Part of the fun of The Great Interview Experiment is that you never know who you will end up with on either side. I lucked out completely in both departments. The person who interviewed me is fantastic, someone I look forward to knowing. The person I was chosen to interview is beautiful, talented, funny and simply the most inspiring blogger I’ve read to date.

I didn’t previously know Flutter, and this is a true shame.  Hers is a blog that makes me want to pay attention to the blogging community from which I so often retreat; there’s a beauty and wisdom in watching her work her way through life, reflecting on the past, uncertain about the future, questioning her place in world.

I have read her entire site. This is a woman with many truths, many stories to tell. I hope that my questions have done her justice - I simply cannot imagine that you would not want to know all about her. Here is my Great Interview Experiment with Christine of Flutter. Enjoy.

1. What are your writing goals? What are your criteria for setting them? How are you working to achieve them?

OHHHH fine. Start with the mother or all nerve wracking questions! I see!

To answer this adequately, I feel like I need to take a few steps back and explain myself. I won my first essay contest in the 4th grade and won a $50 gift certificate to a local mall. I immediately blew it on the world's ugliest Hawaiian shirt. This taught me two things about myself. A) I love to write and B) I have incredibly poor impulse control. A fucking Hawaiian shirt. Jesus. While wearing my horrendous shirt with bright pink and blue pikake flowers on it, I would write little poems and stories and journal entries. It has been a compulsion ever since. I knew from that time, that I wanted to make my living as a writer.

That is the goal. To make my living, sitting on my ass and painting landscapes with words. I don't know about my criteria for accomplishing that end, because my brain goes nuclear and all is lost. No one wants to risk my attempting to think logically. I will say that I do write a little everyday on the book I am attempting. I will also say that I have recently decided to go from BlogHer Ads to private ads on my blog to create more revenue.


2. Pick 2 bands/songs each  from 3 different decades that describe your musical tastes the best (six bands/songs total). (Bless her - she included song links!)

This is so wrong on so many levels. I truly would love to choose all 6 from the 80's. But here goes:

80's
Peter Gabriel- In Your Eyes
Seriously. Just. Yeah. Seriously.

Depeche Mode- Enjoy the Silence
Dave Gahan still makes me all twitterpated. That man's voice is ridiculous.

50's

Ella Fitzgerald- Sentimental Mood
Ella was class, elegance and defined the jazz movements of the late 40's and forward. There is no discussion of Jazz that doesn't include Ella.

Antonio Carlos Jobim (though this version is done by Oscar Peterson in the 60's) Girl from Ipanema
Jobim was the mastermind of the Portuguese Bossa Nova craze that blazed through the world in the late 50's and 60's. He was absolutely instrumental (pardon the pun) in introducing Bossa Nova to mainstream jazz. His body of work is ridiculously fabulous.

Year 2k and beyond...

You Won't Be Mine- Matchbox Twenty
Rob Thomas is brilliant. His songwriting is phenomenal and heartfelt and his orchestral pieces are lush. He layers sounds like no other musician with a really delicate, deft hand. He respects instruments, their vitality and their soul. (I used to be a singer, can you tell?)

Bjork- Pagan Poetry
Bjork is a big, looney weirdo and I LOVE HER. truly. She is brilliant and wrong and whackadoo and in her own, special feathery-swan-dress world. But listen to the way this song is constructed. How the chords wrap around each other. She can sometimes sing like an angel and sometimes not at all....but I always love her.
 
3. Would you continue to tell your stories if you had to stop blogging forever, right this minute?

Yes, I think I would. I have always been a storyteller. My nature is to be a bit of a fable weaver. I love the texture of storytelling and how it is so subjective. I love that it is so utterly personal not only to the author but to the reader.

4. Describe the most whimsical day you’ve ever had. Be as detailed or vague as you’d like.

I sat in a rose garden, reading a letter he wrote to me. His handwriting was tiny and tight, the day was blustery. Poppy leaves were blowing all over my lap and one carried away the top page of this letter and I imagined that those tight, tiny words were finally finding a way to dance.

 
5. Fuck, Fight, Marry: Ray Liotta, Raymond Burr, Ray Romano. 

Fuck: I would fuck the SHIT out of Ray Liotta. I considered Raymond Burr, because that whole Ironside thing is slightly kinky. rrroowwrrr. but, no. So Fuck: Ray Liotta, Marry: Raymond Burr, he seems nice enough and Kill: Ray Romano. That dude bugs the crap out of me.

6. Your blog is a poem, written for your 17-year old self. Write a letter to your 16-year old self.

Dear Christine,

Next year your life will change. Remember that it is your life that has changed, not your soul. Fight against your darkness, embrace your light. Go to that acting school you were accepted into. Sing your songs, have your crushes. Forget that your boyfriend was gay....and by the way, when a guy does your hair for your date? Probably batting for the same team you are. That right there is a lesson for life.

Always tell mom the truth, she is your best friend. Ignore gossip. Write.

When you are 25 you will meet the love of your life. Don't take your 17th year out on him. Love yourself, I do.

-Christine
 
7. What is your favorite dialect/accent and why?

 It is truly a toss up between a Brit accent and a Scottish accent. Either one could have me undie-free inside of a minute.Something about a Brit accent is so refined and so intelligent, it is automatically sexy in a very cerebral way. Scottish accents. Holy hell. A Scot accent is manly. In charge. No nonsense. I am getting shivers just thinking about it.

8. You have unlimited funds and 15 minutes in your favorite yarn shop - what do you buy, and what would you make?

I buy out every single Tilli Thomas yarn and Debbie Bliss yarn known to man, then proceed to make a million sparkly, laceweight things to wear here in Phoenix. God, I love yarn.
 
9. Who are the five people that influence/have influenced you the most and why?

My Grandfather.
My Mother.
My Sister.
My first love, Vincent
My fiance

My Grandfather was the single best role model for me, of what a man should be. He was brilliant and funny and a Godly man. I admire his faith, even though I don't have it. He was an impassioned orator, a doting husband and a near perfect father.

My mother is a selfless woman. She is hysterical and sassy and beautiful and if I had been able to choose who my mother would be, I would have chosen her.

My sister....I hold her near to me in a way I cannot express.

Vincent and my fiance are....I can't separate the two of them in my heart. They have impacted the way I love, my ability to love, and the colors I use when I paint my world. I have been beyond blessed to have two men in my life who loved me like these two.

10. Name the greatest gift you could give to another person, and the greatest gift you could receive.

The greatest gift you can give and receive is faith. Faith in ability, in love, in the soul.

Thank you, Christine.