Like mother, like son

Tomorrow is the 1st day of school here, and my 3rd grade son was told to bring 2 favorite books to class on the first day, to be left at school for free reading time for a week or two. I assumed that since he mostly just wanted to read Star Wars books this summer, that's the sort of thing he'd want to take. Instead, he was insistent that the two books he wanted to take (no substitutes accepted, so we had to spend some time hunting them down) were Reality Leak by Joni Sensel and The City of Ember by Jeanne duPrau. Both of which he read this summer, and both of which I had bought for myself! Yes...! I assume the assignment is partly so the teacher can get an idea of the kids' reading levels and interests, and though I didn't tell him what to take, I am secretly happy he's taking two middle grade novels that I think show really good taste! ;-) (Actually, they're a result of the great company his mom keeps, since I bought both of those books because I was in online groups with the authors.)

August!

August is here! My birthday month and my oldest son's birthday month! Hooray. As old as I get, I still get a little excited when my birthday rolls around.

Question for writers: do you ever write characters who have your quirks? And if so, is it weird after you've written it, and do you ever regret it? I mean, in some ways all our characters have to reflect parts of us, but I'm talking about writing a character with your quirks magnified and made very prominent, so they become a fairly big part of the story.

I was thinking last week I might give some character's mom some of my own faults, but then I thought it might also be fun to give one some of my nuttier, sillier tendencies. I assumed this would be in a midgrade or YA, since those are what I usually write, but I just got a hint of an idea for a picture book based on that. But do I really want to make fun of myself in a picture book?! That my kids would have and pass down to their kids?! Hmm! Though that reminds me, I already have a finished PB manuscript I meant to submit several months ago & never managed to do. D'oh! I'll have to do that this month...maybe even this week!