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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / 100 Things / Where do I start?

Where do I start?

August 11, 2008 Filed Under: 100 Things, begin at the beginning, life, writing

So, I’ve finally created a personal blog where I can talk about my writing and my life beyond being a greenie (although, being green is a part of every aspect of my life).

I’ve been a personal blogger without a personal blog for way too long – finding ways to sneak little snippets of my life into that other blog over there, wondering if the poor soul who stumbled across my website while looking for a recipe to use up the beets in her CSA bag really wants to read a story about 3rd grade me pretending to drive a spaceship on the school bus.

But beyond telling you all of that, I really don’t know where to start, so I’ll just tell you ten non-green things about myself and we’ll call it a day. Then the next time I blog I won’t have such a hard time, because I won’t be just starting out.

  1. I’m slightly afraid of Jello even after a concentrated effort to overcome my fear by eating massive amounts of red and purple Jello for a week. I don’t think anything should move like that and still be edible.
  2. My dog, Argo, and I are probably closer than is really healthy or normal. We’ve worked out a signal where he comes over and licks his top front teeth at me. This means he’s either thirsty or he has to poop. Very useful, since his other “I have to poop” signal is dryheaving until someone lets him outside. My fiction never includes characters that are based on anyone I know (myself included), with the exception of a dog that is based almost entirely on Argo. He is my muse.
  3. I’m now embarrassed that my very first blog post mentions poop, but not so embarrassed that I’ll change it.
  4. I’ve been married for 4 1/2 years, and getting married to J is the best thing I’ve ever done.
  5. I’m starting to realize that ten things is a lot and I’m considering going back and changing it to five, but I won’t. I’ll just cheat and make this one of the ten. Number 3 was probably cheating too.
  6. I wrote a short story that was published in The Summerset Review and will be reprinted (in a different form) in Slice Magazine in September. It’s also being course adopted in a local junior high school English class.
  7. I did horribly in junior high school and high school English, and am totally relishing the idea that my work is being taught in an English class. I’m also completely humbled by it, and if I think about it too much, I get a little choked up.
  8. I barely cried at all until I hit 23. In my mid-twenties, one of my best friends from high school saw me tearing up and yelled “What the hell are you doing?” because he’d never seen me cry before. I have no idea what turned me into a crier after years of being a robot. Now, I cry whenever I have to buy someone a birthday card, because for some reason the stupid little sayings get me going. It’s mortifying.
  9. I make my own cards.
  10. I insist to my husband that I believe in Bigfoot, simply because my husband is a super logical type and it drives him up the wall when I talk about it. Also, if Bigfoot were real, I think he’d totally get me and we’d be really good friends.

2 Comments

Comments

  1. The Modern Gal says

    August 22, 2008 at 5:07 am

    How did I miss you had a personal blog? I’m so glad you do!

    And I think I’m the exact opposite on the crying. I used to cry a lot and now I don’t get teary eyed when I should. Weddings are the worst. I’ve been to so many that their effect is null. And I feel bad about that.

    Reply
  2. Mickey says

    September 16, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Well now that I’m in on the personal blog, I had to go back and comment on the first post.

    Not that I’m trying to make you cry, but kids are learning from you! That’s so cool!

    Reply

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Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda match. I admit it. Alright? We all knew this was coming. None of this should be a surprise to any of us. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogjacket #peoplewhomatchtheirdogs
Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn chair. And she likes it! #dailyroxydog #chihuahuamix #ilovemydog
We are in the habit of starting and ending our day We are in the habit of starting and ending our days side by side in our lawn chairs, while the light rises or dims. It’s still chilly at the outer edges of the day. Sometimes Roxy shivers. I bought her a sweater, but she won’t wear it. Sometimes I try to wrap her in my jacket, but she’s not having that either, so I throw her ball and try to get her run and then she comes back to her chair, warm for a little longer. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogssittinginchairs
“I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to “I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to heaven in a split pea shell.” ~ @petermulvey43 Words Too Small to Say
Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyro Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyroxydog #huskymixesofinstagram
I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic ant I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic antique store sometime in November and didn’t buy it. But then, of course, I kept thinking about her. She’s the perfect size for my office, and I found those drawer pulls hilarious. When I finally went back in December, I told myself I was shopping for wall art, because I assumed she would be gone. But she was right where I’d seen her last: balanced on another dresser with boxes of old picture frames and tchotchkes piled on top (the true mark of a magic antique store). I didn’t even realize she had a towel rack — that she was a wash stand, not a dresser — until I asked about the price, said I’d take her, and my favorite magic antique store person asked if we needed to unscrew the towel rack to fit her in my car. I suspect this little sweetie is not from the days of necessary wash stands so much as from a country kitchen in the 80s. She was in rough shape, and not made from wood worth stripping and re-staining, but her price reflected that. I had to disassemble that door and put it back together, but I’d been in the market for some experience working with old furniture, and she made me feel brave about trying. I thought about painting her something more neutral, but I’m so glad I didn’t. She deserves to be pink. She’s not perfectly painted and needs a few touch ups. I learned some things about chalk paint and finishes. The drawers stick a bit. Eventually, I’d like to line them with fabric and when I do, I might plane the edges to smooth things out. But goodness, I love her in a way that I wouldn’t if I hadn’t spent time cleaning away her cobwebs and scrubbing the grime from her hilarious drawer pulls. She’s also become a little shrine for the book I’m working on, which makes me love her even more. I’ve always been a person who sees some soul in certain things, and I’m learning to cherish that idiosyncrasy, because there’s so much joy to be found in a brave little toaster or an underdog wash stand. We’re not here in the world for all that long. We may as well love some bright little things. #furnituremakeover
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