Friday, August 6, 2010

Friday's Five: Stephanie

Welcome to the return of Friday's Five, my weekly feature in which I ask a fabulous blogger 5 random questions.


Today, I'm visiting with Stephanie from Steph in the City. Steph is a middle grade/tween novelist and longtime blogger. She started blogging on MySpace, where she was one of the top 10 most popular bloggers, and eventually moved her site over to Blogger, where she regularly publishes thought-provoking posts. Stephanie's house was one of the many Nashville homes flooded in May, and she and her husband are still in the process of restoring their residence.


1. Congratulations on your recent wedding! You know that we old married farts want to hear that married life is sooo much better than single life. So, tell us, how has this first year of marriage been treating you? Married life is better than single life . . . for me, anyway! I think all of us function differently, but I personally am better in a stable, loving relationship. I wasn't very good at being single and I DEFINITELY wasn't good at dating!

2. I was very sorry to hear that your home was damaged in the Nashville flood, and from what I understand, the destruction throughout the city was quite massive. To tell you the truth, I only knew about the devastation from your blog and one other Tennessee blogger that I read. Any thoughts on why the flooding was mostly ignored by the media? Or was it just me not watching enough TV news? The day after Nashville flooded, two major news events happened that took attention off of us. One was the big oil leak in the Gulf. The other was a Times Square bombing scare. Plus, there was no looting, no whining about not getting help. We just brushed ourselves off, picked up a bottle of bleach and and a pail, and got to work. Plus, floods make for boring news. It wasn't like Katrina, where they could show exciting hurricane shots. The dam broke, the water came in, the water went back out. If you lived in Nashville, you couldn't get away from flood coverage. It was 24/7 for those first few days. But the rest of the world was watching the Gulf.

3. You are a novelist, so I'm presuming you spend a lot of time offline working on your books. I'm really glad that you still take time to write your blog, and I'm curious about what you receive from the process of blogging that keeps you posting? I love to write. When you really get down to it, that's what writing is all about. Blogging allows me to post something that hundreds of people read every day. I get instant feedback from a percentage of those people. The only difference between blogging and being a published author is money, when you get down to it. You're still sharing your words with others.

4.  At the risk of sounding like a doofus, I'm going to admit that the only place I've visited in Tennessee was Graceland. I literally drove straight to Memphis, toured Elvis' former home, and then left the state. I would love to go back some day and explore Tennessee. Any recommendations on must-sees? Normally I'd suggest Opryland Hotel in Nashville, but it was flooded! You have to get to the Smokies, if you get a chance. It's beautiful there! Memphis is my least favorite part of Tennessee (and many others agree with me). Graceland is fun and so is Beale Street, but the city in itself just doesn't have the beauty that East and Middle Tennessee have.

5. What did you have for dinner last night? We have been working on our house so right now we still don't have a stove or kitchen sink. I've been washing dishes in the bathtub, no lie! Last night we grilled out hamburger steaks (the flood didn't get our grill!) and I microwaved some packaged Bob Evans macaroni and cheese. It works out pretty well. Tonight, I'll go home to a construction zone as the guy is going to be there the rest of the week finishing our cabinets . . . that's my life! But I'm just glad to not be hanging drywall at this point.



Thanks, Stephanie, for taking the time to chat . . . now get back to work. You've got a book to write, a blog to update, and a house to renovate. As for me, I'm going to take a nap and rest up for next Friday's Q and A!


Friday's Five: Michelle (Table for Nine)
Friday's Five: Dawn (Bee and Rose)
Friday's Five: Michelle (Scribbit)
Friday's Five: Jen (Li'l Man's World)
Friday's Five: Michele (The Stefo Crew)
Friday's Five: Geri (saddlepotatoes)


Exactly one year ago:

Exactly two years ago:

8 comments:

Mother Mayhem said...

Nice to hear about a new to me blogger! :o)

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Fun interview and way to learn about other blogs! THat's awful about the flooding. My cousin lives in Nashville and I saw him 2 weeks ago and he never even mentioned it! His family must not have been too affected.

Unknown said...

Poor thing, a newlywed and washing dishes in the tub. If they can get through this without killing each other, they are off to a great start.

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

This is a neat series. I must be slacking that I haven't been by here to see it before.

Karen Mortensen said...

Good idea. Hope to see more.

Dianna@KennedyAdventures said...

Yay, Friday Five is back!

I loved learning about Stephanie, since Nashville is one of my favorite cities, and close to home!

Karen M. Peterson said...

Oh, yay! I love Stephanie's blog. You're absolutely right. Even when I don't agree with her, her posts always get me thinking.

Valerie said...

Stephanie is a remarkable woman and her husband is an amazing man. Married for a month, she and her new husband had to move in with her mom and dad--who had downsized into a small bungalow in preparation for retirement. Two newlywed professionals and a dog moving in with working mom, retired dad and a dog, and then living in a bedroom the size of a large closet for two months is an experience that I expect to see in book form one day by the famous author Stephanie Faris. They lost everything except the clothes they were wearing and a car. Their house wasn’t in what was considered a flood zone, so the insurance covered nothing. They worked all day in demanding jobs and then worked most of the night restoring their flood-damaged home. Did I mention that husband had recently started a new job? What a year those two have had! The most incredible part of the entire ordeal is that they have both remained upbeat, positive, and in love. It makes me smile so much my cheeks hurt….

Thank you for spotlighting my wonderful daughter in your blog.

By: Stephanie’s mom