First, a thank you to author Selena Blake for inviting me to join this “My Writing Process” Blog Tour & Baton Passing.
Now, on to the 4 writing-related questions…
Q) What am I currently working on?
A) I’ve got my head down, buried behind the screen of the laptop, working hard to finish my 80,000 word contemporary for Kensington Zebra. It’s MIDNIGHT WRANGLER (Midnight Cowboys, Book 2) and will release some time in late 2015. Book 1 in the Midnight Cowboy series, MIDNIGHT RIDE, is coming in April 2015. More info to come when I get it. For now, you can read a sneak peek excerpt HERE , add the book to your TBR list on Goodreads HERE and vote for it in the Goodreads lists of upcoming cowboy books featuring sexy alpha heroes HERE.
Q) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
A) Hmm, well I write contemporary, as do many others, but I think my voice comes across a bit lighter and more casual than many others. Probably because I’m usually writing cowboys or military guys, and the tone of the books’ narratives match the tone of the dialogue. And if you’ve ever spent any time around cowboys or  troops, you know there is a lot of colorful language and joking. And sometimes such great things come out of their mouths in real life, I write it into a book. It makes it feel more real for the reader and it’s more fun for me to write.
Q) Why do I write what I do?
A) I enjoy writing steamy contemporary romance focused on hot cowboys and sexy military men. Writing is a hella lot of work, and if I didn’t enjoy what I was writing, I might as well get another job.
Q) How does your writing process work?
A) My Process in a nutshell…
PLOTTING: I’m not a plotter. As frightening as it is to go into a book from a blank page 1 knowing I need 300 more pages written and not knowing much more than the basic characters, I still don’t like to plot. And when I do force myself to, I don’t stick to it religiously. Things always evolve and grow as I go.
REWRITES: I write very clean, right from the first draft. I don’t like rewrites so I like to make it right when I first put it down on the page. Yes, there are the inevitable typos, but I rarely need major reworking before or after submission to an editor.
WORD COUNT: I like to figure out how many words I need minimum per day to make a deadline and once I’ve done that for the day, I’ll allow myself to work on other things, or goof off. If I end up writing more, that’s great, I have a built in buffer or submit the work early. If I don’t, I give myself a pass as long as the minimum is done. If I don’t make my minimum, I make myself make it up by writing more over the next two days to catch up. I find 1500 a very doable daily word goal. 2,000 is better since it makes me crazy if one WiP drags on for too long. My personal best is 10,500 words written in a day but that was a deadline emergency and I would never want to sustain that level. My eyes were blurry. My wrists hurt. If my husband didn’t slide food in front of me that day I wouldn’t have eaten. I try to get my words done first thing in the morning so I have a sense of accomplishment and the rest of the day free. Though some days, I’m in bed with the laptop pulling out the final words to complete the day so I can go to sleep with a clear conscience.
 So that’s it for my quick and dirty author process post.
Next Monday, June 30th, look for more authors to post their processes on their own blogs!