Down At The Bloghop: On Writing

Bloghops are some of my favorite things, and thanks to my lovely friend Kristina (aka @quickmissive), I've got a new one to participate in. Go check out hers from last week. You can check out all my buddies in my cohort because they are listed at the end of Kristina's post.

1. What am I working on?
Right this second I'm working on Lord Lucifer's Disciple, a novella in the new Haberdashers Nights series. This story will be part of the Scandalous Summer collection with a number of authors. Other than that I'm working on the fourth Haberdasher novel, Saving Persephone, which will bring us to the first major plot point in the series. What? We didn't have the first major plot point yet? Basically. There are eight more books after this, and who knows how many novellas. The Haberdasher world endlessly fascinates me.

Other than that I have about a billion books waiting in the wings of my brain. Contemporary romance, urban fantasy, futuristic science fiction, epic fantasy, mystery. If only I had more time to write!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
This question feels like a total set up. Since when has an author had a clue about what makes their work special? I think the answer for my published work is that even though I'm in the Regency romance genre, I'm injecting it with a little bit of mystery and intrigue (Regency Charlie's Angels and Regency Avengers have been mentioned). But I would need my readers to tell me what they think the answer to this question really is. Feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you think. Then I'll know the right answer next time!

3. Why do I write what I do?
Because it's so much fun. Whether I'm hanging out in 1815 with the Haberdashers, modern day Dublin with an American Werechaun, or any of the thousands of other places I've been (in my own mind), I'm always having fun. Otherwise what's the point?

I also love to research, anything from crazy details in history to cutting edge science. So all of my writing is informed by that unending curiosity about the world.

4. How does my writing process work?
Typing. There is a lot of typing. Complaining, chocolate, and typing.

Seriously, I don't know what else to tell you. After years of wanting to find some secret, magical trick to writing, a sort of authorial unicorn, the truth is that it's quite mundane. Agatha Christie said she got some of her best ideas while washing the dishes. It's about discipline and focus more than anything else. Although I prefer a few quiet hours, I can write anywhere and under any conditions if necessary. I come up with ideas quite sporadically and have learned to write down outlines while they are fresh. This is part of why I love Evernote. I can type out a summary on my phone during lunch if I have to. Once I have the outline done, then it is heads down writing until the first draft is done. I've learned to do very little editing as I go along. For one thing, it bogs you down (you can edit FOREVER), and for another thing, edit brain and author brain are two very different brains. If I try to use both at once I get very boring stuff. Only author brain can come up with cool stuff even I didn't expect. Then, if the stars align, I try to do three passes of edits before even sending it to my first editor.

Bloghop RSVP
They tell me that I get to name the next four victims, er, participants. Meet four great writers so you can find out THEIR answers next Monday. (Links will be added when they accept the challenge.)

1. Kris Silva - Editor extraordinaire, Steampunk enthusiast, Muppet chronicler, and all around fun chick.
2. Andy Click - My co-author for American Werechaun in Dublin. One of my favorite hobbies in March was logging into GoogleDocs to watch Andy write.
3. Gene Doucette - Author of one of my favorite series, about Adam the Immortal. It's possible we *might* be working on a cross-over story.
4. Tina Glasneck - She bills herself as "Writer of Mayhem and Romance with a Twist of Murder." Yeah, that sounds about right. Also brilliantand enormous fun to hang out with.