Kristen Chandler
Random Stuff about Me
Why I Became a Writer: I like cookies. When I was five years old there was a toddler that lived across the street that cried all the time. I remember the little girl’s mother sitting out on front porch, looking exhausted one morning. I walked over and asked her if her daughter would like me to tell her a story. I’m sure this young mom thought I was a strange but her daughter seemed to like my story enough to listen instead of cry. The mom said she would pay me with cookies if I came back the next day. I came back all summer. Stories and cookies. What could be better?
Why I write for people that are younger than I am: I like teenagers. There is something brutal and wonderful about not having a clue who you are.
Do I really fish and row? The first time my dad took me fishing I hooked him in the eyebrow. Several years later he took me again. These days I usually hook more fish than people, but I’m strictly catch and release, either way. I love to get into trouble on my kayak. It’s a great way to sneak up on birds and muskrats.
When I’m not writing, I love to read, run, fish, row, hike, ski, ride horses, and spy on wildlife. There isn’t actually a job that pays me to do these things, so I write about them, and do plenty of research. My kids and I have great Adventures (when we say it with a capital A it means that something went badly and made the trip more interesting). I also love teaching, which I’ve done since I got my MFA in Creative Writing a million and one years ago.
“Like what? You think I'm gay or something?”
“Wolves never worry about yesterday or tomorrow.”
“How long were you standing out there?""I don't know. Forty-three minutes.""You must be freezing. And a stalker.”
“I'm not really a stalker, but my school is so small it's hard not to notice a person's schedule if you have a compound crush and a guilt complex about them.”
“I wish I knew how to change my patterns--all of them. But it's like the blood in my finger. I screw up and there it is, just the stuff I'm made of, making a mess again.”
“I'm a pathetic random pattern. I'm a nonsequential but recurring loser. I'm fluid stupidity.”
“There's this new guy who is really great who I've thoroughly offended.""Teenage boys don't listen enough to be offended.”
“Wolves don't actually howl at the moon. Mostly they howl at each other. I'm a girl, so I get that.”
“Sometimes you have a fairy godmother, and sometimes you have to be your own”
“Sometimes you have a dairy godmother, and sometimes you have to be your own.”
“When I dream, I am surrounded by wings.”
“Simple pleasures. Makes life worthwhile.”
“Maybe doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is better than doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. At least it feels that way.”
“Maybe the future is like rowing for shore. Your only choice is to try or give up.”
“There should be a rule against people trying to be funny before the sun comes up.”
“There is something brutal and wonderful about not having a clue who you are.”
“We never know what we’re looking for until we aren’t there anymore.”
“Hey, knock it off," says Virgil"What?" I whispered"You kicked me.""Sorry”
“I would laugh at all my provincial inmates, but I’m too busy lusting. I’m not usually interested in a guy with “take a number” on his forehead, but this guy doesn’t have a forehead — it’s buried in messy blond hair. And he’s not one of the twenty guys I’ve known my entire pubescent life. he smiles like the Fourth of July. What’s a dumb girl to do but get in line with everyone else not in his league? I guess journalism just became my most beloved class.”
“I hate it when discovering something wonderful about someone else requires me discovering something pathetic about myself.”