Is the author the character?

I'm sure that it's a little weird for people who know me to read what I write, but I think it's equally weird for me to hear how people who know me tend to imagine me as my characters. Because Jenny from Like A Flip Turn is a female English teacher who likes to write, readers associate me with Jenny; because Charley from Just Whistle is a female who likes dogs and beer and drives a Jeep, readers associate me with Charley; because Lucy from Kick It One More Time (which is still being edited) is a female who enjoys art and works at a bookstore, readers associate me with Lucy.

Oddly enough, readers do not tend to associate me with Juli, a male handyman from Just Whistle, despite the fact that he loves animals of all kinds, has a stellar relationship with his mother, struggles to express his true feelings toward people for whom he cares most, and is constantly singing along to/making up lyrics for fast-tempo songs. I actually feel a stronger connection to Juli than I do Charley; we have more in common.

I can honestly say that there is a piece of me in each of my characters (except June Birch; I like to think that I don't have anything in common with June Birch), but each of my characters is definitely his/her own person. If I had to choose one with whom I most connect, it is hands down Sebastian Porter. That guy has been living in my head since I was in the fourth grade and I sometimes think I know him better than I know myself. But I am not Sebastian. Sebastian is Sebastian and I am Hannah and Lucy is Lucy and Charley is Charley and Juli is Juli and that's just how it is.

I was thinking about all of this yesterday, though, because I was doing some artwork in my kitchen and I had stuff everywhere: cardstock, x-acto knives, and glue spread across the table; piles of various papers on the chairs; a canvas flattening beneath an assortment of Stephen King titles on the counter; dirty paintbrushes in the sink... and then I got hungry so I proceeded to work around the art in order to prepare dinner--which is something I do fairly regularly. "Huh," I thought to myself. "This is very Courtland MacArthur of me." But no one has ever said, "Hannah! You remind me so much of Addy's roommate Mac in Just Whistle!" And yet... Mac and I are in some regards surprisingly alike.

So those are just some thoughts I had recently and I figured I'd write 'em down.