Questions from Pam Stucky

Pam Stucky is amazing.  She is an accomplished author, blogger and all around fun person.  Check out her stuff at pamstucky.com or follow her on twitter @pamstucky.  She asked me to answer some questions and I think ya'll will enjoy my answers.  Okay bye. :P


Q: Three adjectives that describe you?
  funny, compassionate, curious
Q: What are your passions in life?
> reading, writing, people, gaming, making a difference
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> Q: You do work with Sustainable Seattle [correct name?]. What is that, what is your involvement with it, and why?
> I am a board member of Sustainable Seattle because I believe that the only way to move forward is to focus on the needs and desires of people.  Sustainability has an automatic connection to environmental concerns, but it misses the most important part of meeting our needs, meeting the needs of the people.  We are an organization dedicated to collaboration, stewardship and social justice.

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> Q: Part of the Sustainable Seattle project is the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative. How is did happiness get bundled up with a sustainable city project?

Happiness is not just a feeling; it is a sense of wellness and true contentment.  We as a society have never really looked at contentment and wellness as real goals.  We are too concerned with material goods and "keeping up with the Jones's."  This is why we have such a huge disparity between the rich and the poor.  The rich think that if they got their next million they would finally be happy, but with that next million they are still unsatisfied.

Only through looking at happiness as a collection of different domains: psychological well being, material well being, community vitality, cultural vitality, health, governance, environmental quality, time balance and education can we get to a place that leads to real contentment.

  Q: What are the elements of a happy life? What makes you happy? What can other people do to make themselves happier?
> A happy life is one that is first and foremost about building and maintaining healthy relationships.  Relationship with others, our environment and the most neglected relationship, with ourselves. 

What makes me happy is helping others live up to their potential.  What makes me happy is knowing that I have been a part of something that helped others.  What makes me happy is dancing, music, spending time doing nothing with people I care about. 

First step in becoming happy is to choose to make your own happiness a priority in your life.  Happiness is not a feeling, but a state of being.
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> Q: You are also an author. Tell us about your works, past, present, future. What are you working on most right now?
> I wouldn't call myself an author since I do not follow the number one rule of every writer I've ever read, "Not a day without writing."  I am working on mostly a novel about a group of high school teens in a very atypical neighborhood based on my hometown.  It is a story about what real friendship is all about and an experiment in writing without editing.

I'm only editing grammar, spelling and consistency.  I'm letting the chapters and story flow in whatever shape it wants.  I have chapters that involve gaming, love, homelessness, education reform, evil PTA's and a founding of a town.  It is really fun and I'm writing it to prove to myself that a novel is something I can complete.  I'm actually really enjoying the process and the characters are so much fun to write. 

I'm at the point where I cannot just throw them around anymore.  I have to sometimes stop myself from making a character say something that would not come out of their mouth, or if it does I write the reactions from the others to reflect the strangeness of what they just said.  I'm having fun and that really is what writing is all about.
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> Q: Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?
My stories come from my reading, my life, and my imagination.  I've been making up stories and characters all my life.  My brother and I used to play "choose your own adventure" stories when I was younger.  He was the game master and their were no rules and most of the time I ended up getting squished by Grimlok the Transformer T-Rex.
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> Q: What one book do you wish you'd written, and why?
The one book that I wish I had written would most likely be "The Outsiders."  The book is timeless because it deals with the fundamental question of humanity "What am I worth?  Where do I belong?  What really matters?"  I must have read that book 30 times.
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> Q: Describe a favorite childhood memory.
> One day I was climbing a tree and I must have been 20 feet up easily.  My mother was upset because I hadn't cleaned my room before I went outside.  She was at the bottom of the tree yelling at me to come down right now.  "Right now?" I said.  "Now!" she said.  So I jumped out of the tree.

Q: Music you're listening to these days?
  Coheed and Cambria, Lapfox, Muse, Lady Gaga

 Q: Hobbies, secret talents, goals, dreams?
Hobbies: gaming, reading, cooking,drawing, dancing and singing. 
Secret talent?  I can understand where almost anyone is coming from.  I can see their intent even when I disagree with their actions. 

Goal: To live a life worth living. 

Dream:  To live a life day to day that is meaningful, fun and never looking forward, but being fully present at this very moment.