What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
Over the years, the questions that made me uncomfortable have changed. I guess that corresponds to my level of maturity and leads me to where we are now.
First, speaking generally of questions, I always like to come back to the Bernard Pivot questions used by James Lipton on Inside the Actor’s Studio. One of those questions is, “What turns you off?” My answer can be found in the title of my short story collection, Buttcracks and Willful Ignorance (ebook available on Smashwords). Those are my two major turn-offs.
As for questions that have turned me off over the years: for a long time I bristled at any questions that involved my father. I was raised by a single mother and her sister and, while I wondered about my father, I never knew anything about him until I was 13 and we had to do one of those horrid family tree assignments. I learned that I was a “bastard” and “illegitimate,” as the thinking went in those days. It took me awhile to come to grips with that and be able to talk about it freely.
Less emotional but still annoying were questions related to my dissertation. That was a long writing process, filled with speed bumps and potholes. (Maybe that should be the title for a second short story collection.) I often found it hard to be motivated when my advisor responded with negativity every time I submitted something. Eventually I replaced him and made rapid progress after that. In the meantime I didn’t want to be reminded that I wasn’t moving forward in that area.
As for now, what questions bother me? None really. I’ve reached that point on my life where perspective suggests that nothing is really that important. Any question that would bother me is my problem, not the person asking. Since I’m very comfortable with who I am (though I will be starting a new medication soon, and I’m not thrilled with that), I feel that I can—at last—be an open book.
MUSOFYR 