And of course I cry when I'm reading. Sometimes I even make myself sniffle when I'm writing. So when did I turn into such a sap? I don't think I used to be this bad. I don't know if it's the state of the world that's getting to me, or if it's just the state of me, dealing with a lot of stuff as well as book deadline pressure. The weird thing is, I'm not all that prone to crying over real life things. It's mostly stories and images that get me. And music.
What about you, REDs and readers? Any fellow weepers? And here's a little challenge for you. I was going to post Smokey Robinson singing "The Tracks of My Tears" and ran across this video of Chris Blue, the winner of Season 12 of The Voice in his blind audition.
I dare anyone to get all the way to end of the clip without a sniffle.
JENN McKINLAY: I'm a weeper. I've always been a weeper. I cry over everything. A complete stranger will be in tears and I will start crying with empathy. I've often thought I should rent myself out at weddings and funerals. Frankly, I don't get people who don't cry. Much like I don't understand people with no sense of humor. I mean if you're not going to feel things, what is the point of being alive?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I cry at TV commercials. At moms with their kids at the grocery. Hallmark cards. Movies and books? Don't even get me started. I have never seen Beaches or Terms of Endearment or Fried Green Tomatoes, WWI movies, WW3 movies, any war, you name it, I will NOT see it, because I will cry for WEEKS. The Green Mile? DEVASTATED. In fact, the first movie Jonathan and I ever saw together was Sling Blade (because the movie we meant to see was full.) Ten minutes into the movie, I started to sniff. Our conversation follows.(Remember, a first movie.)
Jonathan: Do you have a cold?
Hank: No, I am crying.
Jonathan: At what?
Hank: The movie.
Jonathan; But it's not sad.
Hank: Not yet! But it's going to BE sad.
LUCY BURDETTE: Me too, I'm a sniffler. John and I both sobbed through Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Yes, and if someone else starts to cry, I'm in too. And John is even softer at the movies, just like his father was. And Hank, I couldn't persuade you to read THE STORIED LIFE OF AJ FIKRY, remember? Because you knew it would be sad and it was for a while, and then got happy again.
HALLIE EPHRON: Last weekend we went to see Frozen on Broadway with our granddaughter and I welled up when the curtain rose. Something about that moment when a live performance begins always fills me with... joy. Overflowing emotion. Before the actors do a single thing I'm blubbering. I cry at sad, too. When Beth dies in Little Women. When Dora dies in David Copperfield. Jenny in Forrest Gump. I'm tearing up just remembering.
INGRID THOFT: Oh, man. I promise that I really do have a heart, but I’m not a big crier. I feel things deeply, really, I do, but that feeling doesn’t translate to tears. Recently, I had a conversation with my mom and sisters about “This Is Us.” The subject was that everyone weeps during the show, except, you guessed it! Yes, I tear up, but there are never full-on waterworks. But you know what gets me every time? Parades at Disney World. Something about those extravagant displays makes me cry every time. Obviously, Walt Disney cracked the code of the infrequent criers!
RHYS BOWEN: It's strange because I don't cry much in real life. I am stoic at funerals. But anything on TV when a service dog is returned to his handler home from Afghanistan, or even that Folgers commercial where the son comes home for Christmas, and the tears are trickling down my cheeks. I cried in Mama Mia 2. I sob in some movies. And, strangely enough, the ARCs of my next stand-alone, called The Victory Garden, arrived yesterday and I flicked through to the ending and... I started crying!
DEBS: Oh, Rhys, even mentioning service dogs will make me cry! And I definitely went through the popcorn napkins in Mama Mia 2...
Readers, are you weepers?? Tell us your most sniffly book or movie or song!
