Answers Can’t Be Books Tag [Tagged by Portable Magic]

I was tagged to do the Answers Can’t Be Books Tag on YouTube (BookTube) and at some point in the very near future I will indeed respond in video form, but for now here’s a blog response. Give my tagger Portable Magic a view and leave her a comment, please!

The idea of this tag is that, unlike most book tags, my answers cannot be books. That’s it!

Q1: What do you collect besides books?

This should surprise no one who actually follows my YouTube channel, Jenna Gets Creative, but the one and only possible true answer here is art supplies. I post full-length videos to YouTube twice a week on a regular basis and now that doing all the other days in between for the Inktober challenge as shorts proved very productive in terms of expanding my channel’s reach, I’ll be doing lots more random short bonus videos as well. My favourite mediums are alcohol ink markers (like the stock photo of Copic Sketch markers to the right,) watercolour in all forms, and coloured pencils. And no, coloured pencil doesn’t mean scratchy colouring book work. Coloured pencil means this:

Q2: What is something you do for fun besides reading?

Uh, making art I guess? I feel like that answer’s a cheat, though, considering the above answer. Obviously I enjoy blogging, otherwise why would I be creating my own content on this place when presented with a rare day off with no tour posts scheduled. I wouldn’t! But I love running this blog.

I also love spending time with my daughter and husband, and as a family we love spending time in the great outdoors and baking our favourite treats. (And reading. Like mother, like daughter!)

Q3: What is something special or important that is on your night stand?

I bought one of these lucky turtle charms sometime around 2005 or so in a hospital gift shop while waiting for my grandfather to come out of emergency surgery. Holding it in my hand and just absently rubbing its smooth enamel painted shell always helped calm me, and since Grandpa survived that day, I let myself indulge in calling it a lucky charm. When I moved to Newfoundland in 2012 this thing didn’t come with me and I realized I didn’t remember when or where I’d last seen it, until I spotted it a few years later on a visit home. It was (still is, I presume) among Grandma’s collection of trinkets in her china cabinet. When she asked if I wanted it back I said no, it’s fitting that you’ve got it now, and I told her how I got it and why it was special. Grandpa is no longer with us, he passed the year before I moved, and it just felt right that this lucky little guy is with her now.

I missed my lucky turtle, though, so I found an ebay listing a ordered its twin! He resides in the jewelry box on my nightstand.

Q4: What is something that you buy at book stores other than books?

I feel like the obvious answer every bookworm will give is bookmarks, but I’m also a sucker for the random stationary stuff all over any good book store.

Have you ever seen these pens tempting you from the checkout counter? They’re called Seven Year Pens because you’re supposed to be able to write daily for seven years before running out of ink. It turns out there’s some very strict fine print with that and you can only write the equivalent of a straight line one metre in length each of those days with the included ink cartridge if you want seven years out of it. The good news is these pens are made to withstand seven year of continuous use, mechanically speaking, and the line is now completely refillable. The bad news is when I bought mine back in 2010 I killed it in a month.

Q5: What is a fun gift that you have received other than books?

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received are experiences, like concerts. My sister and I (mostly me) grew up die-hard fans of the Backstreet Boys, and for Christmas in 2010, my mom and sister bought me a pair of concert tickets to see the NKOTBSB tour when they came through Vancouver in June 2011. Despite having been a fan of BSB since their earliest televised appearances, that concert at the age of 23 was the first time I saw my beloved band live, and of course I took my sister with me.

Q6: What is a YouTube channel that you watch that is not related to books?

So many! It won’t surprise you to know I follow a lot of art channels, but to step outside of that wheelhouse too I do have a few other big interests.

I love watching Canadians and those who advocate for disability and accessibility issues, like blind Canadian creator Molly Burke.

I enjoy listening to storytime narrators, particularly of the Reddit reading flavour, and in this category I really enjoy Hellfreezer, One Topic at a Time, and The Click. If I want it more spooky I love Lets Read or Dr Creepen.

I proudly claim the labels of both nerd and geek, and I let those freak flags fly all day while tuning in to SuperCarlinBrothers, Tom Scott, Council of Geeks, The Game Theorists / The Film Theorists / The Food Theorists, and Happy Console Gamer (who happens to be the husband of my old primary grades best friend!)

I also love listening to LGBTQIA+ creators like Jessie Gender, Jammidodger, Luxeria, Roly, and The Queer Kiwi; independent news channels like Philip DeFranco; and for some reason I’m really drawn to the former members of Christian-adjacent cults channels like Jimmy Snow (Mr Athiest), TellTale, and Zelf on a Shelf.

Q7: Tag 5 booktubers you would like to know more about.

Um… no! I want to tag anyone reading this (or watching the video version I’ll make in the future) who wants to do it. If you’re a content creator but books aren’t your niche, change the rule so the answers aren’t whatever your niche is.