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I got tagged to do a book meme, whatever that is. I have to answer five questions, it seems, so here goes:

1. How many books do I own? That's a good question really, as I don't quite know. It's a number ever in flux. I would guess around 150 books that I have and intend to keep. That number used to be around 400, but I've moved several times and found myself short on cash and sold a lot of them. I used to have tons of books that I never read. I was probably hitting around the 10% mark of the books that I owned that had been read by me. What happened is I love books more than reading, as I may have mentioned. I would find a book and decide that I wanted it. This was not a commitment to read the book, in my mind. Having the book was good enough for me, so that if I ever had the desire to read it, there it would be.

2. What was the last book I purchased? That would be Ron Mclarty's "The Memory of Running". I bought it on ebay, since for some reason I could not find it in stores. Just when I had decided that I must have the book, it disappeared. And then the first person I attempted to purchase the book from on ebay never sent it. I was lucky to get my money back through paypal. I was really beginning to wonder if the book actually existed, or did I imagine it's existence. For the concept of the book seemed too good to be true. It seemed like exactly the kind of book that I had been waiting for someone to write, or trying to write myself. When I read the article about it, I knew I had to have it. But alas it slipped my grasp. So I tried at ebay one more time before I decided that I was legally insane. And it eventually showed up in the mail.

3. What was the last book I read? Well, wouldn't you know, I promptly read "The Memory of Running" once I finally got it in my grasp. And I'll tell you, it was everything I had hoped it would be and then some. Perhaps a bit too much cursing in a few scenes, but it was all character. It wasn't just Ron going off because he felt like going off. I would never use a curse word in my writing, however. At least nothing I planned to try and publish. I did use a curse word in a couple of my stories, but I edited them out eventually, once I came to my senses. The only part I didn't like about the novel was the ending. But I'm not hung up on endings, so that's not how I will judge the book. I wouldn't say it was a bad ending, but it was rather flat. It felt almost as if Ron was getting tired of writing his little novel, so he hurried up and got to the end. He's an actor, so writing isn't his mainstay, but he writes pretty well despite that. Parts of it are really touching. I'm not much for the touchy feely stuff, but I was near tears a couple of times.

4. What books mean a lot to me? Well, being a Christian, that one is obvious. The Holy Bible. It's a tough book to read sometimes. I've never made it all the way through. I haven't read most of the old testament. I've read very little of the prophets. I don't know why. I know it's all interesting stuff. I plan to get reading on them in the near future, though. Should I mention any other books? Can anything else stand up to the bible? No. But I will throw in a few books, or authors rather, that were instrumental in shaping me into the kind of writer that I am today. The main one being Bruce Coville. He writes children’s books. Very imaginative children's books. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, humor. I read "My Teacher Is An Alien" in the fifth grade, and I just knew that's the kind of stuff that I wanted to write. I already had the imagination, but reading his books really helped me put my imagination to use. I wrote two children's books in high school along that same fashion. And there's one more author I must mention. Brace yourself, first of all. And try not to gasp. And please don't take this out of context. Don't count me as a hypocrite when I mention this author's name. Stephen King. There, I said it. I read "Misery" in the seventh grade because my mom bought the movie, and since it was about a writer, I just loved it. Then over time, I ended up reading most of his books. Some of it's vulgar and blasphemous and lewd. I understand that. But I didn't let it influence me. As it says in the bible, it's not what you take in that makes you unclean. It's what comes out. But reading his works showed me how to be a good writer. I never cared much what the story was about or how it ended. He tends to have horrible endings. But he writes such great characters and makes everything feel so real. So honest. This is what I strive for when I write. I want good characters, and I want to tell the truth about life.

5. Okay, this last one isn't really a question. I'm supposed to tag five other people. But I don't know five people that have blogs who like to read. So if you're reading this, and you like to read, well, consider yourself tagged. If you happen to do the meme, leave me a comment and I'll come to your blog and read it. Sound fair?

Now back to my 100 things about me list. Let's see, where were we...ah, yes...

11. I don't like to smile. I'm not saying that I don't smile. It's just a rare occurrence. I especially don't like to be forced to smile, say for pictures. I don't have a good fake smile. That's why I don't like taking pictures. I wish we could take pictures like they used to in the old days. You weren't supposed to smile back then. You were supposed to keep a straight face and look serious. But what happened is some photographer was making wise cracks while he was taking the pictures and he happened to catch a beautiful woman smiling. Then he showed it around to all of his photographer buddies and they liked it. So from then on they would try to make everybody smile. Then somehow it became tradition. All traditions are accidents, I believe.

12. I don't want to be famous. Which also means that I don't want to be rich. I don't want to be famous because I'm shy. If I were famous, I would feel obligated to speak to everybody that recognized me. And I don't want to do that, so they would think I was rude. I would rather people not think I was rude, even though I am sometimes. My apologies. Now as far as the fortune goes, if I had all of the money that thirty people couldn't possibly spend in ten lifetimes (that's 300 lifetimes for you non-mathematicians), I would still be pursuing the same things that I'm doing now. I would still be writing. I would still be serving God. I would still be this same person. If anything, the money would seek to corrupt me. And being who I am, I would end up giving most of it away anyways. So why have it in the first place. Though I would be able to quit my job and focus more of my time doing God's work...hmmm...you know, God, that's not really a bad idea at all. But, alas, God's plan is to keep me humble. The last time I began to feel financially secure, my world was turned upside down. Perhaps I'll talk about that later.

13. I like to be alone. No, I don't mean that I like to be lonely. Though that tends to happen a lot when you're alone. I like my time to myself. I like to be able to write and think my thoughts without people interrupting me. But what happens is that I tend to distance myself so much from people that I do get lonely. I would so very much like to have friends and go do things with them and have fun and what not. My mom once told me (actually she told me several times) that you have to be a friend to have a friend. Who wants to be friends with someone who wants to be alone most of the time. Because two or more people really can't be alone together. It kind of defeats the purpose.

14. I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy. No matter what the weather, no matter how hot or how cold, you'll find me most of the time in my t-shirt and jeans. And I love old t-shirts. The ones I wear most of the time when I'm not at work are like ten or more years old. And they haven’t fallen apart yet, despite constant use. I do everything in them. Some of them have a few holes and unremoveable stains, but I can still wear them in public. I do go through jeans pretty fast, though. Once the crotch rips out two or three times, there's not much left to patch.

15. I want to be a drummer. This would just be a side gig from my writing. I would tour with the band, and do my writing on the bus between shows. I would also write a lot of lyrics and come up with my own beats. I think it would be cool to play the guitar, too, but I just love the drums.