Full Name:
C.V. Hunt (a.k.a Carrie Virginia Nicely)
Do you have a nickname or what do your friends call you?
The only nickname that ever stuck was Scary Carrie, but people rarely call me that any more.
That’s actually kind of cool. I mean, I guess it depends on when people were calling you that. If you were a little Wednesday Addams it might have been annoying, but if you picked it up after you made the turn into adolescence there are far worse nicknames that could have been hung on you. That being said, I have to ask, are you really scary?
I picked up the nickname as an adult. I worked right beside another girl named Carrie. There was a blot of confusion when someone would call the name. One coworker dubbed me Scary Carrie because, at the time, I wore horror movie T-shirts every day. I’m into horror, but I don’t think I’m really that scary.
Birthplace:
Low Moor, Virginia
Current hometown:
Yellow Springs, Ohio
Favorite city and why?
Seattle. I can’t really pick any one reason why I love it. I went there on vacation a few years back and fell in love with it.
Birthday / Age:
Yikes! I’m 34. My birthday is July 10, 1979.
Have you reached the point in your life when you stop keeping track of your age and have to do the math when people ask you?
Yes. When someone asks me I have to think about it and a lot of times I round up. Currently if anyone asks my age I tell them I’ll be 35 in July.
How would you describe yourself physically?
Ugh.
How would someone else describe you physically?
Usually they say, “You know... the girl with all the tattoos.”
The first thing people notice about you is…
I might have answered this with the previous question. But sometimes it’s the septum piercing.
You do wear a pretty heavy gauge ring for your nose-knocker. Ever had to take it out or tuck it in for professional purposes?
Yes. I actually take it out daily for my job. I work in an office. But for anything else I usually just leave it in.
Religion, if any?
None.
Are you superstitious at all? Any phobias?
I’m not too superstitious in the traditional sense. I don’t like to talk about any book I’m currently in the process of writing. I don’t know why, but I get an overwhelming feeling the project is will fall apart if I do.
That’s actually not that uncommon. My room-mate is the same way. He hates talking about anything he’s working on until it’s almost finished. I think that stems from not wanting to jinx yourself into failing at what you’re trying to accomplish. I’m kind of the opposite way. I like to say what I’m planning on doing because then I have to walk the line I talk.
As for phobias? I’m terrified of maggots. It’s not very often I actually see them, but when I do I freak out. They make my skin crawl and I can’t stop thinking about what they represent. They eat feces and death. It’s just gross.
Do you smoke / drink? If so, what? Any bad habits?
Yes. Both. I actually quit smoking for seven years and started up again a little over a year ago. I’m kicking myself for it now, but I was going through a divorce and relocating and trying to find a job. Things were stressful. I plan on quitting again sometime soon.
I’ve been known to have a couple drinks on the weekends and at conventions. I usually drink beer in the summer and Kracken rum mixed with diet Mt. Dew in the winter.
Why Diet Mountain Dew? Does it taste better or, you know, diet?
I have a crazy sweet tooth. For whatever odd reason, my taste buds think Diet Mountain Dew is the sweetest soda. If I’m at a bar I will ask for Coke because I’m sure it’s ingrained into the bartenders DNA to mix rum with Coke. Also, I usually just ask for Captain Morgan because most bars don’t carry Kracken.
Current occupation / Dream job:
I work as a data entry clerk. There might be about two hours out of every day that there isn’t a computer in front of me.
I’m not really sure what my dream job would be. I’ve always wanted to work with animals... as long as it’s not maggots.
I don’t think maggots are animals. You should be all set.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I like to listen to all types of music for the most part. I read. On the weekends I usually watch a movie or two. When the weather is nice I like to walk around town. There’s some hiking and biking trails running through my town. I get a lot of my writing ideas in the middle of wooded areas with no one else around.
What is your zombie outbreak survival plan?
Well, if I had a basement I would probably barricade myself in there. That’s probably a bad idea though. I think Night of the Living Dead taught us that. I’d probably get in my car and keep driving as long as I could.
Weapon of choice:
Machete.
Do you have any special skills?
I’m ordained to solemnize marriages. I don’t know if that’s a special skill. Ha ha.
Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
No. I wish I would have.
College really only provides someone with the opportunity to educate themselves. You didn’t miss out on much aside from a ton of debt that ruins your credit for the rest of your life, a lot of recreational drug use and promiscuous sex.
It sounds like I can get the college experience by taking a trip to Vegas. Ha ha.
Any pets? If so, what are they and what are their names?
I have a California King snake named Skully. I had a Pueblan Milk snake named Hannibal, but escaped from his terrarium about four months ago. I’m still waiting for him to reappear.
What is your favorite animal?
This is a hard one. I think I like insects in general. It’s because female insects are the larger and more colorful gender. With mammals and birds it’s always the male who’s colorful and the female is drab.
Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
I hate rude people.
Favorite / Least favorite Food:
I have to admit I’m one of those foodie people. I like to try new stuff all the time. I love potatoes and bread. I haven’t found a type of bread I didn’t like. I frequent Sushi, Indian, and Mexican restaurants. I can’t think of any certain foods that I hate, but I did just recently eat some olives stuffed with garlic from the local deli and thought I was going to vomit.
What is your favorite quotation / motto / saying?
“The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.” – Ernest Dimnet
What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
Meeting my boyfriend. He’s the first person who’s been 100% supportive of my writing.
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
I witnessed a fatal car accident and tried to help the person inside. It was traumatizing. I had a period of PTSD after.
I’m not trying to re-open the wound, but what was the PTSD like?
It was a weird time for me. I was so wrapped up in what happened and what I learned about the person. The guy was 19 and he left behind a pregnant fiancé. Luckily she wasn’t in the car. I just kept thinking about how even if you have your whole life planned out it can all be snatched away in a heartbeat. My thought processes were so screwed. I kept thinking everything was out of control. That’s the best way I can put it. Everything is out of control and there is nothing you can do to stop it. I became very paranoid, anxious, and extremely hyper vigilant. I kept thinking something was going to happen to me at any second and I was going to die. And I kept seeing the accident over and over. I realized how precious life is then. I don’t think people stop to think about that very often. I also grew a new respect for our soldiers who suffer through PTSD. I can imagine what they deal with is a thousand times worse than what I went through.
What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
Proposed to both of my ex-husbands. Ha ha.
Well at least you got what you wanted at the time, so there is that.
What do you do?
I have a day job and I write at night. I don’t like to technical call myself a writer. I prefer to think of myself as a storyteller.
How did you get started doing what you do?
I sort of had an early midlife crisis. When I was twenty-nine I started thinking about how I was almost thirty and I hadn’t done anything with my life. Somehow that snowballed into me thinking I should write a book.
What is your advice to other people that want to get started doing what you do?
Write whatever you want to write. Don’t worry about what your family and friends will think of it. And keep writing. Don’t give up.
What are some of the projects you’ve worked on/finished in the past?
Give us a little history if you will.
I wrote a paranormal trilogy and published it independently: Endlessly, Legacy, and Phantom. I have three books published with Grindhouse Press: How To Kill Yourself, Zombieville, and Other People’s Shit. And Thanks For Ruining My Life was published by Atlatl Press. I have a short story, “Last Woman On Earth”, available in digital formats. One of my short stories is in the Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories anthology published by Rocking Horse Publishing and some of my poetry made in into Love Notes by Vagabondage Press. And I recently independently published a novelette titled Baby Hater.
If you could tell someone to pick up one thing to get a taste for your work, which of the preceding would it be?
I would probably suggest Thanks For Ruining My Life. It’s a good mix of the different types of stories I write.
http://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Ruining-My-Life-Hunt/dp/0988348462/
That would jinx it!
I’m currently writing a book and working on a collection of short stories and flash fiction.
What are you watching?
Currently, nothing. I just finished the third season of American Horror Story.
What are you listening to?
I’ve really been into the bands Gesaffelstein and Little People lately.
What are you reading?
Dickinstein: Emily Dickinson - Mad Scientist by Shannon Yarbrough
That sounds amazing! I’ll have to check that out!
Favorite author / book?
It’s hard for me to narrow it down to one author. I like Bret Easton Ellis, Dennis Cooper and David Sedaris. My favorite book is always changing. It’s difficult to pick one. Right now I’d say Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. But sometimes it’s American Psycho or Succumbing to Gravity by Richard Farnsworth or Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
I loved Lunar Park. I like Bret Easton Ellis in general, but I read Lunar Park at a really important point in my life and it meant a lot more to me because I thought that I wouldn’t have time to read many more books. I did a HUGE write-up of Lunar Park and Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted.
http://destroyallauthors.blogspot.com/2013/09/book-review-haunted-by-chuck-palahniuk.html
Favorite band / song?
“You Know You’re Right” by Nirvana
If you could do anything other than what you do now, what would you do?
I don’t know. I’d like to do something that involved traveling the world.
Who would you want to meet that you haven’t met?
You get three choices: Alive. Dead. Fictional.
Alive – Will Oldham.
Dead – Jim Morrison.
Fictional – Tyler Durden.
What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
The best job I had was working as stock room attendant for the engineering department at a food manufacturing place. I liked the people I worked with, but hated the extra paperwork and meetings I was required to attend. I had plenty of time to sneak some reading in while doing that job. The worst job I ever had was being a waitress. People are rude and stubborn and you still had to serve them with a smile and be polite.
Thanks for letting me subject you to being interviewed!
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of them.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verlorenfagan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CVHunt
Website: https://www.authorcvhunt.com
Etc.: https://www.goodreads.com/cvhunt
About the Interviewee:
C.V. Hunt is the author of How To Kill Yourself, Zombieville, Thanks For Ruining My Life, Other People’s Shit, and other unpopular books. She recently published a digital novelette titled Baby Hater. She lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
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