My Writing Process

One question that comes up pretty often whenever writers speak to groups is some variant of "What is your process?" Today I've been tagged in a series of blogs that raise that question and others - thank you to author Victoria Dougherty for including me in this. (You can find Victoria at www.victoriadougherty.wordpress.com)

And now to my answers....

What am I working on?

As usual, I'm working on several projects. One is an environmental novel set in the high desert of Nevada. It's about half finished. I have also begun the fourth book in my Animals in Focus mystery series as I prepare to launch the third book, Catwalk, in October. As if those aren't enough to keep me hopping, I have several essays, short stories, and poems in various states of completion. Never a dull moment!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Good question, and the answer depends on which of my works we mean. For now, I'll stick to my mysteries. The Animals in Focus series has (surprise!) animals who are vital characters in the stories. They are not, however, "humanized." They don't solve crimes or answer phones, and I don't presume to speak for them other than through their own behavions. In other words, in contrast to a lot of fictional animals, I strive to make mine as realistic as possible. 

The main human characters in my books are in their fifties and sixties and very active, and that's a little strange in genre fiction, it seems. 

Why do I write what I do?

That is an interesting and, I think, unanswerable question. In creative work, I'm not sure that we entirely choose our subjects or our genres. A psychologist might get to the bottom of some of my reasons for writing what I do, and occasionally I have some deep and startling insight as I'm writing or walking (or dreaming). But all in all, it's all a bit mysterious.

How does your writing process work?

I'm never entirely sure what people mean when they ask this. What I think of as my process, though, is this: I write every morning, and I have done so for years. Now, when I say "every morning," I mean almost, because there are days in which something else intervenes. But for the most part, I do begin my days by writing. I tend to fiddle for the first half hour or so, figuring out what I want or need to work on. Then I get down to it, and if I'm really lucky, I enter the deep, enveloping "flow," a creative place not unlike runner's high. Then I'm no longer in control, and all I can do is set the words down on the screen or, more rarely these days, on paper. 

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Next week, my brilliant author friend Christy English will pick up this thread. "Christy English, romance and historical fiction writer, embracing life one book at a time...." You can find her at  

http://www.christyenglish.com/