My first "interview" as an author

Oh thank goodness for Goodreads.com! They just made me feel important as they not only approved me for my own Goodreads Author page, but also gave me 6 standard questions on there to respond to as though I was actually getting interviewed. Of course right now there's still a fanbase of 0, but I answered them dreaming in my world that some day soon that number will hit 5,264. That's a good number to start with, right?

Since it was so fun and plays into my big dream I'm trying to make happen, I thought I would share the questions and answers below. Source: Goodreads Author, Lauren Eckhardt

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Lauren Eckhardt Something that stuck with me years ago is hearing a quote by Stephen King that said he writes 10 pages a day, every day, no matter what. I think that's what you have to do. I don't aim for 10 pages but I do try to do at least 1 page a day. It keeps the writing flowing. Even if it's not good, you can go back and beef it up later. Or maybe you need to switch to a different project you're working on. The key is to keep the creative juices flowing.

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What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Lauren Eckhardt The best thing is being able to feel like all the thoughts in my head can make sense if only put in the right context. As a writer, you get to develop what that context is and make sense out of it in a way that someone else may understand.

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Lauren Eckhardt Don't stop writing. Even when the negative comments come in, if you truly feel like writing is in your blood and heart, don't stop doing it. Never ever do it for someone else. Only do it for you.

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What are you currently working on?

Lauren Eckhardt I'm working on a different piece completely from The Remedy Files. It was another one I started 5 years ago and just never completed. It's a bit more of a fantasy world with interesting characters and a journey through magical lands geared towards middle-school readers. There's a deep message hidden throughout it and really reflects a similar journey that I went on- except the creatures in the book are a lot more entertaining!

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How do you get inspired to write?

Lauren Eckhardt Listening to certain songs or seeing something in nature is usually what gets it going for me. It's the best sort of inspiration. Or people-watching. You can usually get some good stories from that by itself.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Lauren Eckhardt I actually started writing The Remedy Files: Illusion about 5 years ago when someone told me I "feel" too much. At first I took insult to that, but then started thinking about how important emotions actually are and that I'd rather be someone who feels than someone who doesn't. And the whole idea was birthed from there.

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Someday, Barbara Walters (or whoever replaces her), you will be calling me and I'll be ready with responses! See, isn't my fantasy world fun?

Dreaming of Leading Men

  So of course the post earlier about Bill Pullman being selected as a leading man in the 90s made me start thinking about who would play either one of my two leading men in "The Remedy Files: Illusion" if it was made into a movie.

It's easy for my mind to go straight into some of the recent developments: Liam Hemsworth for one. I mean it is a truly crazy coincidence that he would be the perfect Liam- his looks, his reserved personality but killer sex draw. If the Hunger Games didn't steal him already, it would be as though the stars were in perfect alignment. Or Theo James who could easily be the perfect Gavin. Maybe it's because I see Theo as being the perfect male specimen in general. In fact, if I was still a teenager and could get away with it, I would definitely be plastering posters of him all over my room. However, I don't think my husband would be too keen on those decorations...  Unfortunately both Liam and Theo have been taken on other projects so they are out of the running. Who is left?

   The easiest one to start with is Gavin since he has the distinct dimple in his chin. So, I figured I would get creative through a google search, "actors with dimples in chin". Seriously quite interesting to see a collection of every actor/actress with that facial feature. Makes me wonder if I was famous, how I would be classified. "writers with moles on face," "famous people with overbites," "authors with right leg longer than left".  Ok, I digress (note: I will be doing these searches later too).

   Right away came actors who are much too old now to play the part but Aaron Eckhart would have been one of my first choices if I wrote this book 20 years ago. And then as I continued on my search and was drawn to those that I thought would be perfect fits, I definitely noticed how old I am because I'm attracted mostly to the men that are 40+... unfortunately that doesn't work with The Remedy Files.

 So, after spending way too much time looking at pictures of extremely attractive actors, I discovered I definitely have a particular type. And here are my final picks:
***Drumroll Please!!***

GAVIN: 

Ben Barnes

LIAM 

Tyler Hoechlin

Either Gavin or Liam:

Colin O'Donoghue

Who would you pick to play Liam or Gavin? Which man is your favorite?

Bill Pullman, I love you but only as "that" guy

  The most surprising thought of the weekend hit me. Bill Pullman used to be some sort of... (should I go as far as to say it??)... sex symbol. Seriously, he had to have been because he rocked the movie scene like crazy in the 90s. While the TV was playing in the background, I noticed two movies in a row had him as one of the leading men, "While You Were Sleeping" and "Independence Day". Was there just a shortage of attractive, appealing men in the 90s?? As I started thinking about this, I realized that he's just one of those actors that instantly irritates me when he pops on the screen. Bill Pullman seems nice, don't get me wrong... but I can't say I've ever been bowled over by his acting skills or ever once looked at him and thought "Wow... now, that's the man I fantasize about being with." And it's not the fact that he's quite a bit older than me. Tom Hanks is too but yet I "get" it with him. He's not the typical I'm going to drool while watching him and hope he pops into my dreams tonight kind of man either, but he has this sort of even-balanced full-package appeal that I don't argue. It makes me root for him to end up with the girl in the end no matter what the situation.

  Which, now that I'm piecing these thoughts together, is probably why it was so easy to root for Tom Hanks and not Bill Pullman in "Sleepless in Seattle". In fact, Bill Pullman's character Walter in that movie is exactly what I tend to think of Bill Pullman as... stuffy, OCDish, lots of annoying little problems and tendencies but overall a nice guy. Hmm... okay, I'm seeing a definite link here. Maybe I've seen "Sleepless in Seattle" a bit too many times and have a built-in bias.

 Interesting the influence that can be had on me without even realizing it... good job Sleepless in Seattle and TNT/TBS/any other station that play it over and over again. It's a version of hypnotism, I swear. Still, though... I can't be the only one that thinks this about him, right?

Bill Pullman, I do love you but only when you play the guy I expect you to play... not a sex symbol, not the one that wins Sandra Bullock's heart or is a powerful, demanding man leading the entire U.S... Only as "Walter." You, are a great Walter, and you should take pride in that.

Giveaway Time!!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Remedy Files

by Lauren Eckhardt

Giveaway ends December 31, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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Smart move, AT&T -- you figured out how to free yourself of having to pay millions to sponsor Tiger Woods and instead get free advertising by throwing your name in one of the biggest recent scandals which also in turn attempts to highlight how ethical/value-focused the company is. Smart.

Don't Shoot Meat if You're not Going to Eat It

Part of my excitement this past weekend was discovering that Gill St. (my all time favorite bar in Bloomington-Normal) had Big Buck Hunter. This poses two problems (a) I immediately see a fairly large percentage of my paycheck each week getting now pumped into this machine and (b) it solidifies that I’m a hypocrite. Don’t you just hate those moments? I’m 99.9% sure that every single person in this world has experienced these moments even though many will refuse to admit it (even when called out on it as I tend to enjoy doing because as we all know if you’re called out on something that you know is right, you just immediately refute it even more—again, I know this as I’m a walking example of a hypocrite). So yes, I realized I’m a hypocrite. Here I am shooting at poor innocent bucks, elk, etc (avoiding the cows of course) while being a self-proclaimed animal lover that won’t even read a fictional book that looks appealing due to its spiritual confliction since it mentions slaughtering animals.

On top of that, I have recently become what seems like a vegetarian (I have yet to determine if it’s a short-lived trend or a long-term lifestyle change) because I can’t fathom how many animals are terribly treated and then slaughtered just to fill my plate. The crazy part is that this just happened. I went from craving juicy burgers from Meatheads just two weeks ago to waking up one morning and feeling absolutely repulsed by the thought of eating meat. My most visited website went from Facebook to WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals – which is an amazing organization and I highly suggest that people sign up to contribute to a cause that’s making a drastic difference in this world . C’mon.. you can skip a couple of Starbucks runs a month for this). Even though all those Sarah McLaughlin commercials would make me bawl my eyes out when showing abused animals, I never gave this website much consideration (because I tend to lean more towards local donations which is what I do at the Humane Society of Central Illinois and Miller Park Zoo- again, two other organizations I recommend you donate to) until last week when I woke up feeling the way that I did.

I blame half of this on a situation that I've tried to forget about that happened in the early winter of 2008. My quick lunches used to consist of me coming home and boiling a few eggs and heating up asparagus to eat at work. I was doing that like usual one day and I put the eggs in the hot water in the pot on the stove. A couple of minutes later (ugh, even as I am thinking of this story my heart is just breaking), I swear I heard what sounded like a little bird chirping. I tried to ignore it because it wasn’t possible, right? Again, the chirping… then another… then some more. I ran over to the stove and pulled out a couple of the eggs. I put them in the sink and ran some cold water over them. Then I carefully started opening them up (completely freaking out this whole time). Nothing that looked like a baby chicken. So I calm down (after scolding myself for being delusional) and then put the eggs back in the hot water on the stove. A few minutes later, the chirping started again. I took the eggs out, threw them in the trash can outside, and never boiled eggs again. Well, I moved on… kind of. I would think of that story every now and then and get sad. Well, guess what story I was thinking of the night before I became a vegetarian? Coincidence…?

In summary, I’m being haunted by a baby chicken and I encourage all of you to donate to the WSPA.

Inspirational Spurts

I have these random bursts of motivation… like when I watched “Julie & Julia” and thought, “I’m going to become a world famous cook where people have to say ‘yum’ every time they try a bite of my food.” But then I remember the scene where she makes some comment that in a world that is unpredictable she enjoys being able to come home and find comfort in cooking because it is always a guarantee that specific amounts of xyz and will make whatever the goal is. Yeah, that doesn’t quite work for me. I have this tendency where I can do something great one time, but then I can never get back to that “one great time” no matter how many times I practice or try and try and try. Funny thing is that alcohol actually seems to enhance (and not impair like the average joe) my abilities to do any activity that requires coordination or consistency of any sort. I’m told it’s because while sober I think too hard about doing things which is probably fairly accurate. Unfortunately I’m on the extreme side of being analytical where everything I say and do is considered way more than what it should. Like as I type these words I think the specific placement of them is creative and perfect due to all these little bits and pieces that I’m probably the only person in the world that gets it. But I always think that there’s some other mind out there that will understand too and find entertainment. Anyway.. I’d have to be an alcoholic in order to succeed as a cook. And considering I don’t like to drink much, I think it’s probably the wrong career path.

I did however make some brownies that didn’t quite elicit a “yum” being shouted from the breakroom but once I tracked people down and made them tell me their honest opinion about the brownies, they did say they were quite tasty. So I’ll take that. They are called “No Pudge Brownies” (I also discovered today that I’m the only one that thinks that name is hilarious). They are fat free and made with yogurt which is quite interesting. I think they are delicious and I was excited for people at work to try them during our potluck today. I highly recommend them and I’ll do my typical Amazon (did I mention that I love them?) plug by putting in this link: No Pudge Brownies available on Amazon