My Writing Process

I was tagged by two lovely ladies both awesome authors, Violette Dubrinsky and Yvonne Nicolas to share 7 things about my writing process. Here goes:

1. I write every day. If I’m not writing something is seriously wrong. Lol I've got to otherwise the damn voices drive me batty and I'd be on Valium or some equivalent. I'll even get up at 2am and write because suddenly a scene is crystal clear and I MUST GET IT DOWN. Doesn't matter if it's something in the end or middle of the story.

2. I don't do outlines, maybe just the bare bones, names, places, appearances, if it's a series and there are multiple parts to it. Why? Because with all the thought and time I take to do an outline I could have finished half the book. And well, my characters also have a tendency to NOT follow any preconceived notions of who they are supposed to be that I might have or what should happen next. Yeah, they have some strong opinions, and that doesn’t necessarily come through until I actually begin to write them and get into their heads. So if I write them according to an outline they will mutiny until I let them tell their story. So no. No outlines. Wait, the only exception but still a barebones outline, is when I’m co-writing work and it’s active writing. Meaning we write the story together or from a particular POV. Still, the story is so much in my head that it’s difficult. My co-authors and I have to understand each others styles for it to really work.

3. My stories can start at the beginning, the middle or the end and what's supposed to happen can come to me at anytime as I write. So I jot the scene down go back to the chapter I'm working on and keep writing until I get to that scene in the story like I'm supposed to. It knows where it's supposed to go I'm just along for the ride.

4. I usually have 2 or 3 documents open at a time I work on. Because I work on more than one story at a time, in different phases, and I might also be editing one or two more. I also write in multiple genres and under 2 names. One because my brain just works that way. I can compartmentalize and my prior profession as a lawyer also trained me to multitask better, so heck 3 or 4 stories going is nothing compared to working 50 cases a week. lol and, Two I firmly believe it's what keeps writers block, at least for me, away. When I get to a point in a story I need to pause or mull things over a bit or when my charrie goes quiet I just go back to one of the other ones. By that point I can see where it needs to go to move the plot/characters forward. The exception like with other authors I’m sure is when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Then I have tunnel vision it’s almost like a frenzy with me. I have to write THAT story and only that one to get to that ending because the characters will not leave me be until it’s done. Yeah, I’ve pulled all nighters to do it too. Lol And after I’m done I treat myself depending on the time of day to a half glass of Chardonnay or a piece of Godiva dark chocolate. *grins*

5. I have a home office and I write there as well as in my bedroom, on the bed or the sitting area, my husband's office, the family room, the basement. I just need to be comfortable. Depending on the scene I’m working on I’ll have the TV on usually reruns so I don’t get drawn in, I just need the sound of voices in the background, sometimes I write to music. When I wrote the first two books in the Ballerina Series I listened to a lot of Eminem and Koolio. The beats were just right. But my music taste is eclectic and depends on my moods and the story. While writing Dante’s story book 3 in the series I listened to a lot of Tchaikvsky. Dante is not Maze so neither should his music be. Besides, like I said, eclectic.

6. I have a note pad where I jot ideas down but I also use my iPad and iPhone to take notes. I have a list of names that I like whenever I come across a name I find interesting I add it to this list. I also make notes of song titles that speak to me, there is a story behind every song. So far most of the homes I describe in my stories I’ve been in. Sometimes I combine features from two or three of them, but others are described as is. That said while I don’t use people I know as characters I do use aspects of their personalities and combine them with others but they’d never be able to find themselves lol. I have used interesting names of friends as side characters and as a nod to them, always in a fun way so they get a kick out of seeing their names in one of my stories.

7. As busy as I am almost without fail I will be in the middle of something and then get a brilliant idea, at least in my mind lol, for another story. I have to stop what I’m doing jot it down or else it’s gone forever. At some point it makes it to my WIP folder. There aren’t many subjects in any romance genre I don’t have an idea already written down about I can pull from to create a story on the fly. Oh and the other thing I back up everything once a week now. I learned that lesson the hard way. I lost 300 WIP stories and ideas in a computer once so yeah.

Whew! I did it! Now I challenge Stephanie Williams Stacy Deanne Gracie Wilson Taabia Dupree Eryn Black to share 7 things about their writing process. *grins*

Share away ladies!