My Writing Process~Blog Tour

What a treat to be asked to be a part of the Writing Process Blog Tour--for those of us who work without anyone around, this must be sort of like visiting a friend's desk at the office and enjoying a cup of tea or coffee right? Ha! Who am I kidding? I know how crazy busy it is in most businesses and that many of the bosses frown on this type of "wasted time." Don't they realize the value in connecting with a co-worker? 

But, I digress. 

So there are three questions which the host of the tour is to answer. They are: 

1) What am I working on? 
2) Why do I write what i do?
3) How does my writing process work? 

1) Right now I'm editing and going through the critiques of my third suspense book which is as yet unnamed. I'm just calling it "Tayt Waters" because that's my main character's name. At some point within the next month or so I really need to name this one. I feel like a negligent mother--leaving my manuscript with this sad little excuse for a title while I run around, playing with book #4. YES! Book #4 (also unnamed--see how irresponsible I am?) should be out in spring of 2015 if all goes according to plan. And Tayt Waters is scheduled for release in January of 2015. In between working on full-length manuscripts, I also like to dabble in some short suspense stories. You can grab them here for free . 

2) Writing what I do is hard to explain--especially to my mother who is convinced I should write wholesome, "nice" stories about normal people.  But the thing is, no one is normal, are they? I mean seriously. . . look at your family at the next holiday and tell me your family members are all run of the mill. Besides, after years of studying psychology and just being fascinated with human nature, suspense is what calls to me.  I've loved mystery icons like Carolyn Keene and Agatha Christie since I was a child. Writing suspense for a living is just about the best job ever. 

3) My writing process is sort of weird. I'm not like a lot of other writers who can work for long chunks of time without complaint. I might be borderline ADHD or something because I can't sit still for more than about an hour. So every hour or so I pop out of my chair and run downstairs, usually to make a phone call, wash a few dishes or see which quick item I can check off my personal to-do list. Then it's back upstairs to my office where I write for another hour, then back up and so forth. I also recently started using a standing desk--this helps me not to get so antsy. (And it's not a real standing desk--I just put a big file box under my laptop to elevate it to the right height so that I can stand and type.) One thing that I try to do pretty religiously is to write on my newest fiction project right away, first thing in the morning. No checking email or perusing Pinterest or Facebook until my fiction writing time is done. 

(The picture above is NOT my office--but I do love it.  Too lazy to get out my camera this afternoon . . . )

Speaking of which, while I'm done writing fiction for today, I still have a gazillion words to edit before my manuscript goes off to beta readers next week (ack!) so I'd  better get back to it. Thanks for stopping by the blog tour if you're new here and if you are a regular reader, thank you for continuing to read along! 

Be sure to check out my writing pal's blog, Peggy's Pet Place (Bonus: If you're an animal lover--you're about to fall in love with her adorable dogs). 

And take some time to explore another writing friend, Amy's place. She's the extremely creative and multi-talented Amy Beth Arkawy who balances not only fiction writing but talk radio and creativity coaching on her professional plate. 

Happy blog touring!