All Part of The Writing Process

Next month is my birthday month... but then, now we're in the sign of Libra, I wonder, is this the start of my birthday month? Should I include the middle of September? Should I start celebrating now?

I have a lot of friends who share their birthday in the 'Libra' month (or their children do) with me. We're all fabulous people. However, I'm trying to work out why there are so many of us. My calculations makes New Years Eve too early and February's Valentines' too late. Unless of course, as babies we either arrived late or early... depending on when we were conceived...

And as you can see, I have also been neglecting my blog. I even need to send something off for someone else's blog, but have failed to do that too. The email is in my inbox to remind me.

With birthday looming, basically, on my writing days, I've tried as hard as possible to concentrate on my writing. It's safe to say I've been neglecting the housework. Book three needs to be finished and over to my editor by November (we agreed). And now I have an agent, it means it needs to go through them first too.

I know I won't get much done around my birthday, and October half-term is then rapidly approaching, where I definitely won't get anything done. Therefore, I'm aiming for this week, next week at the latest to send over my manuscript to my agent.

The powers of modern day technology means I can upload it to my kindle, and read it through from there. This is what I'm doing this week, noting any nitpicks that need altering, or a blinding obvious spelling mistake or typo. I've found "mine" and it should be "mind" for example.

It felt weird putting my feet up today, reading my book on my kindle. But it is part of the writing process. Honest.

The Writing Process

I have been invited by fellow Harper Impulse author Sue Fortin to join in this blog hop about our writing process.

You can find Sue's blog post about her writing process here. All writers do things very differently. And they feel more organised than me.

However, this is my writing process...

1)      What am I working on?

Currently I’m working on my second novel, Perfect Isn’t An Option. Whether the title remains is another thing. I class it as a working title. It isn’t a sequel to Plus Oneis a Lucky Number, it is another stand alone story. It was up to about 70,000 words, but needed some editing and additing (as I like to call it). As my first book was put into the Rom Com / Chick Lit category, I’m quite conscious to make sure this one fits in that category too. No pressure and all that.  My hero is inspired by the lovely Bradley Cooper, so I am enjoying writing this book.

2)      How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Gosh, I’m not sure if it does or not. I did always think Chick Lit was about fashion and shopping, and my books certainly don’t have a lot of that in it. I do tend to write the male point of view also, which not all romance does.

3)      Why do I write what I do?

Maybe at the time, when I started writing, something was missing from my life, and to add some excitement I wanted to be reminded of the first love, can’t-get-enough-of-you feeling and I started writing romance. It does comes naturally to me and they do say write what you know, and what you enjoy reading. I love a good romance. Besides, I’m not clever enough to write crime, but I enjoy writing the conflicts around relationships and romance. Nothing more exciting than two people who really want to be together but can’t be. Or two people fancying the pants off one another but don’t know how to express it.  

4)      How does my writing process work?

This is where I should say; I get the boys off to school, sit down at 9am with a cup of coffee, go through my emails, bit of Facebook, Twitter, and then I write...

Hmmm... it’s supposed to work like that but doesn’t always. Real life gets in the way! So does the ‘proper job’. I try to sit down for an hour a day, or more if I can. But I like to break it up so that I don’t over do it and flare up the RSI. Since separating from my husband and getting into my new house, it’s been tricky getting back into the writing routine, but I think I’m slowly getting there. I’m starting to make time for writing, and reading, which I believe is also key to success.

Next week, my good writing buddy, Becky Black is joining the blog hop and talking about her writing process. She is much more organised than me.

Becky's Bio: 

A long time science fiction fan, Becky thinks there are few story ideas that can’t be improved by the addition of the words “in space”. If the story also includes two gorgeous men unable to keep their hands off each other then so much the better. She’d happily go into space herself, but being English would insist on there being a reliable supply of tea available.

She likes nothing more than trapping her characters in tricky no-win situations and watching them figure a way out. When not chasing her characters up trees and throwing rocks at them Becky can be found working in an office – where she’s usually thinking about the next rock to throw.