Happy 100 Posts (Stories, Poems, lives lived?)

Hello All,

To celebrate my 100th story on Vocal I have decided I would do something a little different than my usual fiction. So what could be more different than my normal stuff than to write a purely non-fiction piece?

Now, it’s relatively well known that Donna Fox is my pen name and I use it because I enjoy my anonymity. That being said, I am also one of those people who enjoy getting to know the author behind some of my favourite stories.

So I thought I would lift the veil so-to-speak and share a few personal details for those of you that are interested. Now here are ten facts about me in no particular order and for no particular rhyme or reason, other than I thought it would be fun to share!

Fact #1: I am Canadian, born and raised in Alberta. Currently, I live in Calgary, but was born in a little city called Lethbridge and was raised in a small town south of that, called Taber. 

Fact #2: My favourite food of all time is chicken, specifically chicken wings. My favourite flavours are honey garlic and honey dill, they go best with a mug of beer on the side. (That being said, wing Wednesdays are my Kryptonite.)

Fact #3: I have 6 tattoos. They are mostly scripts of sayings/ things that are important to me and one features my favourite animal. If you are interested, i have pictured/ descriptions below. If not, skip to fact #4.

I don't have a picture of my first one, all I can really say it does not photgraph well and is on my thigh. It's peterpan quote that says: You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you, that's where I'll be waiting. And it has tinkerbell's shadow by it.

This is my second one, a fox and a teal balloon. I feel like it's pretty self explanatory of what it is.

This is my third tattoo, it's my favourite quote from my favouriet movie. (refernce fact #10 for better understanding)

This is my fourth tattoo, it says ASB and has a band that goes around my finger. I have this because my job isn't exactly wedding ring friendly with all the diaper changes and occassional human excressions I have to clean up.

This is my fifth tattoo, a rose with a quote from Alice in Wonderland.

This is my sixth tattoo, which I actually share with my husband. We both got this on our thighs and for those of you unsure, this is a blood troth (from Fantastic Beasts/ Harry Potter) with a Harry Potter quote: Until the very end.

Fact #4: My favourite colour is teal, that beautiful mix of green and blue. There’s just something about that mix that speaks to me on another level. But if teal isn’t available (like in the heart emojis) I will often lean towards blue, green or purple. 💙🩵💜💚

Fact #5: My favourite season is winter. I know that’s an unpopular opinion but there’s just something about curling up in front of a fire with a cup of tea and a good book. A cat on my lap or sitting beside me while I pet them and enjoy the crackling of the flames just sounds like utter bliss to me!

Fact #6: My favourite music genre is pop-punk/ punk-rock/ heavy metal. Think like Avril Lavigne and/ or Nickelback. Both of them are Canadian artists/bands, which isn’t necessarily by design but I do love a good coincidence.

Fact #7: Being Canadian, of course, I have a favourite hockey team and no it’s the Calgary Flames (funny because I live in Calgary). My team is the Philadelphia Flyers, I grew up watching them with my dad and it’s one of my favourite touchpoints with him now that I live in a different part of the province than him. I continue to watch them I love their fiery attitude and their reputation as the Broad Street Bullies, there’s just something about watching grown men beat the crap out of each other that brings me joy!

Ahhhh.... the joys of the city of brotherly love! 🧡🖤🤍

Fact #8: My favourite animal of all time is the fox, specifically the red fox!! If I could legally own one, I would! (And yes this is where I got the inspiration for my last name, which is part of my pen name.)

I squeal everytime I see one unexpectedly or if i get a gift with a fox on it!! It's a bit of an obsession really! 😅

Fact #9: By day I am a Special Educational Assistant/ Teacher for children who have Down syndrome. Before this year I worked only with children who were of preschool age (2.5 to 5 years) but this year I took on another contract to work with all age ranges within our agency. So now I happily work with children from 2.5 to 18 years of age, which is a lot of fun for me.

Fact #10: My forever favourite movie is Lion King the animated version from 1994, with James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick. I can without shame admit that I have easily watched it over 100 200 300 (yeah, sure that’s believable) times. If I had to do a rough estimate I’d say I watch it at least 3 times a year as an adult and as a child I watched it easily once a month. (I’m 28 now so if you’d like to do the math, by all means!!)

Well, that’s the first ten things off the top of my head that might help you all get to know the author behind the work/ pen name!

Thank you for reading and as always I relish in your engagement so please feel free to leave some feedback or perhaps ask a burning question you’ve always wanted to know. But I will caution you that somethings are best left a secret, not all knowledge is power nor are all truths what you want to hear.

Forever Yours,

Donna Fox

Aka HKB

Authors Note:

This was another post inspired by the lovely Dharrsheena, as she suggested I do something special/ different for my 100th post! So thank you again my friend for inspiring me!