Author Profile: Lt Cmndr Oneida

Character Name: Lt Cmndr Onedia (Jardena to friends and family)

"Real" Name: Claire

Age: 26

Gender: F

Global Location: Fort Collins, CO, USA

Day Job: Masters Student

Q1: What made you decide to start a blog like this?
I found the unplugged group through the Capitan Typho blog. I was trying to find if anyone had actually given him a first name. I really liked all the stories people had and the blogs that were part of the SW:Unplugged group. I wanted a chance to give my character a lighter side, and to explore her past some.

Q2: Why did you choose your particular character?
Because I had created her, it was an easy jump. Jardena (who is Cpt. Oneida in the future) was developed for a Star Wars Role playing game I am part of, and this was a wonderful chance to make her a little more rounded. She is a former handmaiden. I figured that this would be plausible because there are two handmaidens in Episode 1 who come out of no where, and are not named. It gives me a good amount of wiggle room to create who she is. It also lets me explain, if only to myself, why she is the way she is. I'm in deep trouble if she gets killed off in the game :)

Q3: Where do you get ideas?
Real life, books, television, other people's blogs, organic chemistry lab. There can be an idea found pretty much anywhere, it just requires me to be paying attention to appreciate it.

Q4: Any blogging tips and tricks?
I love spell check, and have actually started writing my posts in a Word program, then pasting them into this program. But I still find most of my mistakes when I proof read the entry after it's been posted. I also like pictures, and am working on understanding photoshop.

Q5: Where do you find pictures for use on your blog?
Google, yahoo, and msn. Then I'll amend them some so they fit my need. Fortunately for me, the woman I use for Jardena's likeness is highly photographed.

Q6: What's the last book your character read?
Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson. It was handed out to all the officers and non-clone NCOs as required reading. Jardena secretly hopes it means she'll be asked to retire because she's being replaced by a clone.

Q7: What's the last book you read?
Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
1776, David McCullough (still working on this one, good, but not a quick read)
SW:Shatterpoint, Matthew Stover
Dressing a Galaxy Trisha Biggar

Q8: Other hobbies/interests?
I like to sew, and I mainly make/sew/create costumes. I have only done one Star Wars outfit so far, the black 'let's just be friends, ignore the message my slinky black dress is sending you' outfit. I wore it when the second movie came out. I didn't know it would be the 'let's just be friends' dress. I also do historical outfits. I have a fabric addiction. And I dance, I used to be a competitive Irish Dancer, and I've learned lots more styles of dance. I've only recently started writing again. I also do a little bit of metal working.

Q9: Other blogs you work on?
I have another blog that deals with Jardena's life after the fall of the Republic. It is written as a diary, and from her perspective entirely. The entries are write ups of what happened in our gaming sessions. It started as a way to keep track of what we'd been up to, but now I use it for recording and character development. Unfortunately, I didn't start writing it when the game began, so I have a big gap that I've been trying to fill slowly in the middle of the story. I might do an Eowyn blog, still pondering that one.