I've been tagged by a writer friend and fellow member of Bayou Writers Group to answer some questions on a blog hop, so here goes.
1. What are you working on?
I just completed a crime/revenge novel that came in at 90,400 words, 340 pages, titled Wild Justice. My tag line for the book: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. But sometimes He could use a little help. I'm going to let it sit awhile before I start the revision process. While I'm waiting for it to percolate I'm starting back on my short stories and poems. I have thirty haikus I completed during National Poetry Month in April that I want to see if I can find a home for. Also, I have several ideas for short stories I want to get written. Looks like a busy summer.
2. How does your work differ from others in its genre?
This is a hard one to answer, and I'm not quite sure how to do it. There are so many mystery writers out there that I'm sure there are lots of books like mine. A story popped in my head one day and I wrote until I had it on paper. I guess it's different from others in my genre in that it's in my voice. I hope it's different enough that a lot of people will want to read it.
3. Why do you write what you do?
Like I said, my book is a crime novel, and the conventional wisdom is to write what you like to read. At this point in my life my favorites seem to be mystery/suspense/thriller. The stories I've been writing lately seem to have a bit of mayhem, if not murder. My poems, however, are mostly little slices of life. I guess the main thing is I just enjoy seeing words taking shape on the page.
4. How does your writing process work?
My writing process is somewhat different from most folks, but it works for me. First draft is always in longhand on legal pads with roller ball pen. I skip lines for easier reading and revision as I go along. Next I type it on this neat little gadget called an Alphasmart. It's very easy to type on and doesn't do all that crazy stuff a computer does sometimes. You know, cursor jumping all over the place, words running together, etc. Then I format a document in Word on the computer and plug Alphie into it and voila--it jumps from Alphie to the computer and all I have to do is proofread for typos. I can think and create better if I have a pen in hand and a tablet on the desk. Like I said--works for me.
Now I'm sending you over to Chris Baldauf, a fellow member of Bayou Writers Group and the Thursday morning critique bunch that meets at Stellar Beans . She is Past President of BWG. A good friend and excellent critiquer. See her answers on her blog, Some Assimilation Required, at http://chrisbaldauf.blogspot.com.
