Writing Process Blog Hop! Tag, Now I'm It!

I'm not sure how much I can add to some of the wonderful blogs that came before me, but for such a good cause (writers helping and promoting writers), I'm willing to play along.

The Writing Process Blog Hop is passed from writer to writer.  Nancy Gideon “tagged” me in her blog last week, passing me the baton for today’s post on four questions regarding how we writer’s write. In turn, my job is to pass this task on to 3 authors who will find fellow authors who will post and tag  next week, and so on, and so on. 

Now it’s my turn to play the WRITING PROCESS:

1. What am I working on?

It’s not at all unusual for me to work on multiple projects, but I try to focus my time so I reach as many endings  as beginnings.

I am currently working on Book II in my Illuminati Series, The Tree of Life.  Related, in a way, is the second manuscript I am working on. It’s the first in my YA spinoff. Book I in my Far From the Tree series is titled Immortal Sins.

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

Well, I call my work Urban Fantasy Reinvented, which is a huge clue that it is in fact very different. It has many elements from other genres, and actually defies categorization.  But Urban Fantasy seems the most accurate. It follows the adventures and misadventures of a hunka-hunka Indiana Jones, Ljluka (Luc), and his equally captivating female counterpart, Nalini. And here the plot thickens, because I do like a twisted and turning plot, riddled with subplots. Take two warring families, add Immortality, mythological Pantheon personalities and paranormal abilities, add a dash of  International espionage that 007 would admire, and hold on to your seat because you’re in for a wild ride.

True to fantasies like LOR, the supporting characters are fleshed out enough to make you want to have them star in their own novels. Fortunately, they will.

3. Why do I write what I do?

A great deal of my professional career was spent writing rhetoric. I spent years in college subverting my right brain in order to develop my left brain. Once I wasn’t answering to professors, it was time to feed my soul with a hearty helping of fiction. The rest, as they say…

4. How does my writing process work?

My favorite way to brainstorm ideas is to toss them around with my writing critique buddies. Then, once I have roughed out an idea, I like to toss it around again. By then I have it pretty solid in my left brain and it starts to reel out like a movie into my right brain. 

The next step is getting it down. I’m obsessive compulsive when it comes to creativity. I lose track of time and space like a kid watching cartoons or playing video games.  Once a scene starts to flow, or a character starts to develop, I’ve been known to sit at my computer all night. Night owls and vampires are very impressed with my schedule.

Then come the rewrites. Again I rely on my critique buds to be ruthless and honest and caring and enthusiastic—all the things a good critique group should be. 

Rewrite, spit shine and repeat as necessary.

My "Tagger" Nancy Gideon

Here's a little about Nancy Gideon, whose work I read and loved even before I met her. I still didn't know it then because she was writing under one of her many pen names, Dana Ransom.  That was over twenty years ago! Or it would be if I wasn't 26. 

She has been a writer in almost every romance genre, if not all, for over twenty-five years. She has also written a screenplay for a movie! Probably the most prolific writer I know, she takes self-discipline and organization to a whole new level.  

I'm humbled by how much I have learned from this multi-award-winning author.  She has always been an advocate for new writers and has helped launch many a writer into published authorship as an active member of Romance Writers of America.  I'm proud to have her as one of my closest friends.  She has a great sense of humor, and is even a great house guest!

Her latest series, By Moonlight, is so popular she is writing the 8th book! To find out what else she's up to, visit her here:

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My "Tagee" Ric Wasley

Ric has a 40 year professional career history in advertising, publishing and marketing in Boston, New York and San Francisco. He has degrees in history and psychology and has been trained in debating, public speaking and stage acting. A large part of his 40 year career was spent in numerous professional and business settings as a presenter and featured speaker at seminars and professional meetings. 

Ric has been a visiting professor at Worcester Polytech Institute. He also teaches a popular course on marketing for authors at prominent venues such as the venerable “Cape Cod Writers Conference”. Ric is a published author of a Mystery Series and multiple other novels. His newest, Echoes Down a Dark Well, is a paranormal mystery published by Tell-Tale Publishing's  Night-shade   Imprint. You can visit Ric at:

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