by J.T. Ellison
With all the publishing news this week – Random reorganizing, the layoffs at S&S, Houghton and Thomas Nelson, Penguin and Harper instituting a pay freeze, Macmillian's uncertainty, and who knows what else looming in the coming days, it's hard to be cheerful. Friends and loved ones are suddenly out of work, faced with unbelievable economic challenges on the heels of a major recession. It seems this holiday season is going to be one of the hardest we've faced in many years.
This is always a difficult time of year for me anyway. I'm not sure when the candy cane fun of my youthful holidays became a drudging chore to me. Thanksgiving hits and my holiday-induced schizophrenia kicks in. Carols – good. Shopping – bad. Cards to friends and family – good. Decorating – bad (the cat loves to eat the tree and spends the month ill. We haven't figured out a way around that yet, so the decorations don't go up until the last minute.) Giving gifts – good. Budgeting for gifts – bad. I flip and flop my way through December, half the time giddy and foolish, the other half staring mournfully out the window, wishing it were January.
For the past two years I've also been on production deadlines during December, so I need to stay focused and tapped into my creativity. Malls and addressing oodles of cards kind of yanks me out of the mindset I need.
I've blamed it on all sorts of things in the past – the fact that all the good holiday shows suddenly stop running anywhere near Christmas and are relegated to awkward times and zero advertising; the fact that my family is in a another state and I can't see them until right at the holiday; the fact that I live in a state with no appreciable snowfall. Yes, I still equate SNOW with CHRISTMAS.
But the truth of the matter is I wish I was still a child, without the concerns that adults face.
One of the most important lessons that I took from my childhood was about lying. Lying is bad. Pinocchio lied and look what happened to him. I distinctly remember telling some sort of untruth and Daddy sitting me down with Pinocchio, making me watch it and explaining the metaphor to me. I got it. I've never been a very good liar. Don't get me wrong, I can spin a tale with the best of them. But looking someone in the eye and telling them an untruth – that's not my forte.
But on paper? On paper, I can fool anyone.
So today, to lift all of our spirits, I thought we should play a game. It's the brainchild of Arthur Phillips, the opening of his novel Prague, and I've stolen the idea directly from the utterly charming Tasha Alexander, who of course would be the first person to think to bring this to the blogosphere.
The game is called Sincerity. Here's how it works.
- Each player makes four statements, none of which can be verifiable facts.
- One must be true, the other three, lies.
- Everyone else tries to guess which statements are true.
- Finally, each player reveals what he said that was sincere.
Score as follows:
+One point for each of your lies that was accepted.
+One point for each correct identification of a true statement.
So tell your biggest whoppers, and be sure to include one truth. And take a guess at your fellow commenters' true and false statements. Toward the end of the day, come back to the blog and reveal your truths. I'll keep score, and the person who win will receive a signed copy of my new novel, JUDAS KISS, that won't be in stores until the end of December.
I'll go first.
1. I was once held and frisked by the Secret Service for hitting the Vice President of the United States.
2. My first pet, a Siamese cat named Jezebelle, lived to be 23 years old.
3. On my honeymoon, a maid stole my diamond earrings from the bedside table, and we had to bring in the Bahamian authorities to have her arrested.
4. I ate escargot for the first time in Paris when I was 18.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is suffering this holiday season. I hope there is joy in your life again soon.
Wine of the Week: Since we're being all dignified this week, how about a nice glass of port. Fonseca Vintage Porto
PS: NaNoWriMo is over, and though I didn't succeed in hitting 50,000 words this month, I have a promise to keep. If you made it, send me an email at jtellison at jtellison dot com, and I'll do a drawing next Friday to see whose opening pages get a free critique.
PPS: I've added a link in the Round Up to BUY MORE BOOKS, an effort by fabulous new author Karen Dionne to encourage the continuing message that buying books during the holidays is crucial to our longevity. Check it out here, and add your latest buys to the list!
1. I bounced a golf ball down the Great Wall of China at Badaing.
2. I won a beauty contest on a Carnival cruise, dressed as a woman.
3. I posed with the Terracota Warriors in one of the tombs at XiAn China.
4. I was held for two hours in a detention room at the Shanghai Airport for having an elevated temperature during the SARS epidemic.
JT, I have to guess that you did have a 23 year old cat.
1. I danced in Mexico City’s Diana the Huntress Fountain at 2 am.
2. I spent the night in Thomas Jefferson’s bed.
3. I marched with Jane Fonda to protest the Vietnam War.
4. I sang for Bob Seeger’s band in the late Sixties.
What a fun game, esp. for writers!
Here’s my four:
1. I grew up in a remote village in Bangladesh.
2. My first kiss came from an exiled Tibetan in Nepal.
3. I ate octopus fried rice in Jakarta.
4. I participated in a tribal dance in Kenya.
BTW, I’ll go with the missing diamond earrings as your true statement.
1. I met Jack Nicholson at the Macau Grand Prix.
2. Japanese and Portuguese are amoung the seven languages I’ve studied.
3. On safari in South Africa, I was able to pet a wild cheetah.
4. I once snuck into a master class with Marcel Marceau . . . and he let me stay for the full day.
And JT, I like kind of like #1 for you — even though I can’t imagine you’d hit a politician on purpose.
This is fun!
1. I was seen on Atlanta TV getting sloppy kisses from a camel named Gus.
2. I was invited on-stage by Willie Nelson during his 4th of July picnic concert in Hampton, GA. It was shown on Atlanta TV news.
3. I danced on-stage with Bruce Springsteen. This too was shown on Atlanta TV news.
4. I rode around the Augusta golf course in a golf cart with Arnie Palmer. And can you believe it – it was on the Atlanta news!!
OOPS! Forgot the rest of the game – sorry!I’m guessing #1 for JT, #2 for Wil, #1 for Jacqueline, #1 for Rashda, and #2 for Pari!
For the others who commented above me:you all came up with some great choices.
Will,I could believe all of those — based on what I know of you (and the fact that I’ve seen you, too).
How about #3?
I don’t know Jacqueline, but I went to her blog and would guess that #3 might be true?
And Rashda, I’m taking a flying guess here and like #4 for you — although all your choices are fun.
Oh, Kaye! I must’ve been posting when you commented. I love all of your choices.
If I had to commit, I’d go with . . . um . . . #1, just because it’s the goofiest; it sounds like something television stations would like (a good visual).
1. When I was in nursing school, John Travolta was one of my patients at the Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
2. I once asked Pulitzer winner Maxine Kumin how much money she made from her book.
3. I once kissed 32 women in a bar on New Year’s Eve at midnight.
4. I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
I think your #4 is true, Pari. Good liars are very clever. Most people would never pick #4 because it’s too obvious. A true hustler always stays a couple or three thoughts ahead of his/her mark. 🙂
JT, I’m in a twelve step program for liars, so I’m unable to participate in the game at this time. 😉
Kidding. Kidding. What else would you expect from a woman whose next book is titled LIARS ANONYMOUS?
1. I once told a Balinese cab driver that my sister’s and my names were Band-Aid and Dalai Lama.
2. I taught Clint Eastwood’s oldest two children to ride horseback.
3. I have one and a half tattoos.
4. I went to kindergarten in New York, California, and Hawaii. In the same year.
1. I was once in the same restaurant with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Someone in his party complained that my table was getting better service than his. The owner came out and told Tyler, “Dusty comes in here at least once a week. Who the hell are you?”
2. When I was younger, I seriously considered going into the ministry.
3. I have an office in a building that was once part of a buggy factory.
4. I once sang karaoke in the back room of a Japanese restaurant with the CEO of a Japanese conglomerate who was reputed to have Yakuza connections.
JT got her earrings stolen, Will got detained for having a fever, Jacqueline danced in Mexico, Rashda grew up in rural Bangladesh, Pari’s our linguist, Kaye kissed a camel.
Jude,You crack me up. Your #4 would be so tempting, but I’m assuming you’re not writing your blog in jail . . .
Um, how about #2.
I liked #3, but if it was New Year’s Eve and you’d been drinking, I doubt you would’ve been able to keep count.
Jude, I’m going with #2. Who’s posting under ‘Murderati”?
Who is “Murderati?”We need to know to assess the lies/truth.
Dusty,#1?
1. In college, I trained to be an opera singer but had to quit because of a strained vocal cord.2. I once worked for Sesame Street and watched The Count count cows.3. I used to have a horse named Silver which was retired from the rodeo circuit.4. I was on a cruise that got stuck in Key West due to a “malfunction” in the engine room.
JT: #3; Wilfred: #4; Jacqueline: #4; Rashda: #1; Pari: #3; Kaye: #1.
Whoops, that’s me, Cornelia. Have to sign out…
Jude: #3Murderati: #4, too strange and sounds like a story behind it so must be trueJD: #4
Sincerity: Political Edition
1)I shared potato chips with Ted Kennedy while working on his first senatorial campaign in 1962.
2) I lived across the street from Barack Obama when he was a Columbia student in the early 1980s.
3) I received a personal phone call from Richard Nixon in 1990 asking for a book — and offering to sign a book for me.
4) I had dinner with Bob Schieffer the night he moderated this year’s final Presidential debate, and ended up backstage.
Hmm…did something like this earlier on First Offenders, so I can’t use those. How about this:
1) When I was in High School I never read any of the books I currently teach. I used Cliff’s Notes.
2) I once cussed a student out, badly enough to make him cry, but the parent felt the boy deserved it so I didn’t get in trouble.
3) I was arrested my freshman year of college after running from a sheriff’s deputy and flipping my Cherokee (several times) at over 100mph.
4) I didn’t always want to be a teacher, or a writer. I wanted to be…A LUMBERJACK! Leaping from tree to tree, wi’ me best girl by m’side.
Okay, PK,Your lies are all plausible. That makes them difficult to assess. The one that rings truest is #4, but I like #2. So that’s my final guess — #2.
Cornelia,I thought that might be you. Getting ready for tomorrow?I hope it’s #1.
Oh, Neil,Another set of really difficult lies/truth. I’ve never met you, haven’t seen a picture, so I don’t know how old you are. I want them all to be true.# 4
Jake,I’ll go with #1 . . . #2 sounds like every teacher’s wet dream.
Wow, y’all. So glad to see everyone this morning!
Jude, don’t tell yet!
Will #3 – Terracotta WarriorsJacqueline #4 – Bob SeegerRashda – #2 – The KISSPari – #4 – Marcel MarceauKaye – #2 – Willie NelsonJude – #3 – 32 KissesCornelia – #1 – The Cab DriverJD – #2 Preacher manPK – #2 Sesame StreetNeil – #2 – I’m going with Nixon.
Since we have so many players, may I ask that you keep count of how many people get your answer right to help me out at the end of the day???
Jake, I’m too entranced by the thought of you as a lumberjack, so I’m going with #4
1) I once had to explain in great detail to the Italian police just exactly how my friend and I managed to wander into and fall asleep in the wrong bed in the wrong laconda after drinking too much wine while on vacation.
2) I am officially banned from a particular cruise line.
3) I once held a man at gun point.
4) I’ve had to be a witness at three different violent-crimes trials over the years because not only do I have the knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I have an eidetic memory.
Let’s see… guesses… Wilfred #4, Jacqueline #1, Rashda #2 (because kisses should always be true), Pari #4, Kaye #2, Jude #3, Cornelia #3, Dusty #1, PK #4, Neil #3, Jake #1
I’m thinking JD seriously considered going into the ministry.Cornelia #2.PK – #1.Neil – #1.Jake – #1.And I think Louise should play ’cause I would LOVE hearing what she could come up with.
JT, I’m an awful liar, too. I’m already feeling guilty coming up with three lies below!
1. I finished my first manuscript when I was 19.
2. I sat behind Catherine Coulter on my last trip to NY when I used FF miles to upgrade my ticket to first class, but I was too nervous to introduce myself.
3. When I was 21, I took a job in Virginia and drove cross country. I quit three months later because my boss was a jerk; years later he was arrested for statutory rape and solicitation for having sex with an underage prostitute.
4. In college I was arrested for hanging a political banner on a freeway overpass with my then-boyfriend and was required to perform 60 hours of community service cleaning graffiti.
Whoops! Disregard that last transmission. Here are my guesses:
JT: #4
Wilfred: #3
Jaqueline: #2
Rashda: #3
Pari: #4
Kaye: #1
Cornelia: #4
JD: #3
PK: #3
Neil: #2
Jake: #1
Toni: #4
Allison: #4
Allison, it goes against my grain to think you’d be too shy, but you’re a humble girl, so I’m going with #2
Toni, I think it #2 too…
1. When in high school, I was on a TV news ‘people about town’ segment complaining about late fees at the library.
2. I videotaped a garbage man taking a leak on the side of my house.
3. I gave Kirstie Alley a ride from her hotel to a fan convention site.
4. My first pet was a garter snake that had babies in her ‘enclosure’ on the dining room table.
JT:4, Will:4, Jacqueline:3, Rashda:2, Pari:4, Kaye:1, Jude:2, Cornelia:3, Dusty:3, PK:4, Neil:3, Jake:1, Toni:1, Allison:4
This is way too much fun not to play!! Let’s see:
1. Lauren Hutton told me she liked my purse.2. Bruce Willis asked me how to make a bomb.3. A former president tripped trying to get a better look at my legs.4. I rode an elephant in upstate NY.
JT: 1Will: 3Jacq: 3Rashda: 1Pari: 1Kaye: 1Jude: 1Cornelia: 3Dusty: 2PK: 4Neil: 2Jake: 1Toni: 4Allison: 2
BG – I can imagine any of these things for you! I’m gonna say #3.PK – #1Neil – #1Jake – #1Toni – #1 (that is a hoot)Allison – #3
1. The first time I met my DH I was bleeding and crying.
2. The first thing I got for my first apartment was a cat.
3. I was thirty when my first child was born.
4. My first publishing credit will be in January.
Okay, my picks:
JT – #4 (you’re right, you can lie. All seemed plausible)Mr. Bereswill – #1Ms. Carney – #3Rashda – #4Pari – #2Kaye – #3Mr. Hardin – #2Ms. Read – #3Mr. Rhoades – Knowing how much of eastern NC has been “recycled” and made new and different, I’m going with #3PK – Almost said 2, but decided yours is #4Mr. Nyren – #2Toni – If ANY of those are true, I know where Bobbie Faye came from! 😀 I guess #2 (???)Ms. Brennan – #2B.G. Ritts – #3Joanie – #1
BG – #3 – Kirstie AlleyJoanie – #1 – Lauren HuttonFiona – #1 – Cause it’s too romantic not to pick.
This is fun and I wish I had more time to comment but here are my best guesses:JT-1; Loved this postWil-4; Sounds strange enoughRashda-4; The others sound too plausiblePari-4; Just becauseKaye-3; My Lind:The NYT says 60 is the new 40Jude-4; Think there’s wordplay going on hereMurderati-4; With that name you probably moved around alot.JD-3; Sounds lofty.PK-4; Sounds scary enoughNeil-3; You don’t sound like a RepublicanJake-1; You sound too committed to reading.Toni-3; Because I had to look up ‘eidetic’Alison-4; Though they all sound plausible.BG-1; I own a wing of our library.Joannie-4; You probably have a nice purse and nice legs!
It’s one true statement and three lies, and we have to pick the true statement, right? (If not, I messed up, ’cause only one of mine is true).
Fiona – I’m thinking your true statement is #1
Its during times like these my husband says something like “do you think maybe you’re reading a bit too much? your imagination is off the rails!” He’d love this group’s imagination.
O.K.Joannie #4Fiona #1
JT-2WilRashda-4;Pari-2Kaye-1Jude-3Murderati-3JD-2PK-4Neil-3Jake-4Toni-2Alison-1BG-3Joannie-1Fiona-1
Like all the best lies, mine have a kernel of truth in them:
1. I was once in the same restaurant with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Someone in his party complained that my table was getting better service than his. The owner came out and told Tyler, “Dusty comes in here at least once a week. Who the hell are you?”
LIE: This actually happened to my friend, the Former Fast Eddie. And the celebrity in question was Willie Nelson. I did once eat at the same restaurant as Steven Tyler, but he’d already left by the time I got there. I heard about it from the waitress.
3. I have an office in a building that was once part of a buggy factory.
LIE: The building is actually the mansion where the OWNER of the factory lived.
4. I once sang karaoke in the back room of a Japanese restaurant with the CEO of a Japanese conglomerate who was reputed to have Yakuza connections.
LIE: There was never any reputed Yakuza connection. Everything else in that entry, however, is true.
2. When I was younger, I seriously considered going into the ministry.
This one is the truth. When I was thirteen I was a very committed fundamentalist Christian (much to my parents’ consternation). I wanted to go into either the ministry or missionary work.
I got over it.
Oh, heck, I’ve already lost. I wanted that darn book ;-).
Here’s are my lies/truth
1. I met Jack Nicholson at the Macau Grand Prix.Lie: I did hang out with all the ex-pat race car drivers though. Those guys love to party.
2. Japanese and Portuguese are amoung the seven languages I’ve studied.Lie: These are two languages I haven’t studied.
3. On safari in South Africa, I was able to pet a wild cheetah.Lie: Don’t I wish!
4. I once snuck into a master class with Marcel Marceau . . . and he let me stay for the full day.Truth: And I loved every minute of it. I didn’t realize I’d gotten into the class until someone shut the door. There were only twelve other people in the room. Marceau studied me for a minute, smiled and nodded and I stayed.
Oh, and JD, I misread “military” for “ministry” otherwise I would’ve voted for the right answer . . .
Joanie:4, Fiona:2
Of mine, only number 2 is completely true.
1. I really complained about teachers and got called into the principal’s office because he had heard a different version of what I had actually said on camera.
3. I saw Kirstie Alley at a sci-fi con; it was two classical musicians I gave a ride to.
4. Everything about the snake happened, but she was way down the pet list in order of acquisition. My first pet was an alley cat named Alley.
I have never been to Italy, or on a cruise, nor have I ever been at a trial, much less as a witness. I have, however, held a man a gunpoint, years ago. He was an ex-subcontractor, fired for doing a poor job and stealing, who’d decided he’d break in to the boss’s house and have some revenge. I met him at the door with the gun and explained to him just how thoroughly he would not. He apologized very nicely, backed out of the door and I never saw him again.
1. I was once held and frisked by the Secret Service for hitting the Vice President of the United States.
True – I sort of tripped going up the stairs at the OEOB and fell into Dan Quayle. SS rushed me, and I know I felt an inappropriate hand before all was set to rights.
2. My first pet, a Siamese cat named Jezebelle, lived to be 23 years old.Lie – My sweet Jezzy actually lived to 24.
3. On my honeymoon, a maid stole my diamond earrings from the bedside table, and we had to bring in the Bahamian authorities to have her arrested.
Lie – We were actually in Jamaica. Damn, I miss those earrings. They’ve never been replaced.
4. I ate escargot for the first time in Paris when I was 18.
Lie – it was in Omaha and it was this year!
Confession time?
Okeey doke -I was at one of those wonderful parties they used to have in Atlanta where most of Peachtree Street was closed to traffic and did in fact get sloppy kisses from Gus the Camel and toooo many people I knew saw it on the news.
Never have been on stage with Willie (maybe when he comes to Boone in February, huh?!).
Have never danced on stage with Bruce, although a gal about 5 seats down from me did. I was crushed.
Have not taken a ride in a golf cart with Arnie Palmer – but the grain of truth in this one is that I was in Augusta for the Pro-Am the day before the Master’s tournament starts and I did chat with Mr. Palmer while he sat in his golf cart. He did not offer me a ride (smart man!).
Truth time!
I did indeed share potato chips with a Massachusetts senatorial candidate on whose campaign I was working in 1962 — it just wasn’t Ted Kennedy. My guy lost — I wonder whatever happened to that Kennedy guy? So: Lie.
I did indeed calls from many people in Nixon’s circle in the early 1990s — it just wasn’t Nixon himself. I was editing H.R. Haldeman’s diaries — I bet most of you didn’t know he kept a diary every day he was chief of staff of Nixon’s White House, did you? — and the calls were part of my research. So: Lie.
I did indeed eat with Bob Schieffer, who’s one of my authors — but it was about a month before the debate. He offered to try to get me in, but the place was tighter than a tick. So: Lie.
Which leaves the truth — I lived across the street from Barack Obama when he was a Columbia student in the early 80s. I didn’t know about it till a few days after the election last month, when I read an article about his student days. Gradually, it dawned on me that the building it was describing was about six yards directly across the street from mine. And we were already living there (still are!) in the early 80s. So for a couple of years, he was a neighbor — maybe we even bumped into him in the grocery store! Such a NICE young man….
1. The first time I met my DH I was bleeding and crying.
Nope! I was bleeding, but not crying.
2. The first thing I got for my first apartment was a cat.
No, again. I bought the litter box and toys one day, and the cat the next (couldn’t make up my mind which one I wanted on the first visit)
3. I was thirty when my first child was born.
Nope. 29 yrs and 11 months.
4. My first publishing credit will be in January.
Tada–yes. Shameless self-promotion. I have short story in Winter ’09 SPINETINGLER.
For me, it’s #1. I danced, with the help of extraordinary substances which shall remain anonymous, at Diana the Huntsman fountain in Mexico City. The rest was wishful thinking.
Fiona – I’m in the Winter ’09 Spinetingler as my first pub credit too! Pretty cool feeling, huh? Congrats on your story!
As for the reveal…I hope the fact that we’ve started revealing doesn’t mean the people who didn’t vote can’t come back and do so now 😉
Away we go:1) When I was in High School I never read any of the books I currently teach. I used Cliff’s Notes.
LIE – I didn’t read THE CANTERBURY TALES when I was supposed to, but I fixed that mistake in college. What was I thinking, skipping the funniest one???
2) I once cussed a student out, badly enough to make him cry, but the parent felt the boy deserved it so I didn’t get in trouble.
LIE – Oh how I’ve wanted to when a student who DESPERATELY needs to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around them gets uppitty, but no.
4) I didn’t always want to be a teacher, or a writer. I wanted to be…A LUMBERJACK! Leaping from tree to tree, wi’ me best girl by m’side.
LIE – C’mon guys…The Lumberjack Song? Monty Python? Ah, nevermind…
Which leaves:3) I was arrested my freshman year of college after running from a sheriff’s deputy and flipping my Cherokee (several times) at over 100mph.
True. Stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and that’s saying something. Almost killed someone (other than myself) because I was more of a self-interested jackass than even some of the worst of the students I mentioned in #2. Kids, you can’t outrun the cops in a top-heavy 4×4. Just pull over and take it like a man.
Dang, this was fun!
I loved reading everyone’s truths/lies even more than guessing.
1. I hugged Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, when I was in Jr. High.
2. I can eat 6 saltine crackers in under a minute.
3. My mother wanted to name me Michael, even when she knew I was going to be a girl.
4. I know how to say “I want a button” in Romanian, “wash your hands” in Korean and “There is cannibus in the batmobile” in Arabic.
I cheated, all four of mine are true. I just couldn’t think of any good lies this morning.
Thanks, this was fun!
1. Lauren Hutton told me she liked my purse.LIEI complimented Lauren Hutton on HER purse, not realizing it was Lauren Hutton until the friend elbowing me explained. The purse was made of grass and it was from Bali and it made me weep.
3. A former president tripped trying to get a better look at my legs.LIEIt wasn’t a U.S. president4. I rode an elephant in upstate NY.LIEI have never ridden an elephant
Which leaves:3. Bruce Willis asked me how to make a bombTRUE!After college I was working at the big chain bookstore across from Lincoln Center. The day after the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Bruce Willis came into the store and asked if I could help him. As casually as I could (working very hard to pretend I didn’t know who he was!), I asked, how I could help him. With a smirk and the same eye-twinkle he’s famous for, he told me he was looking for instructions on making a bomb, and, by any chance, did we have a book on it? My cool cover totally blown, I was reduced to a giggling school girl as I looked it up on the computer. We did indeed have a book on making a bomb. It was kept, however, in “the locked room.” (This was pre-9/11). I referred him to “the locked room,” at which point some other staff member took over to retrieve the book…
Wow – there are some terrible liars here today 😉
We need more answers before I can score it properly, but yep, Pari honey, sorry. You’re not a good liar, nor are you, Miss Kaye! BG is in the lead for guessing correctly so far.
I do think Pari gets extra credit though, because anyone who’s been PAYING ATTENTION here at Murderati knows that awesome story!
You all are great sports. I’ll keep checking back in over the course of the evening.
Liz, I’m guessing #4…
For me, number 2 was truth. Long story for another time. They don’t call Carnival the fun ships for nothing.
Oh, my China antics: I did go to the Great Wall with a golf ball in my pocket and I did drop it on one of the steep sections but I snagged it on the bounce.
I did have my picture taken with the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, but they were fake.
I ALWAYS take Ibubrophen before going to the airport in China to avoid the Thermo Scanners and getting yanked out of line.
Oh, I almost forgot to check and say what was the right one…. Number 2. I did work for Sesame Street about 15 years ago when they came to Montana to film four episodes involving an Indian boy getting his tribe name and Big Bird and crew had to come along. I was a theatre stage manager at the time and due to some shift in their crew needed a stage manager (tv) and a local hair/makeup guy on the crew knew me and recommended me (stage and tv being completely different). So I got to meet Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch (same guy and quite the diva), Maria and Luis and The Count (one cow, two cows, three, three cows ah ah ah!)
I suppose I could explain the others:#1: I studied singing in college for one semester and gave up after my teacher kept trying to make me “sing through my nose.” Weird.#2. was right, see above.#3. Never had a horse. I’m from Montana but I grew up in the biggest city here.#4. I’ve been a cruise but Key West was lovely. But in Cozumel our sub ride was cancelled the only day we were there because their air conditioning broke. So we walked and shopped and I got the worst sunburn in my life.
Geez. Apparently I’m good at telling lies, not so much at spotting them. Fooled 9 people (yay me), got fooled so far by…damn…almost everyone.
Well done gang!!
Yeah, Jake, you’re sitting pretty right now. You and BG seem to be the best at this today.
Send me your addresses, both of you, and I’ll get copies of Judas in the mail.
Thanks so much for playing everyone! I know this distracted me today, I hope it worked for you too.
Kaye, I believe, is the only one who guessed!
1. I finished my first manuscript when I was 19.
Lie. I started many books, but I didn’t finish my first manuscript until June of 2002. I was nearly 33.
2. I sat behind Catherine Coulter on my last trip to NY when I used FF miles to upgrade my ticket to first class, but I was too nervous to introduce myself.
Lie. I’ve never seen anyone famous on a plane and I met Catherine Coulter in San Francisco at the RWA conference when my friend Monica McCarty introduced us. But it’s true that IF I sat behind her, I wouldn’t have introduced myself.
3. When I was 21, I took a job in Virginia and drove cross country. I quit three months later because my boss was a jerk; years later he was arrested for statutory rape and solicitation for having sex with an underage prostitute.
True. Unfortunately.
4. In college I was arrested for hanging a political banner on a freeway overpass with my then-boyfriend and was required to perform 60 hours of community service cleaning graffiti.
Lie. I’ve never been arrested 🙂
Darn it – I nearly picked that one for you, Allison. I am SO not good at picking out lies. Gullible to a fault.