Chinese Portrait

Posted by Faith on Nov 19, 2010 in Daily Musings | 0 comments

I was asked by my French publisher to do a Chinese portrait as part of the PR for the French release of Skinwalker. I was initially puzzled by the type of questions, but felt that my answers revealed so much about my inner mind and where I am in my life right now, that I thought I’d share with fans here.

Chinese portrait

If you were a quality?
I don’t know what quality I might be today, but I would aspire to be forgiveness. There can be no peace without forgiveness, no true love without forgiveness. No spiritual healing without forgiveness.

If you were a flaw?
I would be misplaced anger. While I’ve grown through it (for the most part) I was an angry child and an angry young woman, feeling that I had to fight injustice and stand up in the face of perceived evil, no matter the cost. And while I still will take a stand, I have learned to pause before giving in to my instant reactions, to think and evaluate before firing back with verbal warfare. And often I will find a better way, better words, better bridges between injustice and healing, between my anger and peace. But anger is still my flaw.

If you were a work of art?
I instantly think of far to many things that I would hope to be. First, an antique book, well kept, handmade, on rich paper, written by hand in ink made from berries and blood. And hopefully, the words within would bring joy to someone, somewhere. Second and third I would be carved stone and blown glass, one strong and nearly indestructible, the other fragile and brittle but wonderfully malleable when thrown into a flame. Fourth, there is nothing more lovely than a beautiful necklace, constructed out of disparate materials, each exquisite on its own, each enhanced by the others, to become a single piece, which is what I would my life to be. I am not beautiful, but life has shaped me as a gem cutter facets rubies, as a glassblower shapes and shades dull glass into vases, and made me so much more than I might have been.

If you were a sound?
Once, when I was very young, it might have been the sound of fire, crackling, consuming, destroying. Now, I would be the sound of rushing water, speeding through a crevice, over boulders and stones and downward, in a whitewater roar of purposeful joy.

If you were a song/music?
Whale song. Full of longing.

If you were a word?
I would be persistent. Of course, when I was growing up, I was told that persistence was the Devil’s finest quality, so perhaps that isn’t such a grand word to claim after all.

If you were a book?
Just one? Not fair at all. I would want to be a library of books. I used to ride my bicycle to the county library and lose myself in the stacks. And I read everything! Let me be a library, please!

If you were a motto/a quotation?
“To be, or not to be. That is the question.”

Each choice I make, each thought I allow and pursue, shapes me into the person I am to be.

If you were a movie?
A Long Kiss Goodnight, 1996, with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson. The character played by Genna was tough and capable, and yet, that wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She remade herself and became the person she really wanted to be. Of course, she was still pretty tough, but love gave her the strength she had lacked in her previous life. That movie resonated with me, and is one of the few I’d watch again. Or be.

If you were a time period?
I would be the history of man, hidden in the earth and written on stone. And I’d leave more evidence as to who humans are, and where such strange sentient beings came from. I love archaeology shows, especially ones that point to humans as being so much more than we have ever imagined. So if I were a time period, I’d leave me more clues. I want to know more!

If you were a personage of fiction?
Lestat.

If you were an animal?
This question takes me into my dreams. Many people dream of flight. I dream of being able to breathe underwater, of being able to swim deep and far, breathing in the water that cleanses and supports and provides me food. Yet, I would want to have access to the world of man. So, though I write of big-cats and dream of fish, I would be a whale, a dolphin, or a porpoise.

My husband and I took our 12 foot-long, flat-water kayaks out to the Atlantic, into an island sound last year, in the season when the porpoises were mating. Most of the time they stayed fifty or a hundred feet away. But one magical day, they swam with our boats.

If you were a mythological being or supernatural creature?
After all the water comments, I think my answer to this one sounds odd, but, I would be a fire mage. There is so much energy in fire and magic. Of course, I would want a great deal of control over my power!

If you were a Chinese portrait
This series questions, while seemingly simple and innocent, drew something deep out of me. Perhaps I gave too much. Or perhaps I didn’t delve quite as deeply as I might have into the cuts made by the questions. But I found them oddly inspirational, and peace-inducing. I do thank you for allowing me to share.

Faith 

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