Hodgepodge

Day 2 Task 2

Day 2 Task 2: Interview any two senior moderators (violet cases) with just five questions. The mail you send to them must be appended to the task so that we can see your communication skills (just copy the mail body and attach the name of the moderator to whom the mail is sent. We will allow you one extra day to submit this task as the senior moderators could be busy and take some time responding. The questions can be anything in nature, but not boring ones like "how is the weather where you live" or "what is your age/sex/location" stuff. The more creative the question, the more the senior moderators will enjoy answering them. However, no abuse or insult will be tolerated. Please be courteous and polite.


Dear Joy

I am a contestant in "AUTHORS' SPOTLIGHT - Season 6" 
Today my task is to interview you with five questions. My entry into the contest is due by July 16th at midnight WDC time. If you don’t have the time/muse/will to answer, I fully understand and have no hard feelings.

Question 1:

Do you still have your very first static item that you ever posted to Writing.com in your portfolio?

Yes. It is "THIRST" . I was hesitant to put up anything for a couple of weeks, until I got to know the site a little. Then I put up this one, and out of sentiment, I never deleted it.

Question 2:

Of the total time you spend on average on Writing.com, how does this time break up in % between

a) writing (& posting what you wrote) I don’t write while on WdC. I write in a word file or in a notebook then in a word file. Of the total time spent on WdC, copy and paste is probably 2%.

b) administrative tasks for groups/activities you run 50 %

c) browse for pleasure 6 %

d) reading & reviewing 40%

e) answering questions in the technical help forums? 2%

Question 3:

Which published author, or authors, have influenced you? First as a reader and later to pick up writing for yourself?

So many authors I have loved that it is impossible to count. I started writing when I was eight, and it has been a few decades since. The very first books that impressed me were the biographies of famous people that came in orange hardcovers, which only the old-timers may remember. As authors, Dostoyevski was the first one, then came the other Russian writers, and the French together with the existentialists, and I loved AJ Cronin in my growing years. After that, my favorite authors have become a horde.

Question 4:

Is there any single book that has inspired you for a major decision in your life? For example, when I was out of school and didn’t know what to do with my life, I read “The Stand” by Stephen King. It was one of my main reasons to become a nurse. I wanted to know what to do in case of a disaster. Have you had a similar experience?

Rumi’s poetry has greatly inspired my way of being in life.

Question 5:

Have you ever done something like jumping out of a plane with a parachute or bungee jumping? If you did, would you do it again? If you didn’t, are you thinking that it’s still on the list of things to do in life?

Once, when I was young, I went out in a small dinghy in the middle of a rough sea. I would never ever do that again.

***~~~***~~~***

Dear kiyasama

I am a contestant in "AUTHORS' SPOTLIGHT - Season 6" 
Today my task is to interview you with five questions. My entry into the contest is due by July 16th at midnight WDC time. If you don’t have the time/muse/will to answer, I fully understand and have no hard feelings.

Question 1:

Do you still have your very first static item that you ever posted to Writing.com in your portfolio?

Yes, I do. It’s

STATIC

Jared's Decision  (18+) A boy's recount of events leading to his older brother leaving home. #1051175 by iKïyå§ama-House Targaryen

Question 2:

Of the total time you spend on average on Writing.com, how does this time break up in % between

a) writing (& posting what you wrote) – unfortunately this has decreased as real life has gotten in the way and my writing time is all but none existent. So I’d say about 20%.

b) administrative tasks for groups/activities you run – this definitely takes up more of my time as I have to do a daily check-up of most of them as well as have reminders of when what contest runs/ends, which forums have to be updated and the list goes on. So I’ll put this at 60%

c) browse for pleasure – Hmm…about 10%...although I’d loop this with question (b) above.

d) reading & reviewing – Again, time constraints get in the way, but when I really have time and nothing much to do, I do enjoy checking out new items especially from the newbies.

e) answering questions in the technical help forums? – I check this daily, but sometimes I don’t get to answer everything as others around the site do the work *lol* So I’d loop this with (b) as well.

Question 3:

Which published author, or authors, have influenced you? First as a reader and later to pick up writing for yourself?

Authors that have influenced me…let’s see…Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn is my favorite book of all time), Stephen King (love most of his works), Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho especially), Tom Wolfe (A Man in Full especially), Jeffery Archer (Kane and Abel…read this book! If you haven’t already!), Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart – classic!), Wole Soyinka (fantastic playwright).

Question 4:

Is there any single book that has inspired you for a major decision in your life? For example, when I was out of school and didn’t know what to do with my life, I read “The Stand” by Stephen King. It was one of my main reasons to become a nurse. I wanted to know what to do in case of a disaster. Have you had a similar experience?

Well now, Stephen King fan, eh? Nice. I can’t say for sure which book gave me my ‘ah-ha’ moment, but I will say that reading ‘Huckleberry Finn’ made me LOVE the whole reading/writing process. I read ‘Tom Sawyer’ first actually, but there was something so …childish about it. It was a good book, don’t get me wrong, but I came to know about ‘Huckleberry Finn’ because of my father. Apparently, many considered it an ‘adult’ book or a much more difficult book than Tom Sawyer, and I didn’t understand why. But I picked it up and decided to give it a try and at first, it just seems like the adventure of a young boy who runs away with a black slave and all their shenanigans as they travel along the South. However, and after a few more reads, one comes to appreciate what Mark Twain was trying to say. Through the eyes of a child, he exposes the hypocrisy of slave ownerships, of fathers who aren’t there, of lies and secrets and of how society determines who is really ‘free’ or not. Mark Twain brings a human side to slavery and the relationship between Jim and Huck is one that cannot be overemphasized enough. It really was unheard of at the time and I applaud Twain for being daring enough to tackle such a taboo issue in a ‘book for children’. Great stuff.

Question 5:

Have you ever done something like jumping out of a plane with a parachute or bungee jumping? If you did, would you do it again? If you didn’t, are you thinking that it’s still on the list of things to do in life?

Eh….nope. Considering I’m scared of heights. It’s definitely NOT on my to-do list. *lol*

***~~~***~~~***

Dear Kathleen

I am a contestant in "AUTHORS' SPOTLIGHT - Season 6" 

Today my task is to interview you with five questions. My entry into the contest is due by July 16th at midnight WDC time. If you don’t have the time/muse/will to answer, I fully understand and have no hard feelings.

Hello, Octobersun. I am honored that you chose to interview me and would be happy to participate even though I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and still need to pack. Thankfully, you've not included any questions about procrastination. Hopefully, my reply isn't too late for you but had to spend a few extra hours finishing up in the cubicle so I could get away for a few days...~whine!~

Question 1:

Do you still have your very first static item that you ever posted to Writing.com in your portfolio?

Yes, I do still have my first static item. In fact, I have several of my first items in my port and can remember how excited I was when those r&r's started rolling my way. I enjoy reading through them as I try to convince myself my writing has improved over the last seven years. I consider myself a casual writer and never feel a pressure to write so I need my earlier writings as fillers in my port.

Question 2:

Of the total time you spend on average on Writing.com, how does this time break up in % between

a) writing (& posting what you wrote) Writing = 15%; Posting = 5%. I have a number of unfinished writings on my computer that need a line or two, or some editing that one of these days I'll be inspired to finish and post. I love contest prompts and will begin something but never finish in time for the contest closing.

b) administrative tasks for groups/activities you run = 15%. The only constant group would be RAOK but I enjoy running periodic activities that would fluctuate this percentage.

c) browse for pleasure = 20% I belong to several groups and try to keep abreast of what is happening even if I'm not participating or posting.

d) reading & reviewing = 25% I do more reading than reviewing as this would include time spent in reading and responding to emails which is always my first priority when signing into Writing.Com. This would also include responding to IM's, either personal or responding to questions.

e) answering questions in the technical help forums? 20% I usually sign in during the evening hours and always run through several forums (there are others other than technical and non-technical) to keep in touch with the happenings during the day but most times questions have already been addressed.

Question 3:

Which published author, or authors, have influenced you? First as a reader and later to pick up writing for yourself?

As a casual writer, I can't really pick an author that has influenced me. I am an avid reader of romance mystery but have never attempted to write this genre myself even in short story format. I enjoy writing poetry but am sure any of our great poetry writers past or present would love to gnaw my pencil in two, or stomp on my keyboard.

Question 4:

Is there any single book that has inspired you for a major decision in your life? For example, when I was out of school and didn’t know what to do with my life, I read “The Stand” by Stephen King. It was one of my main reasons to become a nurse. I wanted to know what to do in case of a disaster. Have you had a similar experience?

Not really. If I were inspired by most of the books I've read, I'd either be living happily forever after on some island with the cabana boy or be incarcerated.

Question 5:

Have you ever done something like jumping out of a plane with a parachute or bungee jumping? If you did, would you do it again? If you didn’t, are you thinking that it’s still on the list of things to do in life?

Are you kidding me? I climbed on the roof once and didn't have my cell phone w/me or the darn fire dept. would have been here along with the entire 5:00 news force.

I eventually had to climb down the ladder for food and water.

Great questions!