Amy Reed Revealed
About Amy Reed
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What is your birthdate?:9/15
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Previous occupations:gas station cashier, summer camp counselor, telephone fundraiser (aka phone solicitor), waitress, barista, personal assistant, publisher's assistant, administrative assistant, editorial assistant (any other kind of assistant I can throw in?)
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Favorite job:Does writing count?
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High school and/or college:Roosevelt High School (Seattle), Garfield High School (Seattle), Seattle Central Community College, Reed College (Portland, OR), Academy of Art University (San Francisco), New College of California (San Francisco)
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Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:I was obsessed with the late, great Elliot Smith for most of my late teens and early 20's
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Favorite movie:Most people think I'm crazy, but I think Todd Solondz's "Happiness" is truly brilliant. And disturbing. But mostly brilliant. I tend to like movies that show people at their most grotesque and, in my opinion, interesting.
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Favorite television show:It's a tie between the Daily Show and the Colbert Report
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. A sunny day in a grassy field surrounded by forest. A warm, crystal-clear lake with a sandy beach. Birds chirping. Bambi. My husband and closest friends playing guitars and singing. No technology or concrete within 10 miles. And no bugs.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. being alone
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. Playa Escondia, a beach slighty south of a town called Mulege in Baja Sur, Mexico. Or Koh Tao, Thailand. Or the San Juan Islands in Washington.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Is it totally unoriginal to say Barack Obama?
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. "Juxtaposition." If I had a dollar for every time someone says that in film school or writing workshops...
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. middle school
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. the ability to exercise regularly
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Learning and growing from negative experiences rather than lettting them consume me
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. the tendancy to hide when I am scared
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. I am a very loyal friend.
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. My dog Peanut. She is the most spoiled creature in the world.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment)
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. closed-mindedness
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. cooking, gardening, sleeping
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. farmer
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. integrity, kindness, loyalty
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. fresh bread
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Toni Morrison, Mary Gaitskill, Michael Cunningham, Dorothy Allison, Marilyn Robinson, Richard Russo, Anne Sexton, Pablo Neruda, Laurie Halse Anderson, Julie Anne Peters
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. Only five?! How about eleven? The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; Push by Sapphire; Anne Sexton's Complete Poems; The Road by Cormac McCarthy; Notes from Underground by Dostoyevsky; Kiss of the Spiderwoman by Manuel Puig; Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey; Luna by Julie Anne Peters; Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson; The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (This list can change drastically depending on my mood)
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Anne Sexton's Complete Poems. I have no idea how many times I've read through this book. It's been at least once yearly since the age of 13.
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. No matter what, tell the truth.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. They all think I'm extremely depressed, which is actually kind of funny because it couldn't be farther from the truth (now). But it was definitely the case for much of my life.
