Hello
Reading Friends,
2020 was indeed the year from hell,
including a big hullabaloo on the publishing platform Blaze and I had chosen to
write for. We were both submitting at least one story a day, often more, and
the individual publication we wrote for almost exclusively was temporarily
suspended until the main platform could get a disagreement sorted out. The newly
formed publication's writers had formed a community, and everyone was
disconcerted by the events, which only lasted a couple of days, thank goodness.
This article came out of it, and I got quite a few responses to the interview. It
was a fun distraction, including for myself. (I included my own response to the interview below the original article.)
Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview
I
promised AGH I would do my part in keeping all the publication's writers in
touch and knowing that the vanishing act is only temporary, and things are
being worked out as we speak. I had no
idea in hell how I was going to do that and continue writing my own articles –
I have dozens in my "under construction" files in each of my niches.
I
woke up this morning with a lightning bolt zapping my morning fogged brain:
Interview them, dummy!
Only
not with the conventional, 'when-did-you-know-you-wanted-to write?' or
'what-writer-inspires-you-the-most?' stuff that everybody asks. Uh, uh.
No such luck for you guys. Heh, heh, heh.
I'm a horror writer. I live for making people squirm.
Here's
how I plan to do that for the whole lot of you – and you will each get your own
story to publish.
Do
this:
Copy
the questions below (only the questions, the names list in this article
already tags everyone) and paste them into a "new story" of your own.
Change
the title to:
"MY
NAME Responds to Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview"
(That
will ensure that we both get credit for our parts in the interview.)
Plug
in your answers and click publish!
Voila! We help each other get our names out there, establish our
solidarity as our publication's writers, and have some laughs doing it!
One
extra thing: If you know of a writer who isn't on the list below the interview
questions in my original article, please tag them in your article.
Okay…one
more extra thing: Add a question of your own to the interview – remember, it
can't be anything conventional. You're
some of the best writers on the platform – dazzle me!
Okay
everybody! Have at it if you dare! Muahaha!
Bizarre-Ass Interview questions:
1.
What bizarre-ass guilty pleasure do
you imbibe in way too often?
2.
What bizarre-ass book/movie scared the
crap out of you so bad it changed your behavior (left lights on, made you look
in the back seat of your car before getting in, make you look around your house
to make sure you were alone, etc)?
3.
What bizarre-ass thing instantly
pisses you off?
4.
What was your most bizarre-ass
vacation/trip?
5.
What's your most bizarre-ass writing
spot?
6.
Ever do some bizarre-ass thing that
almost got you arrested?
7.
What's the most bizarre-ass thing
you've ever eaten?
8.
What bizarre-ass joke made you laugh
so hard you almost peed your pants?
9.
What bizarre-ass thing have you
written just for living-expenses money?
10.
What bizarre-ass thing have you
fantasized about but would never, ever do?
11.
What's the most bizarre-ass thing you
ever did on a dare? Brag about it or regret it?
12.
What bizarre-ass experience changed
your life forever?
13.
As a kid, what was the longest/worst
punishment you ever got and what bizarre-ass thing did you do?
14.
What's the most bizarre-ass haircut/hairdo
you've ever had? Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words…heh, heh, heh.
Okay
– I'm out of bizarre-ass questions for now. Feel free to fire up the
bizarre-ass parts of your brains, add some of your own, and shoot them back to
me!
Go
for it and have some fun!!
[Originally published on Medium in 2020]
*****
Terri DelCampo Responds to Terri DelCampo's
Bizarre-Ass Interview
1.
What bizarre-ass guilty pleasure do
you imbibe in way too often?
I
"fake eat" chocolate. – I'm allergic to it, plus, I'm on the fringes
of insulin resistance, so I put a piece in my mouth, let it melt, savor the
hell out of it, then spit it in the trash so I avoid its harmful effects.
2.
What bizarre-ass book/movie scared the
crap out of you so bad it changed your behavior (left lights on, made you look
in the back seat of your car before getting in, make you look around your house
to make sure you were alone, etc)?
"Helter
Skelter" had me sleeping with the lights on for weeks. The fact that the
Manson killers got into Sharon Tate's home (with a wall and electrified fence)
and slaughtered everyone there was bad enough, but Susan Atkin's description of
the Manson Family members breaking into people's homes, crawling around their
beds as they lay asleep, and leaving without being found out, completely
freaked me out.
3.
What bizarre-ass thing instantly
pisses you off?
The
sight of Fake President Trump's orange face, especially if his mouth is
open…so…constantly.
4.
What was your most bizarre-ass
vacation/trip?
Well,
it wasn't a vacation, per se, but a mini-trip to a funeral home to see an
embalming when I was 12. I was curious, my father was an undertaker. We
bonded.
5.
What's your most bizarre-ass writing
spot?
Hmmm…
I jot ideas down on the toilet sometimes, but I think every writer probably
does that. I used to sit in cemeteries occasionally, choosing a particular
stone, trying to build a character around the information I found there. (I'm a
horror writer.) If I want a creepy vibe, I go at dusk and stay until after
dark.
6.
Ever do some bizarre-ass thing that
almost got you arrested?
Closest
thing was I got caught in a speed trap on Marathon Key at about two in the
morning. I was temporarily homeless and in a minivan stuffed with everything I
owned, and the cop was a colossal prick. He saw my Delaware license plate and
grilled me about what the hell I was doing. He gave me a ticket with a hefty
fine (that was reduced – he jacked up the amount for the speed I was doing) and
had to let me go because I really wasn't doing anything wrong. I just wanted to
see the sun rise on Key West before I attended a Heritage Festival the
following day where I planned to interview a Native American flutist for a book
I was writing.
So much for my crime spree…heh, heh,
heh.
7.
What's the most bizarre-ass thing
you've ever eaten?
Chocolate
covered ants. In the unusual but not bizarre-ass category, I have also had
smoked rattlesnake (delish!), stewed alligator (also yum), frog legs, and
snails.
8.
What bizarre-ass joke made you laugh
so hard you almost peed your pants?
Well,
it's not a joke per se, but the first time I saw Robin Williams stand up on HBO
– the very first one before anyone really knew who the hell he was – I laughed
so hard I couldn't get my breath.
Wait!
I got pranked one time, and it was hilarious! My dentist at the time was a
friend of the family, and I needed a bridge after having a tooth pulled. I came
into the office to have the permanent bridge inserted, and Doc placed it in my
mouth, and said he wasn't happy with the fit, that it would give me problems
later. He put the temp bridge (I thought) back in my mouth, handed me lunch
money, and said to go with my friend (his office manager), have lunch on him,
that he would rush the bridge to the lab, have it fixed and ready by the time
we got back. Out we went.
It
was lunchtime mid-week, and we went to Pat's Pizzeria, which was hopping busy.
I kept getting odd looks from people whenever I spoke. I turned to Andrea, and
asked, "are my gums bleeding or something? People are looking at me
funny." She assured me I was fine.
Long
story short we get back to the office and I'm in the chair, and Doc says he
wants to take some photos of the bridge, because he wants to document the
problem with it in case there were any questions later. When he got through snapping pics, I noticed
Andrea was standing in the doorway to the treatment room. Doc turned to her and
said, "time to show her?" Andrea, as well as the rest of the staff,
all of whom I was friends with, peeked over Andrea's shoulder. He handed me a
mirror and I saw this:
PIC
of me with blue teeth/red dots.
I congratulated him on the best prank
ever.
9.
What bizarre-ass thing have you
written just for living-expenses money?
I
worked on the correspondence team at a bank writing business letters to mutual
fund customers for four years. It was writing…sort of.
10.
What bizarre-ass thing have you
fantasized about but would never, ever do?
My
first husband was a sky-diving instructor and it really looked like awesome
fun, but the bum knee screamed, "No freaking way."
11.
What's the most bizarre-ass thing you
ever did on a dare? Brag about it or regret it?
Ate
the chocolate-covered ants.
12.
What bizarre-ass experience changed
your life forever?
Reading
"The Telltale Heart" at age 13. I'd just finished writing a romance
novel. Reading Poe started a lifelong fascination with the macabre, and I began
writing horror stories, screenplays, and novels.
13.
As a kid, what was the longest/worst
punishment you ever got and what bizarre-ass thing did you do?
My
mother was one to lecture if I did something wrong – mostly stupid kid stuff,
like I swiped dimes out of her jar to get penny candy for my friends and me a
couple times. She noticed. I could swear the lecture lasted for hours…maybe it
just seemed that way. I didn't get into much trouble. I was a serious kid – somewhat introverted
and a writer by the time I was eleven.
14.
What's the most bizarre-ass hair
cut/do you've ever had? Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words…heh, heh,
heh.
Remember
the cartoon "The Hair Bear Bunch"?
[Originally
published on Medium in 2020]
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