Just taking a quick second on this icy and snowy day here in Eureka Springs to share a quick author interview I did with I Read Indie’s blog as a part of their Arkansas Authors feature. Mandy had 10 Top Pick questions for me. Click here to read the interview at her site. I have also copied just my answer section below. Hope you are all staying safe and warm wherever you are today.
Top 10 With Meg Welch Dendler
1. fav movie/actor/actress? I love, Love, LOVE movies and watch between 150-200 a year. I don’t know how I could pick one favorite. I lean toward romance and drama and unknown indie movies–no psycho killers or blow up movies. “Moulin Rouge” is an all-time favorite. If I run across “Grosse Pointe Blank” I will stop and watch every time. Favorite actor would probably be Matt Damon. My daughters call him my “boyfriend.” I love Ewan McGregor and Idris Elba as well. Emma Thompson is one of my favorite actresses because she is so amazingly talented, but she can also write award-winning screenplays and be silly on the red carpet.
2. fav song/singer? I love Bruno Mars and “Locked Out of Heaven,” but I’m also a big fan of all things disco and 80’s music like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith.
3. fav place you would love to visit? I would love to go back to Italy. I was there once with a whirl-wind high school tour program, but I’d love to be able to go more into the countryside and visit where I want to outside of touristy stuff.
4. one item you cannot live without? My computer! As a writer I can’t imagine having to write and edit long-hand. Argh! I am on my computer at least half of my waking hours. When the internet goes down I feel like I’m on a desert island.
5. who would you like to meet?(dead or alive) Jane Austen. She’s a writer, and I’m an uber-fan.
6. fav hobby? Watching movies. I don’t know if that really qualifies as a hobby, but it is what I do with my spare time so it will have to count.
7. guilty pleasure? Watching the TV show “Chopped.” It makes me so happy in my soul to hear Ted Allen give the opening rules. I had gallbladder surgery over the summer, and I spent a couple of weeks in bed before and after it just watching “Chopped” and “House Hunters.”
8. fav author and/book? Since I was a young girl I have loved Anne McCaffrey. Her Dragonrider series is fantastic, and I have a stuffed gold dragon that sits on my computer to inspire me. Her other books focusing more on psychic abilities are great too.
9. do you collect anything? Oh yes, I collect Disney mini-plush toys. I worked at a Disney Outlet store for a few months and started picking up a few favorites here and there. I think I’m up to about 80 of them now. My cat Kimba (the heroine of my Cats in the Mirror series) loves to capture them and carry them around the house while she sings about her conquest. I wake up to find a few outside my bedroom door every morning.
10. pet peeve? Saying “less” when you should say “fewer,” but it’s a battle that will never be won. Give it 30 years and the word fewer will be obsolete. I was raised by a grammar ninja, so I notice things others don’t, but I know I still make mistakes.