For CafeWriting, this month’s Seven Things is to write about Influential People:

Please note that this is a sampling of the influential folks in my life, and not the entire list. Also, please note that people who influence me NOW may not be quite so important tomorrow.

1. My Mother: We call her hurricane Susan but it’s meant with a healthy blend of irony and affection. She can be brittle, judgmental, moody, stubborn, bitchy. She is also funny, fragile, brilliant, generous, and supportive. She encouraged me to find my own path, and while hers is vastly different, we come to crossroads fairly often, and exchange stories.
2. Ray: Preschool teacher, mentor, recently resurfaced, all around cool guy. He really deserves his own post, or own series of posts. I’m enjoying getting to know him as an adult, in small doses.
3. Clay: Because it’s all about rhyming games you know? Seriously, while he’s relatively recent in my life (2003, I think?) he’s become muse, sounding board, sage adviser, fellow dreamer, and source of inspiration. Two seconds of phone time with him, and my creative juices are always recharged.
4. Ben and Julia: Two people, but they’re a couple so I get to cheat because, hey, my blog, my rules. Ben gives me an alternate male perspective. Julia brings out my girly side. And did I mention they have dogs? Dogs rock.
5. Ira: My stepfather. We’re good friends now, though we weren’t always. I think I provide a release for him – someone he can vent to about my mother. He does the tech-picking on a lot of my SF work, and also sends me nifty science snippets. Also, he makes the best orange juice ever, and it completely balances his unhealthy attraction to recreational math.
6. Fuzzy: Not as much an influence in the traditional sense, as a balancing force. He’s the string to my kite, the grounding wire on my plug. I go off on tangents and he pulls me back to earth, but slowly, and with great love. Probably the only person on earth who can really put up with me 24/7.
7. Natalie: My hair stylist. She’s the one who helped me embrace the pink, and continually encourages me to play. We share the same philosophy: “It’s hair. It grows back.” Also, she’s very zen.