Tag, You're It Blog Hop!

As you all know, I’ve been on hiatus for a quite some time, but every once in a while, I like to drop in and leave a little breadcrumb, so you all know I’m still alive.  While I’m still super busy writing and editing, I was tagged last week by fellow romantic suspense author Robyn Roze for the Tag, You’re It Blog Hop. 

This is an easy one, just answer 4 questions then tag 3 others.   All right, here goes…

1. What are you working on right now?

Amidst all the edit jobs and critiques, I’m frantically trying to finish the last quarter of my second novel, LEVERAGE, a sequel to my romantic psychological thriller, The Mistaken.  Not an easy job when I never planned on writing the first one to begin with, let alone setting it up so I could plot a second.  Plus, my readers expect the same level of excitement or even higher, so I’m really revving it up big time in this next book.  Sure, there’s a lot more sex and violence, but also lots of twists.  That kind of plotting is difficult to pull off, and I want it to be perfect, so I’m not the 2-books-a-year kind-of-author, but it’ll be worth the wait, I promise!

2. How does it differ from other work in its genre?

Both The Mistaken and LEVERAGE are thrillers, but they’re definitely not your usual fare of cops and detectives or spies and conspiracies.  No sleuthing here or end-of-the-world scenario, just a regular family thrown into the very depths of hell, trying to save themselves without succumbing to the same type of evil that put them there.  I try to write characters readers can relate to.  I can’t tell you how sick I am of über-rich, fantastically good-looking alpha males and the weak-kneed damsels who fall for them.  Please!  It’s so cliché.  Give me a regular blue-collar guy with a mortgage and a kid in college and I’ll thrown flaming poisoned darts at his head and try my best to crush his life.  But I do include a great deal of romance and the forces that try to destroy that, so even romance readers will find something they can love.

3. Why do you write?

When I wrote The Mistaken, it was out of boredom, mostly, since the ragged economy had nearly destroyed my design business, but there definitely was that voice or muse that whispered in my ear, so I just went along for the ride.  LEVERAGE has been different, more of a challenge to see if I could do it again.  Plus, I fell in love with these people—um, I mean, characters—and I want to see where they go next.  I write now because I’ve discovered how much I love and enjoy it, and I’m not half bad at it either, so why the hell not?

4. How does your writing process work?

Typically, something sparks an idea.  I then take notes which eventually form into an outline.  But that outline will turn more into a handwritten first draft without much dialogue and absolutely no setting, just the bones of the scene and segue into the next chapter.  Once that’s done, or nearly so as in the case of LEVERAGE, I sit with that outline and just…write!  I fill in the blanks, add setting and dialogue, then sprinkle in backstory.  I don’t edit until I’m done, but I will send chapters off to my CPs and betas to get an idea if it worked for them or not.  Once I’m done writing and I get all chapters back from my CPs, I’ll edit the crap out of it, rinse and repeat until it’s all sparkly.  Before publishing, I brainstorm and gather what I need for cover art and typography, blog tours and reviews, and the all dreaded marketing. 

Okay, so now to tag a few of my own.  

Let’s see, how about…

Michelle Kemper Brownlow

Dana Mason

Dana Delamar

Have fun!

I've Been Tagged! The Lucky 7 Meme!

I‘ve had an exciting last few days, but now it’s Monday, time for a little fluff.

It seems, I’ve been tagged by not one, but three awesome blogger buddies, Freya Morris, Elise Fallson and C. M. Brown, for the Lucky 7 Meme.  Thank you so much for thinking of me!  Go visit them and follow along.  They are great commenters, and we all know how much we love comments.  And now for the game…

Here are the rules: 

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they're written.

4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

The following seven sentences are from my current manuscript, THE MISTAKEN:

…  I barely caught sight of the large SUV as it slammed into me from my left.

Glass shattered and metal screamed.  The air bags exploded in my face.  My thoughts flew to my baby and Ty as the heat from the SUV’s engine rushed against my side. My breath was expelled violently from my body in a loud whoosh, and I felt myself snap from within.

Then everything went quiet.   And all I could see was black.

So that’s it.  What do you think?  Now, here are my seven taggees:

T. F. Walsh

Angela Orlowski-Peart

Jamie Ayres

Hope Roberson

Carrie Butler

Medeia Sharif

Heather M. Gardner

They are all worth a visit, and a follow, as well!

What, you’re still here?  What are you waiting for?  Go visit!

Really? You Wanna Know That?

I've been tagged!

With all that blog partying last week, I was thinking I could get down to business and focus on something writerly-ish, but alas, I have been tagged by four separate people in the last week or so, and I can’t let that go without some sort of response, so this post will be dedicated to answering a few questions from each tagger:

From my very bestest friend in all the world, Lisa Regan, who, I might add, just got married on Valentine’s Day—YAY LISA!! 

1.      What is the first line of your current WIP?

(From my second novel, Parasite)  It took five men in all, each over two hundred pounds and burdened with a bulletproof vest, a gun, a taser, handcuffs, and a nightstick, but they used neither their weapons, nor their restraints, just their bare hands and a thousand pounds of brute force.   (Yeah, it needs some work, but it’s the first draft so…)

2.      Would you rather have one book published that became a classic or have multiple books that sell well but eventually go out of print?

Definitely multiple books.  I want to reach as many people as I can while I walk this earth.  What happens after I leave means little. 

3.      What was the weirdest moment of writing inspiration you’ve ever had?

Well, I just told this story for my Origins post.  The fact that I was inspired to write at all was weird enough, but that it came to me through one song on one beautiful sunny day was weirder still.  That one moment produced an entire 95,000 word manuscript.

Next, a few questions from the delightful  Donna K. Weaver at Weaving a Tale or Two:

4.      What was my favorite book in 2011?

In non-fiction, I’d have to say “The Fire in Fiction” by Donald Maass.

In fiction, it’s “Creep” by Jennifer Hillier , hands down, and not because she’s a great friend of mine, but rather because it’s one helluva fantastic read and right up my alley!

5.      Who is your favorite author?

That’s easy, Greg Iles.  I’ve read each of his contemporary thrillers, all eleven of them, at least three times. 

6.      Who is your favorite, Bill or Ted, and why? 

Another easy one, Ted, because…well, he’s Keanu Reeves…DUH!!!

From new follower, Cortney Pearson:

7.      Plotter or pantster?

This one’s not so easy.  With my first novel, The Mistaken, it was thoroughly plotted with a very detailed outline that took me over four weeks to complete.  But now that I’m working on my next project, Parasite, I’ve been pantsting quite a bit.  I do have a lot of notes, but not in outline form, so I’m kind of wingin’ it this time around.  Scary!

8.      If you could go back and do anything over again, what would it be?

This is a tough question.  If it were only about me, I’d say I’d go back to 1984 and keep my daughter, Julia, instead of giving in to my parents demands and giving her up for adoption.  Biggest regret of my life.  But she’s had a remarkable life, so for her, it was the best decision.  Me?  Yeah, not so much.

9.      What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

I, along with my husband, used to guide white water rafts down the south fork of the American River just east of Sacramento, CA.  Total freakin’ blast, man!  And often scary as hell!!

And from another new follower, Leigh Covington:

10.  If you could meet the President of the United States, what would you say to him?

Not bad for a democrat.

11.  What is your favorite quote?

“Never quit!” by Winston Churchill 

Okay, that’s eleven.  Now it’s my turn to tag someone.  There are many I would like to ask, including a few who don’t normally do this type of thing (Lynda R. Young,  Julie Musil,  Alex J. Cavanaugh, Matthew MacNish, & Jami Gold  )  So here are a few I think would, but haven’t yet:

           

            Jennifer Hillier

            Mark Koopmans

            LG Smith

            Al Penwasser

            Mary Pax

            Julie Kemp Pick

And because this post is already way too long, instead of thinking up new ones of my own, I’d like each of these fine writers to answer the same questions I just did. 

Lastly, I’d like to thank the lovely Natalie Sharpston for bestowing me with the Kreativ Blogger Award.  In receiving this award, I’m supposed to list seven things about myself that might be interesting, but I think the eleven items above will suffice, but thank you so very much, Natalie!