Welcome to Tracey's Q & A Page.

I'm usually the question asker, but here I'm the askee.  
(Tip: try these questions on your friends.) Ready, set, go:

What’s your passion? What lights your lights?
I love surfing when the waves are up, but not too up. Twelve footers are several feet over my comfort zone, but I paddle out anyway. That’s me on 5/5/05. And you know what made this day extraordinary?

It’s NOT that I was relearning to board surf after a 40-year hiatus. Not that I didn’t wipe out all day. Not that a nearby boat contained a professional surf photographer who agreed (after I groveled and begged), to photograph me. It’s that I remembered the guy’s phone number for 2 hours while I surfed. When you’ve fried your brain cells with hot flashes, that’s success big-time. When my can-do spirit is flagging, it helps to look at the picture, which anchors me to a day of many miracles.

The second thing I love is connecting people.

How do you do that?
I invite friends to dinner and toss out some good conversation questions. My favorite is “Have you had any close encounters of the celebrity kind?” That one took a dinner party with 10 guests from salad through dessert. We all discovered that our good friend Patsy is Peggy Lee's cousin. That news gave us fever! (OK, bad pun.)

Why do you write question books?
It started years ago when another relationship tanked. I thought, “I gotta have more information so I can make better choices. What questions do I need to ask?” Then came the title Do You Squeeze the Toothpaste in the Middle? which seemed symbolic of the little relationship things that can drive you batty. Then came a lo-o-ong diversion. I figure I'm going on Oprah, not because I write playful books of good conversation questions, but because I had a dream and stuck with it for 25 years.

I love questions for several reasons. At first I hid behind them. Being shy, I used them to redirect attention from myself to somebody else. That worked really well, and I learned a lot about other people.

Second, small talk bores me. I love getting to know people, really know them. Some people are like maple trees: rough and barky on the outside, and brimming with sweet sap inside. (Well, maybe "sap" isn't the best word.) Questions are my sap tappers. They get me to the sweet stuff. One of my favorite quotes is from Keith Ferrazzi, who wrote Never Eat Alone:

       “The best way to become good at small talk is not to talk small at all.”

I met a woman at a party recently. Our conversation started with the Maui Writers Conference and quickly transcended small talk. It ranged from Emerson’s essay on poetry to paddling outrigger canoes to the death of aging parents. Although we talked only 30 minutes, Sophie Ann will live forever in my heart. Forever. As my friend Pam Chambers would say, “The angels were there.” Maybe you've been lucky enough to have at least one conversation like that.

More books are coming?
Several, including these:

1. Would You Eat a Turkey that Fell on the Floor? Playful Questions for Friends and Family.

2. Do You Pee in the Pool? a follow-up to the first book. 

In case you're wondering, the answers are yes and no. Yes to the turkey, and no to the pool. Somebody invented a chemical that turns pool water red when somebody pees in it. I can do without adding that to my list of embarrassments.

Oh? What's your most embarrassing moment?
Read closely because I'm only gonna write this once, real fast: Sweet sixteen flor fuffle London theater. High heels yowie flakahay went unkelfump kaprooty. When pow yower row toe, flat on my face. Ow-eee!

Actually, that's not my most embarrassing moment, which involved a first kiss and a tilted coffee table. You'd have to buy all the vowels in the universe to get the rest of that one, my friend.

What reckless things have you done on purpose?

• Netting a water moccasin when I was 10. Read the story in the Squeeze the Toothpaste book.
  
• Sky diving tandem from 10,000 feet. The free fall was out of this world (or into it), but the  corkscrew descent was nauseating. Would I jump again? Skipping the acrobatics, yes.
  
• Walking on hot coals with Tony Robbins, who's tall, burnt and handsome. The following week my feet blistered while walking on the beach.
  
• Surfing solo.

You don't worry about tiger sharks?
Nah, they're maneaters.

What’s your biggest achievement in life?
Learning to talk to myself like a good friend. You’re not responsible for a negative thought that gallops into your head. But when you saddle up and ride it into the sunset, that’s a horse of a different color.

When my inner critic appears, I have a mantra that I ride instead: "I did the best I could." When Ms. Critic is really bossy, my mantra runs like the wind:

       IdidthebestIcouldIdidthebestIcouldIdidthebestIcouldIdidthebestIcouldIdidthebestIcould....

Got any pets?
No. They have me and my partner. Both came from the Humane Society—the pets, not the partner: OOdles is a black lab mix who loves digging up the beach. Scooter is a terrier/terrorist mix who doesn’t think that a critter with only 2 legs should be the alpha dog.

What would surprise people about you?

• I taught Transcendental Meditation in the Seventies. Other than my parents, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi influenced my life the most. I'm forever grateful.

• I’m a dumpster diver. When I spy useable stuff on the curb, I find a home for it. I wish everyone recycled their own stuff. But then I wouldn't have that cool teak swing chair, would I?
  
• When a rummage-sale fundraiser was over, I bought the remaining 622 books and 137 videos. Then I donated them to the library, minus 7. Good thing I have a van. (Her name is Vanna White.)
  
• I pick cans and bottles out of the bark park's trash. They're only worth a nickel, but I get a kick out of it, same as I did last century when bottles were 2 cents a pop, and I spent it on pinball games and fish hooks.

Bummer?
Oh no. Here's the rest of the story. I wrote my tale of woe and won the Philip Wylie Tough Luck trophy. So that makes me an award-winning writer. Seven years later, on the very same weekend, I caught the measles again--my own case of the 7-year itch. Maybe I should change my bait and catch something edible.

What’s your weakness?
Just one? Chocolate! especially Dove dark chocolate. And I am so addicted to the game of Free Cell, I had to dump it from my computer for awhile. It felt weird to have a few free minutes and not play a game ... or twelve.

You love to travel. What's on your gotta-see list?
The Galapagos's amazing critters, especially whale sharks. And I'd go back to Africa in a heartbeat. Although I could do without the lion peering into my tent at 3 a.m. That's peer with an R.

What’s your deepest desire?
To have my books spark millions of meaningful conversations around the world. The thought of it pleases me to my core.

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