My Writing Process - Blog Tour

The amazingly talented Carrie Smith involved me in this blog tour J You can read her awesome blog at http://adifferentengine.blogspot.com

1) What are you working on?

I’m working on a novel called Drugstore Zombies. It’s a story that Carrie Smith and I came up with years ago. We had planned it to be a comic book, but we never found an artist for it. I was thinking about it more and more and decided to turn it into a book (with Carrie’s permission of course! J) I’m having a blast! It’s a new spin on the zombie genre and it’s so much fun to write!

2) How does your work differ from others' work in the same genre?

I mainly write in the YA sci-fi/fantasy genre. I’d say what makes my work different is my voice. Even though the topics of my work tend to be on the darker side, I write it with a comedic, almost “light” tone. My hope is that it keeps the reader laughing, while going through some pretty horrible situations!

3) Why do you write what you do?

I love to write what I love to read. It’s that simple. My Kindle is jam-packed with YA sci-fi/fantasy because it’s my favorite genre. My DVR is also packed with the same types of shows. My husband calls me the CW Whisperer because I pretty much watch everything they put on the air lol!

4) How does your writing process work?

I’m a writer who loves to write. Discipline is the key for me. I write 1,000 words a day, every day. I can’t imagine not writing. I read a lot as well and I try to improve my writing with every book that I write. I’ve written and published seven books and my eighth will be coming out this August.

F.M. Sherrill is the author I chose for next week! We just wrote a paranormal romance together and are working on the sequel! She’s an incredible author who wrote the dark fantasy Ivory!

Her blog is: http://fmsherrill.blogspot.com

Contemplating...

My plans were to be super-laser-like focused right after graduation, but I found that I have been completely wishy-washy in what I want to work on. Don't get me wrong, the laser-focus is in full effect for marketing my current books, but for writing, I can't seem to stick with any one project.

First I was working on my zombie book. I was really into it, but then I reached a point where I wasn't into it. At all. I'm the kind of writer that feels that a reader can sense whether or not a writer is passionate about what they're writing. I can tell when I'm reading books, so I figure everyone else can too. So, if I'm not "feeling" a book, I feel obligated to stop working on it.

The second book I started working on was a new YA series, but again, after the first 5,000 words, it was like a passionless brick wall.

The third book I started working on was the sequel to Alexis Tappendorf. Now that's a book I'm into. I love the characters and I love writing adventure. But I'm finding that I can't seem to connect with my audience. The kids that have read it have loved it (thank goodness!) but it's actually really hard to get kids books into the hands of kids! Kids books have to be advertised to the parents not the kids because they are the ones who decide and purchase books for their children. In an indie market, this has been very difficult for me. So, the dilemma I'm in is: do I finish the second book, or do I work on another book that I know I can market?

The answer? I'm working on my sequel to Atlas next. I have all these ideas rolling around in my head and I'm really excited to get them all down on paper. For now, I'm going to continue to research for Alexis, but I'm starting book two of Atlas. I miss writing Kala! So here goes!

Gearing up for new book!

The wheels are turning and I'm excited to start a new series. 

I've been in constant "edit" mode, scouring my Atlas proof for the last two weeks, making sure it was ready to release.

But now I need a palate cleanser so that I can come back to the Atlas series with a fresh eye. So, I'm starting a new series called Recruits. It's going to be a lot of fun to write and Monday I hit the ground running!

A Day of Steampunk Sewing!

One time-lapsed day of a three day sewing spree with my friend Faith for making steampunk costumes for Halloween. I ended up making 2 corsets, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of bloomers and a skirt! Phew!

Zombies not homework!!

Getting excited...

Beginnings...

Riser Book Trailer

What's The Freakin' Hurry?

I don’t know if anyone else makes their lives completely manically crazy by imposing insane deadlines on themselves, but this seems to be a reoccurring problem with me. I mean, it’s not like there’s an editor breathing down my neck, waiting for the next book. I release my books on my own schedule, so why do I feel the need to constantly give myself guilt trips about not writing 3,000 words a day?

My problem is that I know I can write 3,000 words a day with no problem, so when I have school, or work, or life! and I don’t reach the 3,000 words I beat myself up and chastise myself for not living up to my potential. We’re our hardest critics, I guess. I just want to give myself a break. It’s exhausting making myself feel terrible about not reaching my daily word count, lol!

But more importantly, I always seem to be in a race to finish whatever project I’m working on because in my brain “this project will be the one!” What about all the other books I’ve already written? Have they disappeared? Have I given up on them? Have they lost their ability to be successful suddenly? It’s that part of my brain that says, “my other books will be more popular after I release this next series!” I have no idea if this is true, but it feels true and it makes me put a fire under my feet to finish whatever latest project I happen to be working on.

The bottom line is: being hard on yourself is a waste of time. Time that could be spent diving into the universe of your new book. Writing can be magical. I truly believe that readers can pick up on an author’s mood or personality when reading their books. It’s one of the reasons I have trouble with Dickens. I can tell that he was (and sorry if I offend anyone here) a little on the pretentious side. His stories are amazing, but his writing is dripping with condescension. Whereas, Dumas, even translated in old English (not at all how he intended it) it’s still full of fun, adventure and the joy of writing. (Even if he was paid by the word!)

I guess that’s why even if I give myself the biggest guilt trip on the planet, I’d rather write when I’m dying to get my story out than a forced word count. Maybe I don’t have to be upset with myself after all!

The waiting period...

So book three is done! It has actually been done for quite a while, but the editing process takes forever! I just finished all my edits, now it's in the hands of my copyeditor. He said he'll be able to finish in time for the release deadline of December 18th, so I'm really excited! It's weird because this is the final book in the trilogy. I mean, I could definitely write more in this series, but this book wraps up all the loose ends that were created in the first two books. I had so much fun writing it, I really hope that it comes across to the readers. One can never know, but I'm crossing my fingers :-)

Having a hard time motivating myself today!

Why is it so hard to write sometimes? I’m usually the last person to say this, but for some reason today I’m having a hard time. And yes, even as I write this I’m saying to myself, you’re writing this blog entry, why can’t you write your book? Sometimes writing with another character’s voice is challenging because I’m not sure what that character wants to say right now. I just finished editing a trailer, so I think a part of it is the fact that I used up a lot of my creative juices, but if I want to finish this book in the next month or two I need to write 1 to 2 thousand words a day. I’ve been hitting those numbers for the last two weeks, but today, I’m stuck. I’m sleepy. I want to take a nap, but whenever I take a nap I end up not being able to sleep at night. Blah, blah, blah. I’m a big complainy-box today. Maybe I should take a nap and then try and get some writing done. Wish me luck!

Writing on a tightrope...

I really don’t want to be one of those writers that I, myself, would criticize. I always threaten the Universe that I’m going to start a blog on all the injustices and gigantic mistakes that some of my favorite filmmakers and writers have made over the years.

Here’s a mini-rant to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Indiana Jones 4: Really? From the get go I knew I was in trouble. A gopher mound as the Paramount Pictures mountain, uggh! It just got worse from there: from a fridge that apparently can protect you from a nuclear holocaust, to swinging with monkeys, to the Aztecs worshiping aliens. Yeah, pretty horrible.

Aliens 3 & 4: There are only two Alien movies: Alien and Aliens.  3 & 4 shouldn’t even count. I mean in the beginning of 3, Fincher completely made the second movie meaningless by killing off Hicks and Newt. Stupid. Seriously. Only two Alien movies. Possibly three if Prometheus ends up being a good as it looks, but I could be jinxing myself!

Harry Potter book 5: Book not the movie. The movie actually ended up fixing the things I hated about the book. Now don’t get me wrong, the Harry Potter series is one of my favorite books series of all time, but five was a mess. Who can really blame Rowling? I mean the entire world was waiting impatiently for the fifth book, that’s an enormous amount of pressure! But the way she killed Sirius was… well… it was lame. Not sure of how else to put it. At least Gary Oldman gave it some emotion in the movie. In the book: nothing. Not even a single tear. And Sirius was one of my favorite characters! There were so many issues with book five I can’t even go into it, but needless to say, six and seven more than made up for it!

I could go on, but I’ll stop. My worst fear is that as soon as I spout my ramblings, I’ll have an ear load of everything I messed up in my books. No one is perfect. And as writers and creators sometimes we lose the bigger picture. It’s nice when you have a group of people you can run things by, but I feel a lot of these people are so famous that no one wants to be honest with them anymore. They tell them everything they do is great, so they don’t have anyone to give them critique anymore. I’m just grateful for all the people in my life that are willing to tell me if I write a piece of crap, lol!

Here’s to honesty!

The Riser Saga… This blog is dedicated to all the ups and downs of my writing process. Writing is my biggest passion and I can’t imagine my life without it. The Riser Saga is a series of books I’m writing that follows the harrowing adventures of teenager, Chelsan Derée, and her fight for survival in a dystopian future. I’ve written the first two books, Riser and Reaper, and I’m currently writing the third and final book in the trilogy, Ripper. It’s such a blast writing a character like Chelsan, her power to control anything dead within a four-mile radius, lends itself to some pretty crazy action sequences. Set in a futuristic world where as long as you take a little pill called Age-pro, you can live forever. Of course, it doesn’t stop death. You can still get hit by a hover-car or be stabbed by a mugger or fall off a cliff. But as long as you steer clear from freak accidents and take your Age-pro you can be immortal. I wrote the books in first person through Chelsan’s eyes. I’ve always said that I mentally never made it past fifteen, so writing as a teenager felt right at home. I can’t believe I’m on the final book of the trilogy. It makes me savor everyday. Some days are harder than others because sometimes I haven’t quite figured out exactly what I want to happen next. I always outline everything. But the outlines are loose and the story inevitably ends up evolving into something even I wasn’t expecting. That’s always the best feeling when your own characters rise up and tell the story for you, surprising you in ways you never predicted.

The third book!

I'm in the thick of it! The third book Ripper of the Riser Saga is well on its way and I'm really excited where it's going. This will complete the first trilogy of the series. I have an idea for another trilogy in the same world, but a different main character, which will be introduced in Ripper. I'm really delving into the messed up politics of the future I've created in this last book. From assassins that used to work with Turner, to Elisha coming back with full on Chelsan powers, this book will hopefully be even more action-packed than the first two.

Beginnings...

There’s nothing like the feeling of starting a new project. Your brain is bursting with new thoughts and ideas that can’t wait to get on the page. It’s my favorite part of writing (although the finishing part is pretty awesome too ☺).

I’m staring into the abyss of book two and I’m feeling pretty exhilarated. It’s all outlined and ready for me to get going. I’ve read and re-read book one a bunch of times so I’m back in my character’s heads and back in their world again. This time around it’ll probably be a little slower going since I’m working full time now. (For book one I was unemployed so I was able to write all day, aaaahh, I still remember the bliss of it all!)

But here I go, ready to put my characters through the proper amounts of mayhem, torture, love, laughs, twists, turns, horror and adventure. Here’s to book two!! Wish me luck!!

Marketing!

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

Seriously, this is a bigger job than the writing itself especially when you have little to no money. I’m hoping word of mouth will work in my favor, but I have to actually get it into people’s hands for the whole word of mouth thing to work, lol.

It’s been quite a road. I remember when I was about six-years-old and I made a pair of cardboard shoes. I thought they were just about the best pair of shoes EVER and I decided that I could sell them. So I spent all afternoon cutting cardboard bottoms and fastening ribbons to them. In the end I think I had about seven pairs of shoes that I actually went door to door to sell! I look back and it’s hilarious.

But I also feel a pang of jealously. I’m jealous of that six-year-old me that believed so much in my creation that going door to door felt like I was doing the world a service by offering them my homemade shoes.

If I could just tap into that part of me and come out swinging…

You could get hit by a bus...

I always use this saying because let’s face it: life is short and you could literally get hit by a bus.

I try to live by this motto though sometimes it’s hard. The practical, worrisome part of the brain tries to creep in from time to time, but overall the bottom line is that if you don’t do what you love in life you’ll be miserable. I know a lot of people that have settled for what pays the bills and have lost sight of their true passions in life. This is worse than death for me because if I gave up my dreams I’d just be a walking zombie.

I’ve been writing stories since I was five-years-old and never saw myself doing anything else whether it’s for movies, TV or novels. It’s been and still is a hard road to success, but honestly, giving up isn’t a part of the way my brain works. It’s unfathomable to me. Writing is what makes me feel alive. It’s what makes me truly happy. Whether or not I ever make a dime, I’ll be content as long as I have a pen and paper.

I try to keep myself as disciplined as possible so that I can have some finished products, but let’s face it; product has never been a problem for me. Quality, not so sure, but quantity, not an issue. I’ve written over forty feature scripts, at least twenty TV pilots, comics, graphic novels and I just finished my first book. I just wish they weren’t all sitting on my shelf collecting dust, lol ☺

A part of my “hit by a bus” motto is to swallow my fear of people and get myself out there. I’m ridiculously shy with people I don’t know and it’s held me back from some pretty great opportunities. I can’t tell you how hard it is for me to just ask for what I want in life. It’s like I don’t want to impose even though I’m fully aware that this is how the entertainment industry works, nepotism and “favor asking.”

So my first step to success will be to go for it no matter how socially excruciating it is for me because I could get hit by a bus. (of course, if the universe is listening, I really don't want to get hit by a bus! ☺)