam Style?'"

I do! Unfortunately when we were in Korea last fall, we didn't make it to Gangnam. But we did teach my nephew how to sing it, and that was about the cutest thing ever.  

"What items could you typically have in your pockets?"

Actually...only my phone, and that's only some of the time. My purse on the other hand is a treasure trove of pens, notebooks, a Kindle, a copy or two of my book, maybe some choir music...

"Cake or pie?"  

Pie, of course! Because obviously the cake is a lie. Seriously though, my strawberry rhubarb pie is to die for. If Tina's a nice minion-chief I might bring her some this summer... (Tina seconds this motion)

"What makes you cry? (Emotional reasons. Onions don't count.)"

Oh my goodness. Any commercial with anyone in a military uniform. Especially if they're returning and hugging their loved ones for the first time... I'm done for.

"What is the most unusual thing you have ever given as a gift?"

One year for my dad's birthday, we took a bunch of his underwear and used fabric paint to spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the butts and left them out for him to find when he got home from work. He was.. not pleased.. but we thought it was the funniest thing ever :)

As a bonus AJ has joined Andrea in the new tradition of Tina's Terrific Team sweater reveal. So here's AJ in her favorite kitty sweater.  Thanks, AJ for sharing so much of yourself with us.  Don't forget my pie, and I'll join you in stasis.  I get car sick so easily they'd seriously have to drug me for the trip to Mars...but I'm glad you'll be along ;-) 

Getting to Know Tina's Terrific Team! JoJo!

Today's post is the first in a series which will appear very sporadically from now until the A-Z Challenge starts April 1, 2013. STILL don't know what that is? TAB. ABOVE. Go see.

Today's team member is JoJo of Tahoma Beadworks and Photography. We met during last year's challenge and have been buddies ever since. She picked the “answer 10 of these questions” option for her feature.

You may have noticed the co-hosts doing this very same thing at the A-ZBlog. I stole the idea for here. But that's OK. I wrote some of the questions, and compiled some of the questions, and then used the list Shannon had compiled, even though it was my assigned job that she'd volunteered to “help” with – she did 99% of the work!! I have not only great team members, but great co-hosts. So after you visit JoJo at her place, hit Shannon at The Warrior Muse and tell her she's fantastic, from me.

Ok, so here's JoJo, and picture of her and her fiancee.

1.  When I need to get away from it all, I head to the beach to walk, beach comb for pretty rocks & glass and listen to the waves.  

2.  Being with my fiance', friends and doing crafts makes my life worth living.

3.  A movie that exceeded my expectations was 'Easy A'.  It's become one of my fave movies ever.

4.  Biggest frustration in blogging is CAPTCHA.  Hate it.  Don't use it.  Turn on comment moderation if you don't want spam or just delete it.  I've stopped commenting and/or following blogs that continue to use it unless they are good friends of mine.

5.  Fave childhood memory would be of spending time at Spring Hill Beach, in E. Sandwich, where my dad had a cottage.

6.   A book that didn't meet my expectations was Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.  Hated that book.  

7.  I hail from East Sandwich, MA on Cape Cod but couldn't wait to get out.  I moved to San Francisco in 1989 when I was 24, then moved to Washington State in 1999.  I moved back to the Cape Cod area in 2011 to be with the love of my life, a fellow Sandwich 'townie'.  He tracked me down on Facebook in early 2011 and confessed having had a huge crush on me in high school, that I was always at the back of his mind, he'd tried to find me a few times over the years and that he still loved me.  I fell for him immediately.

8.  Last Halloween costume I wore was in 1986 when I went to a party dressed as a Christmas tree.

9.  I would have a fully staffed sailing ship/yacht and I'd name it 'Ship of Fools' after a Grateful Dead song.

10.  I'm not sure that I have a 'thing', per se, but I do fancy myself as an artist and photographer.