Seven Things Meme

Susie Q over at Rabbit Run Cottage tagged anyone who wants to play for a meme that lists 7 things no one knew about you.

Maybe some of you do know these things, but here goes:

1. I am afraid of spiders and falling down stairs. The other day at work, there was a wolf spider with a HUGE web blocking my way in...so I had to hunt around Dr. A's property until I found something (a hoe, I think) to knock the web out of the way. I will never kill a spider outside--it is their territory--but I sure ain't gonna walk into a web that is 3 feet across with a BIG, GIGANTIC KILLER SPIDER in the middle! (Don't laugh, but I did apologize to it for destroying its beautiful web.)
Stairs...I had to walk down the scariest, highest, steepest cement stairs five days a week for several years, between college and work. It was the way to get down from the raised railroad platform to the street. I never got used to it. If it snowed, I'd get off at the previous station, which was street level, and walk the extra half mile...rather than walk down icy or snowy steps. I learned from a Charlie Brown cartoon that it's called "Climbakaphobia," which I am certain I did not spell right.

2. I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City for college. My gym class was bowling in Madison Square Garden. I started out in Fashion Design but couldn't cut it. Damn, I hated draping mannequins (it's how you start when you want to turn a drawing into a real garment)! I switched from Fashion Design to Advertising and Communications and went from a C- student to a dean's list student. Guess I'm better at writing than fashion design.

3. My first job was as an editor on a children's wear trade magazine, Earnshaw's Review. I loved that job! I got to see the cutest kids' outfits and write about them. I was often taken to lunch at wonderful restaurants I could never have afforded otherwise.

4. I think a lot of you know that I write, but did you know my first 12 novels were in the horror/supernatural genre? Wow, I'd love to write a scary book again, but they don't seem to sell like they did back in the 80s. It was a LOT easier to sell a book back then, IMHO. I feel sorry for new kids starting out today. My first book, btw, was influenced by "The Amityville Horror." I had read a two-page spread in the Long Island Press about this house in Amityville that was haunted. So I was inspired to write the first book I ever published. It's called "Ghost House," if you want to know. None of my books are in print now, but sometimes they show up at garage sales or in libraries. Or on eBay.
Once, one of my bils read a book by me and said to my sister..."and I thought (she) was such a nice person!" Well, heck...I AM a nice person! In fact, this list might tell you I'm not only nice, but utterly boring. I just like a good scary book. (I don't like bloody horror movies with no real purpose except to be icky and gorey, though.)

5. I am most proud, though, of the 13th, 14th and 15th books I wrote. They are for middle-grade readers under the collective title "Journey to America." They are about immigrant children, from Ireland, Poland and Cambodia. Alas, like the horror market, the historical children's fiction market also died down. Some of you might remember how the "Dear America" series took up shelves and shelves in bookstores. You are lucky if you can find them now. Forget about my books...although I know they are in a lot of libraries.

6. You can tell by my screen name that I love animals, but did you know I've kept rats as pets? They are the sweetest, cleanest, most loving caged animals on earth. I would give a child a rat way before I'd give her a hamster. Hamsters are nasty and they bite. Rats do NOT bite...unless you stick your finger in their cage and they think it's a tasty treat, LOL!
PS, speaking of animals, my silly animal dream is to have an alpaca farm one day. That is...if I could find someone to hire for the shearing, LOL!

7. My favorite actor is Vincent D'Onofrio. I'm into Vincent the way Susie Q is into Brian Dennehy. Both of them ruggedly handsome in their own unusual ways. I'm with Susie Q--who needs a pretty boy when you have Brian and Vincent?

I'm sorry if I bored you all. Later, I'll post my Sew Crafty Friday project!