My Writing Process - Semi-Controlled Chaos #AmWriting

My Writing Process Blog Hop #AmWriting
Thanks to my friend Normandie Alleman for tagging me in the Writing Process Blog Hop!
I’ve been writing, for myself, most of my life, only in the last couple of years have I found the courage to submit my work and I’ve been lucky to have several stories published. My writing is kind of all over the place. I write what I want to. Where my ‘muse’ takes me.

1. What am I working on?
I am working on an erotic paranormal series for MuseItHOT Publishing's the Wild Darkness Calls Collection. This is a new line of sexy, dark erotic romance themed stories. 

My story for this call started out as one book for the submission shout-out but has snowballed and taken on a life of its own. So far there are four and I am working on number five, hoping this will be the last but there might be a sixth. Paranormal is a new test for me. So I am enjoying the challenge. I am also working on edits for   Gave Good Face , a contemporary erotic romance with Totally Bound , and expecting edits for the sequel Hard and Fast shortly. I am also in the midst of editing   Always Cambridge a crime suspense family saga series with a healthy dose of romance, coming the first of May from Extasy Books .
2. How does your book differ from others in its genre?
I think Always Cambridge is different because it is written in first person, from several different character's points of view, throughout the series. Book One is from the POV of Holly Cambridge and her bodyguard Randy Phillips. This series is violent and angsty, but sweet and romantic in parts too. And book three and four, get downright explicit. The saga comes with many twists and turns that I think readers might not expect. I know some of them even surprised me when I was writing.

3. Why do I write what I do?
I write what I do because I enjoy it. I crave the variety. I don't want to read or write the same thing over and over. I tend to write what I'd like to read. But even that for me has changed since I started writing. I used to be a strictly HEA kind of reader, but as a writer, I've discovered, not every story pans out that way. For me a story will take over and I have no choice but to go with it. It messes with my life, I have to get it down and out of my head. As Normandie mentioned in her writing process post from last week, that sometimes when she writes another story tries to 'elbow in'; I can so relate to that. Often I am working on several different manuscripts at once. I go with the ebb and flow, it's easier on my brain than to fight it.


4. How does my writing process work? 
I don't really have a structured process. I am envious of organized authors that have idea files and character spreadsheets; detailed outlines and neat little work spaces.  :)

Usually it begins with one scene, one idea or a little snippet of conversation that starts to resonate and then it grows and expands from there. Always Cambridge actually began with foggy dream of a boy and girl on a rooftop. Normandie mentioned that she outlines a story or a series and it comes together in a few days. For me, often, I don’t even have the entire story plotted out when I begin. Sometimes I have to start writing before the it unfolds for me. It is the action of scribbling or typing that seems to direct the creativity. 
In the case of Always Cambridge. I wrote the first book from beginning to end. I thought it was a completed stand alone. But every time I went to bed—that’s where I do most of my thinking, my tales are like bedtime stories for me—it wouldn't leave me in peace. I still had unanswered questions, and more story began to unravel. So I had to go back and tie up the details, until I was satisfied that Holly’s story was complete. Several years, and six books later, I'm confident that the entire story has been told. 
In other instances though, an idea will form and it is a whirlwind from conception, to writing it, to submission, editing and publication. And then again some, can start out all hot and heavy, and I am excited and I can't write fast enough; my thoughts are tripping all over, trying to get out. But then I hit a wall and have to put it away for a while until it comes back around. I have two stories right now that are sitting on the back burner because I just didn’t like the way they were going. I’ll go back to them in time, I don’t leave things undone, but every story really is different. One of the manuscripts that I've filed away, is actually a sequel to Lost Time, an erotic time-travel romance that was one of those whirlwind deals. It was a flurry of ideas that I couldn't type fast enough. The sequel not so much. Malcolm's story is really challenging me. It is not so much that the ideas aren't there, but that I have too many and I'm not sure which way to go. So I'll wait, until it becomes clear.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about my writing process. Next week you can read about the writing process of my friend Noelle Keaton. Tag you're it!
Noelle Keaton is an erotic romance author whose latest,  Trusting The Army Captain is now available for download at TotallyBound.com.Her website: http://www.noellekeaton.blogspot.com