Heroine Interview from Anna Meets Her Match

Interview with the heroine from Anna Meets Her Match by Arlene James:

1. Anna Miranda, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

Um, just Anna. Thanks. Anna Miranda was the brat. The kids used to chant it, you know. Anna Miranda Burdett, Anna Miranda the brat… But that’s not the point, is it? I guess the most interesting thing about me is that I draw stories without words, books without words, actually, for children. That way, it’s a new story every time. My grandmother doesn’t see it that way, of course, but it does take some imagination.

2. What do you do for fun?

You mean, do I still play pranks like that time I glued “Stick” Chatam’s car keys to his locker door? Nope, all that’s behind me now. These days I just draw. Mostly I concentrate on my books without words, but sometimes I just have to whip out a witty little cartoon. Of course, that backfires sometimes, especially if my boss finds them.

3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?

Talk to my grandmother. Not that she ever hears what I say. Tansy Burdett hears what she wants to hear when she wants to hear it.

4. What are you afraid of most in life?

Being controlled. I look back at my life, and sometimes I think it’s only been about one thing, getting out from under my grandmother’s thumb.

5. What do you want out of life?

I’m not sure I’ve even had a chance to think about that. I want to find a publisher for my children’s books, and I want a boss who doesn’t think I’m his cross to bear, and I want…all sorts of things I can’t have, frankly. You know, all those things that “normal” women get, a home, a husband, a child, room to breathe.

6. What is the most important thing to you?

My independence. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been self-supporting since I was eighteen years old. Maybe it hasn’t always been pretty, and my apartment is hardly big enough to turn around in, but it’s all mine. Sure, it’s a little lonely sometimes, but it’s worth it to live my own life my own way. Don’t you think?

7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?

Okay, this is a little tough for me to admit. I’m a sucker for happy endings, and the wilder the story is the better. I guess I just need to believe that anybody can get her heart’s desire in the end. I mean, if a blue alien can crash land on earth and find true love with a sumo wrestler, well, anyone can find true love. Right?

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Just once, I’d like to think things through before I open my big mouth. It’s either that or the world’s got to get a sense of humor, and I just don’t see it.

9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

Even if I could afford to feed a pet, I couldn’t squeeze it into my little closet of an apartment.

10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

That whole gluing-the-car-keys-to-the-locker thing, I guess I’d go back and undo that. Yeah, not my finest moment. I mean, Reeves Leland was an old stick-in-the-mud even back in high school, but he didn’t despise the sight of me until I did that. Not that I still care, mind you.