The Writing Process Blog Chain

The lovely Jackie Ashenden tagged me in “The Writing Process Blog Chain” where each author answers four questions about their writing process.

The questions and my answers are below, along with the people (okay person) I’m tagging.

(PS Jackie has TWO releases tomorrow. HAVING HER, which I’ve read and is amazing. Dark and sexy, Jackie just has such a way with creating these real, complicated people. Also, BILLION DOLLAR BACHELOR, which I plan on reading ASAP)

What am I working on?

Right now I’m working under two deadlines. First, is my second Superromance tentatively titled TOO TEMPTING TO IGNORE. It’s a friends-to-lovers, fake relationship story and though I’m currently stuck in the dreaded middle, I’m really enjoying writing it. This will come out at the end of this year.

I’m also intermittently working on my second HarlequinE book, ALL I AM. If you follow me on Twitter you may have heard about my wounded veteran, virgin, organic dog treat maker hero. Poor guy is a bit of a mess, luckily the heroine will help him out in a lot of different departments. 😉

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Hm, that’s a hard question because at its core, romance is all about love. I am drawn to rural settings, realistic-feeling conflicts, sarcastic humor, and heroines in a-typical jobs. I’m not sure any of those things on their own make it different, but altogether I do think it gives me a distinct kind of voice.

Why do I write what I do?

I came to reading romance kind of late in the game, though I was always drawn to love stories. Still, when my college roommate handed me a Nora Roberts book, I knew this was what I wanted to write. Contemporary romance, the kind that it feels like it could happen to you. As a reader, I halve never gotten tired of that feeling, so it’s something I love to do as a writer too.

In the be, the characters I write are people I know and understand. I believe love has immense power, and it’s important. So, I can’t imagine writing anything else.

How does my writing process work?

It depends a little bit on the situation. Now that I’m published and agented, I can write on proposal. This means I start with a synopsis and first three chapters. Then usually I either go on submission or wait for editorial approval depending on the book/publisher/situation.

Once I have the okay to write a particular manuscript, I just write. I usually have a word count or a deadline, and I do my best to write every day. I write linearly, chapter by chapter, although sometimes within a chapter I might skip around if I have some dialogue I want to get down. I only plot if I’m stuck, and even then it’s fairly vague plotting. “These are the main things that need to happen.” Once I’ve finished, I set it aside and work on something else to get my mind off it. I’ll come back to it for a read through, fixing or adding anything needed. Then it’s off to the editor!
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Now, I’m supposed to tag three authors to participate and post the questions and their answers to their blog next week (2/17), but I’m always useless at tagging people. Jamie Wesley, you’re it, and if you’re an author who wants to participate, consider yourself tagged!