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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

TOPIC: For the first time...

When I asked what you'd like to see more of on my blog, one of the suggestions made by a reader was getting to know more about me. So, a bit of a self-indulgent post today, but a fun one.

Here's a bunch of trivia-like "firsts" for Kylie Griffin...

FIRST FAVORITE TV SHOW...according to my mum it was Play School (a kids show with songs, stories and craft).

FIRST STORY I WROTE...was a rip off of Star Wars. I was a Jedi Knight and I managed to kill Darth Vader. My fifth grade teacher suggested I come up with my own characters instead of using ones we already knew (aka plagarising George Lucas' brilliance!!!). Guess we had to all start somewhere - LOL.

FIRST ROMANCE - I was in Year 6 at school, his name was Glen, he had blond curls, could draw great cartoon characters, and we caught the same bus home. We used to sit a seat behind or in front of each other (never together!), and just before I reached my stop (my stop came first), one of us would slip a love letter to the other between the wall and seat (so others couldn't see). Awwwwww!!!

FIRST DATE...was a disaster. I think I was in about Year 8 at high school (he was a year older). He asked me out on the weekend for a swim at the local pool. I hated the idea (because I had a pair of ratty, old swimmers) but said yes anyway and then spent the entire two hours wrapped in a towel sitting under a tree with him trying to convince me to go for a swim and I wouldn't because there was no way he was seeing those swimmers!

FIRST CRUSH/REAL PERSON (as a teen)...in high school I played a lot of sport and my favorite was basketball. Terry was tall, lanky and about 4 years older than me but I had the biggest case of admiring him (usually from afar). No one ever knew I liked him (until my sister read my diary one weekend while I was away at a sleepover) - he was my first secret crush.

FIRST CRUSH/CELEBRITY...it had to be Dirk Benedict, who played Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica. Didn't like the cigar smoking but loved the brash, cocky, card playing Viper pilot (sigh).







FIRST MUSIC ALBUM...I bought "Women of Rock" because it had my favorite song on it in 1982 - "I Love Rock 'n Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (no comments on how hold that makes me, OK?!?!) - the album came on tape and I bought it from music store at the aqua-jet Coffs Harbour mall complex.

FIRST LIVE CONCERT...a John Farnham concert at the Tamworth Showground under a huge tent pavillion. I grew up listening to him (thanks to my dad who was a fan) and to this day I've never come across a singer who brings back such powerful memories of my childhood as Johnny! We listened to him when going on holiday to Bribie Island (QLD), traveling to my grandparents who live in Berowra (near Wollongong), in the car when going out to dinner...

FIRST THRILL SEEKING MOMENT...I was 22 when I tandem sky-dived over Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown (New Zealand). I've always wanted to fly - like Peter Pan - and this was as close as I was going to get to doing this. After the jump I spent the next four days on a natural high. Doubt I'll ever do it again though.

FIRST CAR...was a brown Toyota Camry sedan (#plate LSU 505)!





FIRST ROMANCE BOOK...I was in college before I discovered the romance genre. Searching the SF/F section of the local second hand bookstore I came across FANTA C by Sandra Brown. Wasn't long before I was hooked - Sandra Brown, Iris Johansen, Joan Elliot Pickard, Cait London, BJ James, Rebecca York...

FIRST WRITING CONTEST...I entered the Romance Writers of Australia Emma Darcy Award in 2002 - and won it! I look back at that manuscript and just cringe now - I'm so glad I've improved since then.

FIRST TATTOO...Some people buy jewellery or a bottle of champagne for achieving a writing milestone, I decided to get a dragon etched onto my forearm. A tattoo was something I'd always wanted to get but only if I managed to snaffle that elusive book contract.

And that brings me to my...

FIRST BOOK SALE....VENGEANCE BORN, sold October 16th, 2010 to Leis Pederson of Berkley.

So, what's one of your firsts?

9 comments:

  1. Funny how most of your firsts just make you cringe when you look back on them! (:
    Hmm, let me see...
    First story I remember writing? I was about 8 and it was a project for school and my teacher told me it absolutely could not have horses in it (after numerous horse related stories, I presume), so it was about a deer, a fox and another animal, I can't quite remember now.

    First celebrity crush? Jonathan Taylor Thomas. That kid from Home Improvement. Okay, okay, the Lion King had just come out.

    First Romance I read? The Silver Rose by Jane Feather. I was browsing the YA section, looking for the latest saddle club and could find nothing to read. I read the blurb for this and the heroine runs her own horse stud. I was sold!

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  2. AWESOME blog post Kylie....I love it!!

    First concert I went to was in the late 80's..........dare I say it was to see Poison!!
    Yeah...I had a thing for Brett Michaels (eww eww eww)

    When I was 6 or 7 a really cute blond boy who I think was named Gregory used to call me over and say 'I know a secret...come here I'll whisper it to you' and then he'd kiss the side of my face!!

    First celeb crush was mid 80's and it was the kid in The Neverending Story that played Atreyu...I very quickly moved on to Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street!!!!!

    Ahhh........those were the days lol!!!!

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  3. Fab post, Kylie.
    First celeb crush - Donny Osmond!!! Oh, yeah....

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  4. Funny how we've all had crushes on TV stars at one time or another!

    Jonathan Taylor Thomas was cute, wasn't he, Bec?

    Cath, LOL on your story with Gregory, man he knew how to make the moves young, didn't he? Oh, how could I have forgotten Johnny Depp? And 21 Jump Street? Had the hugest crush on him as a teen. Sighhhhhh. Actually, come to think of it some of those feelings remain as an adult and when I see him in movies now. :-)

    Jo, Donny Osmond? Now that's taking a trip back down memory lane.

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  5. This is fun Kylie,

    Let's see: First concert would have been Dragon and lead singer was drunk.
    First kiss was from a boy called Mitchell when I was in year 5 and he was in year 6. He used to chase me around the playground and if he caught me he kissed me. I was a fast runner most of the time.
    First TV crush would have been Tarzan.

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  6. I haven't moved on from the Johnny Depp crush, I'm afraid :)

    I also had a thing for Dirk Benedict though. The first celebrity crush I remember was probably William Katt from The Greatest American Hero. Oh, and the boys from Bucks Fizz (Showing my age a bit there with both of those!)

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  7. What fun Kylie! Great to see your list of firsts.

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  8. I assume you mean the Johnny Weismuller (sp.) version, Anon?

    Hi, Kez, LOL on your trip down memory lane. I loved the soundtrack from GAH.

    Hi, Eleni, thanks for dropping in.

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  9. Awesome post, Kylie. I love your first car and your first romance story is sooo cute. But I have to ask, do you still get a little flutter when you look at photos of Dirk Benedict? Because my first celebrity crush was David Cassidy - and even today, the man still makes me swoon. I have two teenage daughters who think he's pretty gorgeous too ( I'm talking the young version here) and it's not uncommon for the three of us to get in the car, flip on the CD player and sing "I Think I Love You" at the top of our voices. My poor husband just groans.

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