Tuesday, April 29, 2014

#MyWritingProcess

Today is my day on The Blog Tour, where writers and authors answer questions about their writing processes. My friend and critique partner Caitlin Sinead posted about her work last week here. She is an amazing writer; you should really check out her process too.

Before telling you my writing process, I thought I'll fill you in on with what #MyWritingProcess means:
“We writers share these things, but informally during workshops and at conferences (and, for a handful of established writers, in printed interviews), but not so much through our open-forum blogs. With the hashtag #MyWritingProcess, you can learn how writers all over the world answer the same four questions. How long it takes one to write a novel, why romance is a fitting genre for another, how one’s playlist grows as the draft grows, why one’s poems are often sparked by distress over news headlines or oddball facts learned on Facebook… “


1)     What am I working on?
I'm working on a novel called BE STILL. It's a weird arrangement in how the idea came about. I have one novel that I decided shouldn't be the original novel; it should be a prequel. So, now I'm writing the original novel for the prequel that I already have. It's a tragic New Adult love story.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?  That's hard to answer without sounding boastful. Sometimes when I'm reading a novel, I feel like I'm a step away from the character. I can't grasp their personality. When something bad/great/dramatic happens to the character I can't feel for them in a way I know I should. I want to but can't. This can be easily compared to trying to have a relationship with a very guarded or non-communicative partner. It's frustrating because I never feel like I'm in. With novels, I feel like the fault is in the characterization; it's not deep enough, thorough enough. And the other fault is in the character not communicating their emotions enough...or simply not having emotion to communicate. Whatever the case, I hope I have delved so deep into the personality of my characters that it comes across on paper. And, I hope that I have written in my characters' emotions well enough that readers are able to feel a fraction of those emotions themselves.

3)     Why do I write what I do?
I write New Adult and Young Adult because I find that their voices plague me the most. They're the characters who pop into my head. I don't start out with a plot then try to fit the characters in. The characters come first, and they're always youthful (does that make me immature?), then comes the plot.

4)     How does my writing process work?
I showed my hand in the #3 question. Sometimes it's a daydream, sometimes it's a nightdream, but it's always a character. He or she always comes to me with emotion on his face: terrified, worried, crying, angry. There's always a story behind these characters (in my nighttime dreams it's usually a fairly defined story, but I've forgotten it - just the face, I remember the face), and my procedure is to figure out their story, their conflict. It takes a while. Sometimes I think I have it, and my character shakes his head at me, and it's back to brainstorming I go. When I have my plot, I outline. Then I write, very fast. Generally, it takes me about a month and a half to pump out a rough draft. It's really rough, but I LEAVE IT. That's a very important part of my process. Leave it. Many say for a month, but I wait at least two months. I feel like I lived that story, so it's hard for me to forget it. I leave it so that I can forget what each sentence was supposed to say. If I don't leave my project alone long enough when I go to revise/edit, I'll notice halfway through that I'm not editing, just reading. I'm not noticing confusing sentences because I remember what they're supposed to be. My mind, my memory, fills in the blanks. You can't fix it on paper when your mind is fixing it for you without your permission.

And that's it. I hope my answers were enlightening for you!

The blogger that I've chosen to carry on the mission is my oldest writerly friend Daniel Kaye. No, he's not old, he's just the first writer friend I made when I jumped online, after finishing my first novel, wondering if they made such a things as "internet writer communities." It's funny how naive I was then. He must have sensed how inexperienced I was in the new online writerly world, but he never let me know he thought I was silly.

Daniel Kaye grew up in London but now works and lives in Co. Cork, Ireland. He has been writing for a number of years and has been published in numerous anthologies both in Ireland and the USA, he has also published The Eleventh Hour, a collection of his short stories. Daniel's first novel I, Vladimir is due for release from Gentry Publishing in autumn 2014. He is currently working on his second novel, Anonymous Jack.
http://daniel-kaye.blogspot.ie/ 

He'll be posting on May 5, so be sure to check it out.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Wish granted!

Ever since I read my good friend's book COLLISION, I've been cheering it on. At first I said I couldn't wait for Kate to find an agent or publisher. Then she did. That was good news, but I knew the process was a long one. I knew it was a hopeless wish, but I did wish it would be put on the fast track. Imagine my surprise when it was! COLLISION WILL COME OUT IN MAY! Wish granted. :)
And to put the cherry on top of my whip-creamed wish sundae, Kate is letting me do a cover reveal. Here is the cover for this crazy good book and a synopsis.


COLLISION, by Kate L.Mary, is a New Adult Romantic Mystery and will be published May 2, 2014 by Etopia Press. (I've never done a cover reveal so please excuse any cover reveal etiquette I screw up)

When eighteen-year-old Kara Jones gets into a car accident on the way home from college, she’s left with more than a few bruised ribs, a busted cell phone, and a totaled car. After a slip-up at the hospital, she’s shaken to discover that her family isn’t all it seems. And now her mother’s strange behavior and willingness to do anything to protect her secrets—including pulling Kara out of school—have Kara floundering in the dark.

Enter Derek Miller, a former classmate who’s dealing with family issues of his own. His nerdy charm is too much for Kara to resist, and she’s even more amazed when he agrees to help her dig into her mother’s past. Together they investigate her mother’s old friends and boyfriends, hoping to discover who Kara really is. Instead, they find disturbing connections to the dark history of Kent State University, and an ever expanding maze of mystery surrounding Kara’s birth.

As Kara and Derek chase secrets, she realizes he’s the only person she can trust. But as they get closer to the truth, the disturbing answers reveal a web of evil far darker and further reaching then they’d imagined, leaving Kara to wish she’d never asked the questions in the first place, and to wonder if some secrets are better left untold…



Kate L. Mary is a stay-at-home mother of four and an Air Force wife. She spent most of her life in a small town just north of Dayton, Ohio where she and her husband met at the age of twelve. Since their marriage in 2002, they have lived in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and California. Kate enjoys any post-apocalyptic story – especially if zombies are involved – as long as there is a romantic twist to give the story hope. Kate prefers nerdy, non-traditional heroes that can make you laugh to hunky pieces of man-meat, and her love of wine and chocolate is legendary among her friends and family. She currently resides in Oklahoma with her husband and children.

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Kate L. Mary
Author of COLLISION

Thursday, April 10, 2014

No, I'm not famous....

No, I'm not famous, but two people have found me interesting enough to interview. I feel special!
I was remembering these interviews the other day about how much fun they were to do. So, I thought I'd share :)

Check out the interviews here:

http://writersinkspiration.blogspot.com/2012/10/interview-with-querying-author-lisa.html?showComment=1350310135669#c1780817971551084289

http://daniel-kaye.blogspot.com/2012/05/interview-with-author-lisa-terry.html
(Daniel has an amazing book coming out this fall called I, Vladimir.)