My Writing Process

A HUGE thank you to Jodi at My Literary Quest http://myliteraryquest.wordpress.com for inviting me on this blog tour.

1)     What am I working on?

I have several projects going right now. The one I’m focused on is a collection of stories where the some minor characters in one book are the main characters of the next. Stars Bright is ready for publication and focuses on Sophia, an organic flower farmer, and Ryan, a reformed Hollywood bad boy and world renowned actor. The story is set on Sophia’s farm in Oregon and also in the Los Angeles/Malibu area. Moonlight Sliver is in the revision stage. It continues the story started in Stars Bright, but takes place in Brazil where Ryan is filming his next movie. The main spotlight is on Cait, Ryan’s daughter who is majoring in journalism, and Tommy, a young man Ryan has been mentoring and is majoring in film studies. Though the story is mainly about Cait and Tommy we do read about a crisis in Ryan and Sophia’s relationship as well as spend a bit of time with Sophia’s teenage sons. The third book in this collection, Skies Blue, is still being written. This story centers on two of Sophia’s farm interns Chas and Melissa. The bulk of this story takes place in Los Angeles and Montana on Chas’s cattle ranch. Other than that- anything more I say is spoilers. There are a couple of other stories in this collection being outlined. I also have an ‘it takes place on earth’ sci-fi trilogy sketched out, but it’s on the back burner for the moment.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

The biggest difference in my stories from others in the romance category is the touch of environmental awareness. Romance with a light eco-fiction undertones. In Stars Bright Sophia farms in an environmentally friendly organic way, she teaches classes in sustainable agriculture, and sells her products locally through farmer markets and other direct source methods. It is written in such a way that the person who is really into natural living and the person who can’t be bothered to toss their can in the recycling bin will both enjoy the story. No preaching, just the characters living their lives.

3)     Why do I write what I do?

Fame and fortune (yeah, right!) The biggest reason, the characters and their actions start clogging up my mind. When I write them down they leave me alone, for a while, they are kind of like toddlers I can appease them for a time but they always come back demanding to be heard. The stories are also what I would like to read. It makes me happy to do this work. And I want to help others be aware that doing right by the environment around you isn’t hard, it just takes a bit of thought and the start of new habits.

4)     How does my writing process work?

My actual writing process starts with an idea, spun out of something I saw or read, often in the news that sparks my interest. Sometimes a person I meet or a situation I encounter will cause a scene to play itself out in my head. From there the story starts.

I write all my first drafts in Scrivener. It is a word processing program combined with features that can be found in OneNote or Evernote and additional helps useful to writers.

I often write a bit, sketch out the main characters or a few key scenes, and make up a few note of where I want see the story going. I will then start writing in earnest, usually in chronological order, but at times the story will surprise me and I’ll jump ahead to a scene further into the story. Before I get too far into the story line I’ll write up a more detailed outline. I say outline but really I’m making notes on the corkboard feature in Scrivener.

I am not a slave to my outline and if an idea comes along or a character whispers to me they’d really like do “this” I will modify things. I find having the outline (or note cards) helps me keep the writing at a steady pace

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Another trick I have when writing the first draft is to turn off the spell check. My spelling is as Winnie-the-Pooh says, “wobbly”. Yes, it makes for one heck of a clean-up in the editing phase, but my goal with the first draft is to get the ideas down.

Once the draft is done I will set that story aside story A and work on the draft for story B. Then I’ll go back and clean up and finalize story A.

There is no magic to completing a novel as the old axiom goes you must put your butt in the chair and hands on the keyboard.

Thanks for visiting with me today

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Next week’s stop on the #WritingProcess Blog Tour is:

Ali Cross  www.alicross.com

Ali Cross likes to say she holds a black belt in awesome since the only kind of kicking-butt she does is on paper. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, one samurai dog and four zen turtles.

She writes dark and angsty fantasy/sci fi and adventures for middle grade readers under the pen name Alex Banks.

Yummy Winter Foods

As a writer I spend a lot of time sitting (still haven't gotten that treadmill desk- I have used the treadmill at the gym a few times and it makes me dizzy, not sure how a treadmill desk would work for me- bummer, but anyway...) I spend a lot of time sitting so to balance that I try to eat healthy. I drink plenty of good liquids, mostly filtered water or herbal tea because there is to much sugar in juices and to many chemicals in the no calorie flavored drinks.

Here are a two of my favorites this winter:

Walking while you Write

One thing that is important to me is staying fit and I like to multitask.

What I learned at Comic Con (part 3)

This is the last post on what I leaned at Salt Lake Comic Con 2013. These two panels I found the most interesting and dynamic out of all the ones I attended over the three days.

What I learned at Comic Con (part 2)

Each day at Comic Com there were terrific panels to attend. Here are some highlights about world building, hero building and the hero's journey.

What I learned at Comic Con (part 1)

Salt Lake Comic Con had and extensive panel line up. There were so many good things to choose from it was hard to narrow the list. Here are a few of the things I learned: