1. I was born in Missouri. But since I spent only six weeks there, it doesn't really count. Which is convenient, as I'm far too grumpy to be a Midwesterner.
2. My family can be traced all the way back to the Mayflower. Yes, that Mayflower. Which makes me a descendent of the Puritans. Actually, I come from a long line of Lutheran ministers. I really don't know if I should tell people this stuff...
3. I was adopted when I was twenty-six for reasons too weird to get into.
4. The first story I ever wrote was called "Bonnie Bunny" for a contest at the local library. I didn't win, but a girl in my 3rd grade class did. The teacher had us both read our stories out loud. I read mine first and no one understood it. Probably the first time I recognized that I might have some issues with plot. And then the girl who won the contest read her story, and it was amazing; everyone laughed and clapped and told her she was a genius. (I swear, the teacher was looking at her as if she deserved a Pulitzer). About ten years later, I remembered that winning story and realized that the other girl had totally ripped off one of Aesop's fables. And that was my first real lesson: writing is about lying and stealing.
5. I once dated a man who looked a lot like a six-foot-tall praying mantis. (Yes, I have a peculiar interest in bugs.)
6. I binge-read books on strange subjects: shark attacks, bear attacks, and bees, to name a few. Once, my aunt asked me if I wanted a book on any particular subject for Christmas. I said, "Anything on giant squid." She looked a little surprised. It's possible I scared her. Hopefully just a little though.
7. One of my favorite words is "flummox." I've also been known to use other f-words, but I try very hard not to.
8. Back in college, my good friend Annika recorded all of our friends saying something that they said constantly, their personal catch-phrases, so to speak. Mine was: "I hate that. It bothers me."
9. I met my husband in a bar on Bourbon Street and married him in Las Vegas. It was a whole lot tamer than it sounds.
10. I'm almost always called by my full name, Laura Ruby. As in, "Hi Laura Ruby!" or "Look, it's Laura Ruby!" Never just Laura. Except if it's my husband, then it's just Laura. But then only if we're in public. In private, he calls me something else, which I prefer not to share.
11. Actually, in college, nobody called me Laura Ruby. Back then, my nickname was "Molly." Also, my stepdaughters don't call me Laura Ruby either, they call me "The Wa." And no, I'm not explaining any of this. Life is mysterious.
12. I have no unusual piercings or tattoos, but I do have more than a hundred freckles on my arms alone.
13. On my desk, I have several Catwoman figurines and a mug with that crazy orange monster from the Bugs Bunny cartoons ("Monsters are such interesting people.") I also have Wallace, Gromit, and the evil penguin from "The Wrong Trousers" plus a little mirror with the Cheshire Cat on it and a punked-out Barbie. There's usually a real live cat or two somewhere. Also, endless piles of books and papers. (I think the piles marry other piles and make little baby piles, but this is just a theory.)
14. At one time in my life, my hair was pink.
15. At another time, it was purple.
16. When I'm in the grocery store or at the mall, other patrons often give me peculiar looks. I'm always confused until I realize that I've been carrying on a conversation and/or argument with myself out loud again.
17. Among my favorite books: Pride and Prejudice, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Stories of John Cheever, a lesser known Shirley Jackson novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and Matt Ruff's Fool on the Hill.
18. Among my favorite movies: Rear Window, Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 version), and Jaws (see no. 6).
19. Song I just downloaded for my iPod: "Cry, Cry, Cry" by Johnny Cash.
20. If I could look like anyone else, I would want to look like Maria Sharapova. Not because she's blond and pretty, but because I'd love to be nearly six-foot-three and able to smash the hell out of a tennis ball.
21. If I could have any other job besides a writer, I'd like to be an actress. Or a forensic pathologist. Or a six-foot-three Amazonian tennis pro. It's so hard to choose...