Welcome to the 2nd year of [BTW], and welcome to the nearly 100 of you who joined our merry band in the last few days! I thought this would be a good time to tell you a little about myself and what to expect from the coming year.
First of all my last name is pronounced Trub-ee. As in:
“Trube or not Trube” or “Too good Trube true”
There are many things you can rhyme it with such as a talking dog, or a part of the female anatomy.
You may occasionally see me mention “The Little Red Haired Girl” (and from time to time she even stops by). This is how my wife has come to be commonly known on the blog, and is also an allusion to my favorite comic strip, Peanuts. I also have a beagle named Simon and a cat named Dax (Jadzia not Ezri!).
As you may have guessed from my cat, or the post many of you read for the first time, I am a Star Trek fan. Don’t worry you won’t be subjected to fan fiction! I do, however, hold the “controversial” opinion that DS9 is better than TNG. If some of you need to leave now I understand.
I am a writer of fiction and non-fiction, working mostly in mystery and science fiction. I’m more of a “futuristic” science-fiction writer rather than writing about big galaxies and empires. I’m not a giant fan of the “crime procedural”, and am more a fan of the noir\puzzle style of mystery. The 40 minute stories on this blog, however, can be just about anything.
I am working furiously to finish a non-fiction book on fractals to be released digitally sometime, somewhere this quarter. For those of you who’ve never seen one, this is a fractal:
My Blog Banner is also a Fractal. Cool, huh?
In the past year I’ve become part of a great community of fellow bloggers who are always there with an interesting idea, comment, or even just a faithful “like”. I owe a large part of my continued existence here on the web to Brian, Ginger, Chuck, Jo, Mel, Paula, Dad, and of course “The Little Red Haired Girl” as well as the 109 of you who joined throughout the year. Thank you all so very much!
This year I’d like to do more 40 minute stories (maybe 20), try some new writing experiments (like the social writing project from last year), and continue to provide coverage of writing advice\thoughts, technology or just about anything that strikes me. I’m also hoping to have a few surprises for you in the coming months, but details will have to wait.
Lastly, since many of you came here from a character development post, and since there are so many chain questionnaires going around the blogosphere, I thought I’d start one of my own. Introducing:
The Coffee Quiz!
1) How many cups of coffee per day? 5-6
2) What is your favorite caffeine delivery system? Goes between coffee and diet soda, interchangeably or both at the same time.
3) What was your best cup of coffee? Easily almost anything Crimson Cup brews.
4) What was your worst cup of coffee? Instant, Coke Black (Coffee flavored coke) and Blueberry Flavored Coffee.
5) What does your favorite mug say? The one at work says nothing, but can hold a full 4 cups. As for home I’m partial to my Ohio State Fight Song mug.
6) How do you take your coffee? Black.
7) When was your first cup? When I was 12 years old, on a cold campout in February and someone had forgotten the hot chocholate.
8) Have you ever gone on a coffee date? Yes, but I misinterpreted “get coffee” as “brew coffee” and instead served her home brewed black to someone who took Mocha’s mostly. Thankfully she still married me.
Alright, Brian, Jo, Mel and Paula … What are your answers? Anyone else can feel free to answer too.
What does this have to do with character development you ask? Well, I just came up with eight questions about coffee. Does your character drink it? What other habits, experiences, preferences does your character have? What do these tell you about who they are as a person?
See you tomorrow and Happy New Year!
PS: I’m getting back to everyone on comments as quickly as possible. Thank you all for your likes, comments, follows and congratulations.
[BTW] : Ben Trube, Writer 
I am only going to answer one of these. (The other answers would be boring.)
7) When was your first cup? 1997 – I was 40 and spending 6 months in the UK. I am a major diet-Coke fan, but Cokes were expensive in England, the coffee was free. I learned to like coffee, and have been a fan of the simple brews ever since.
That is interesting. You and I probably started drinking coffee around the same time 🙂 BTW if you’re curious, today’s title was stolen from your typical phone greeting 🙂
Coffee flavored Coke – gross! Can’t they leave well enough alone?
And I love your “coffee date” story – I’m sure she was flattered that you actually made coffee for her. That’s so sweet! 😉
Thanks for the tag – I’ll get to it later this week. Happy New Year, Ben!
Looking forward to it 🙂
I too am a Star Trek fan. Sadly, I would probably loose at a Star Trek Trivia game….but I can say “where is the bathroom?” and “beam me up!” in Klingon. LOL! 🙂 oh, its good to meet you.
Have a great and healthy BTW year! Thanks for sharing.
And you as well.
You are welcome. http://www.segmation.wordpress.com
I must be the red head girl you refer to :D!
And, I dont drink caffine (well only in tea.)
Nope, that’d be my wife, though I’m probably not the only one to use that particular term of endearment. Good for you on the caffeine, I’ve tried cutting back but it doesn’t seem to work for long.
Nice introduction! Well I have 2 cups of coffee and 2 cups of ginger tea. The worst ever is cherry coke :). I am a fan of ginger tea over coffee but usually coffee if outside!
I can’t say I’ve tried ginger tea. I’ll have to sometime.
Reblogged this on Yeah, It's a Blog! 😉 and commented:
Nice introduction! Well I have 2 cups of coffee and 2 cups of ginger tea. The worst ever is cherry coke . I am a fan of ginger tea over coffee but usually coffee if outside!
Thanks for the reblog!
I drink 2 cups of coffee per day, and that’s an absolute limit, or I can’t sleep at night. I do occasionally have tea and chocolate as alternative caffeine delivery systems. Best cup of coffee – tie between Seattle and Rome. Worst cup of coffee was in the student lounge in the basement of one of the dorms in college. It tasted like burnt cardboard – and was so bad it still holds the record after 15 years of steady caffeination. I prefer hand thrown pottery mugs that don’t speak, but at work I alternate between a TARDIS (it holds a lot – because you know, bigger on the inside – but I hate drinking out of the square rim) and a mug that says DISAPPOINTED (look it up on youtube). I drink it black 99% of the time. I do like a good latte, but I’m allergic to dairy and soy, so rice milk lattes are hard to come by and a special treat. My first cup was when I was 15 and it was the only free thing with caffeine at the restaurant where I worked. I started off making it heavily creamed and sugared, until my grandma caught me and called me a wimp. I have had it black ever since. I’ve never been on a coffee date as a first date, but I’ve been known to make dinner last longer by suggesting a great coffee shop….
As a character building exercise, this is really interesting. I’ve introduced my grandmother to my profile, and I’ve got my food allergies in there. It provides a basic idea of my age, and that I’ve traveled at least a tad. You know I’m a geek from the mug conversation, as well as my first job as a waitress. Okay, I’m off to quiz my characters now…..
That is quite a bit of information. Do you think your characters will have different answers? Square coffee cups are a little strange 🙂
I was so excited about the TARDIS mug until I had to learn how to drink from it. It’s still quite tricky.
My characters for sure have different answers. Especially since there is no coffee in one of my worlds. Not sure about the other…. I’m guessing perhaps it does exist there.
No coffee! 😦 *Makes pacman dying sound*. What sort of insane world is that 🙂 ?
Dystopian post-apocalypse. Lack of coffee adds to the post-apocalyptic vibe, don’t you think? 😉
Pingback: Get the Kettle On « Paula Acton
Pingback: Character development « A.K. Anderson | Science Fiction and Fantasy Author
Pingback: Drink Up! | Breezy Books
Pingback: Milk and sugar? « Talk About Cheesecake
Pingback: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee « Elisa's Miscellaneous Musings
Pingback: To Tea or To Coffee – That is the Question | anelephantcant
Pingback: Milk and sugar?