Greetings

[chochiyo_sama]

About Me:  I am a retired English teacher who taught junior and senior high for over thirty years.  I became a teacher because I loved to read and I loved to write, and I loved working with adolescents.  Turns out that, while teaching, I had very little time to read or write for my own pleasure--so now that I am retired, I hope to make up for all that lost time.  I am most likely to write Young Adult fiction and Science Fiction/Fantasy.  I do have an occasional flirtation with Westerns.  Blame a childhood of watching shows like Wagon Train and Bonanza. 

About My Journal: My journal is mostly about my life, the things that irritate me, the things I have accomplished, the things I hope to accomplish, occasional flights of fantasy, political rants, and other random things. 

What I Write: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult "reality based" fiction, occasional Westerns, occasional dystopian stories, autobiographical stuff, occasional poorly drawn graphic stories, and pretty much anything that strikes my fancy at the time.

What I Don't Write: I don't write sloppy, stupid romance stories--or stories about sexy vampires or rapey fantasies, or anything that has references to "throbbing manhoods" and "quivering womanhoods." 

What I Read: I read everything.  I prefer science fiction and fantasy (Robert A. Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien,  Ray Bradbury, Barbara Hambly, Arthur C. Clark, T.H. White, Robin McKinley, Stephen King, Ann McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Lynn Abbey, Stephen Donaldson, Andre Norton, Robert Lynn Asprin, Cornelia Funke, Peter S. Beagle, Harlin Ellison, Terry Brooks, David Eddings,  Nancy Springer, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jane Lindskold,  J.K. Rowling, Jane Yolen, Susan Cooper,  Mary Stewart, Charles de Lint, C.S. Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, Roger Zelazny, Margaret Atwood, and I am sure a ton of others I am not thinking of right now.  However, I read historical fiction, mysteries, philosophy, classics--I am a fiend for Shakespeare--especially McBeth! My favorite!  I love graphic novels.  I read a lot of Young Adult fiction--due mainly to my constant search for books that would speak to my students.  I have developed a taste for this genre, but I am very judgmental of authors whose adolescent characters bear no resemblance to living adolescents.  I enjoy biographies and autobiographies, and I really enjoy reading blogs as well.

What I Don't Read:  I hate sloppy romance novels/bodice rippers and nauseating supernatural romance novels.  I have been known to vomit at the sight of a Harlequin Romance.  While I like a good horror novel, I am not into gash and slash stories that are all about how many horrifying ways there are to make characters die.  I prefer a psychological horror.

Could I Edit Someone Else's Work: I have nearly perfect skills--as I should, having taught English for 30+ years.