Stuff
Jane Bryant Quinn Revealed
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Working hard, playing hard (and needing more sleep!)
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Get it right. I'm always hyper-aware that I'm helping readers make choices about their money--I spend my time checking and rechecking, to be sure that what I'm saying is right.
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. It's a weekend morning. I wake up late. My husband brings me cocoa. We read the papers in bed. I may nap again. We have lunch, take a walk in Central Park and go to the museum. We meet friends, or our New York-based kids, for dinner and a movie. We go to bed early. Bliss.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. Professionally, making a mistake in something I write. When I do make an error I correct it right away and then crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. In New York City, where I live. It's a wonderful town.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a brilliant writer and suffragette.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Right now, it's Obama--hoping he can lead us out of this mess. But that may change... I have lots of heros and heroines
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. Got it. Cheers. You go. Anything staccato and short.
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Not much, I've been pretty lucky. But there have been too many times when I chose work over play.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. Playing classical guitar.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. I'm messy, disorganized, overbooked.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. (My husband filled in this one) "She's NICE"
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. I'd like to be a green parrot for a while, in the Amazon. They're smart birds and I'd like to fly. But not forever.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. I like to talk politics and public-policy stuff, sometimes noisily.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Brenda Starr--remember her? A reporter in a comic strip with tons of red hair, starry eyelashes, and a boyfriend with an eyepatch. She was my childhood role model.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. None. I hate 'em all.
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Thrilled to meet you, Mr. Shakespeare, I'm a fan. Could you get me two tickets to Love's Labor's Lost tomorrow night?
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. People who don't do what they say they will
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Reading in my hammock on a summer day.
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. A diva--singing Violetta at the Metropolitan Opera. Or conducting it--that would work, too.
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Honesty, kindness, smarts
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. My husband's spaghetti and coffee ice cream (but not together!)
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. They're various arias from operas--I'm an opera nut.
