Picking a genre is like picking a single crayon

At my heart, I'm a non-conformist. Sure, I follow the rules -- but only long enough to get the rule-makers to give me my space. Then it's Watch Out! I color outside the lines. I mix and match my algebraic variables. I ask questions teachers don't want to answer.

Not that I'm a mischief-maker -- I'm not. I'm just... different. (This is probably why I have such a hard time pigeon-holing my work into a genre.)

In publishing, it's easier if your work fits tidily into a box. Mysteries are marketed to demographic A, and romance sells best among women. Horror goes another place entirely -- let's call it demographic C -- and the opposite for sci-fi and fantasy. Each type of work has its own little niche to fill.

Remember I said I color outside the lines? Same thing here.

Don't ask me to pick just one genre. I'm a fan of all of them.

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar in the Echelon Catalog

Hello, my name is Heather Ingemar, and I'm a Twitter-freak

I'm a Twitter addict.

Which is funny, because I never thought Twitter was something I'd get into -- after all, you've only got 140 characters, and why would people be interested in knowing what you're doing? All the time? Every waking minute of every day?

But I was curious.

So I signed up, and...

What's that saying about killing the cat??? ;)

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

Buy a story (or two or three): Heather Ingemar on Echelon Direct

The world's most romantic couple?

Romance is as romance does. Who's to say how romantic one is, unless you're one of the people inside the relationship?

Of course, as a writer, even though the characters are the one getting mushy with one another, I am in the middle of it all.

So here's a hint: the best romance is found in the sweet, little things of everyday affection.

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

My cat, the Prizefighter

I have a cat.

He's kind of a funny creature. For a cat, he's extraordinarily well-behaved (mostly). He comes when called (usually), growls when there's a stranger at the door (seriously!), sleeps outside my bedroom door (probably would sleep IN my bed if I let him), and gives lots of lovey greetings when I come home from work.

Sounds like an average cat, right?

Except, I suspect Bear (my cat) was an Irish Prizefighter in a past life.


You see, he loves to box. Many times I have come home to see my husband playing bloody knuckles with him, and you can't wave anything -- umbrellas or walking sticks or curtain tassels -- around without expecting a fight. He'll box with my purse if I hang it from the chair, he'll attack the plastic bags from the grocery if they so much as look at him funny.

Yet, for all his wild athletics, he maintains the quiet dignity of a gentleman from the 1900s (including an awesome mustache!). Who, me? I'm stretching before taking on the side of the couch! It insulted you, dear lady, behind your back!

My husband's cat, on the other hand, was a certain, fearless Civil War general (Stonewall Jackson) and a Sous-chef in his previous lives. (He has to inspect everything we put on our plates.)

It's never dull around here, to say the least.

~*~

Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar

My favorite winter sport memory

I remember the day I saw the old sled.

The summer ground lay dry as a bone, and lazy dust-motes spun in the hot, slow air. The storage shed smelled of old paper, and it sat propped in the corner by the door. The sled was ancient; all parts worn smooth to the touch and no paint to be found, save a tired red still clinging to the metal supports.

Below my grandparents' house stretched The Hill, wide and steep with a flat run at the bottom. When the heavy snows came, and the school-closing snow days piled up, I was ready.

Wrestling the sled from its forgotten corner proved to be a job, and when I finally got it out, I was surprised at its length and heft. The sled was no piece of cheap construction: it was wood and steel, sturdy. I had to drag it, with the help of a discarded twine string I found in the barn lot.

The slick runners barely made an indentation in the snow behind me as I trudged across the yard and crawled under the fence.

My first rush down... bliss. The pure joy of nippy cheeks and whistling wind, of the ground-blur and the lurch of sharp corners.

That year, the snow brought possibilities, and a wild sort of freedom, not exile.

What's your favorite memory of a winter sport?

~*~
Heather S. Ingemar has loved to play with words since she was little, and it wasn’t long until she started writing her own stories. Termed “a little odd” by her peers, she took great delight in exploring tales with a gothic flair, and to this day, Edgar Allan Poe continues to be her literary hero. To learn more, please visit: http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/heatheringemar