When I hear the word “roll” I think Tootsie or log roll. But when my darling and talented novelist friend Samantha Stroh Bailey, author of the wonderful FINDING LUCAS, tagged me to participate in a blog roll, I was happy to jump on that log….er, blog. No swimsuit required.Plus the questions, though the same for everyone, seemed made to order. So, in answer…
1. WHAT AM I WORKING ON? Book 2 of my Cypress Bay mystery series, titled SWIMSUIT BODY. I have a first draft, which needs massive amounts of rewriting like all first drafts (mine, at least). The first book in the series, BONES AND ROSES, comes out August 5th, but it’s currently available for pre-order (digital only). SWIMSUIT BODY has my plucky and outspoken heroine, Tish Ballard, once more embroiled in solving a murder, this one of a world-famous movie star whom she found “tanning” posthumously by the swimming pool at one of the homes she maintains as owner of Rest Easy Property Management, in Cypress Bay, California. I’m having so much fun with this series. From an early age I’ve been a devotee of mystery and romantic suspense novels. By fifth grade I’d graduated from Nancy Drew to Jane Eyre (the mother of romantic suspense). In high school I was devouring the works of James Cain and Raymond Chandler. Early in my professional writing career I authored the YA mystery series, WHO KILLED PEGGY SUE? Several of my women’s fiction novels have mystery and/or romantic systems elements. So this seems a natural fit.
2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE? As the author of fifteen women’s fiction novels, I’ve carried certain elements of women’s fiction over to my mystery series. A strong sense of family, for one. Tish has a schizophrenic brother, Arthur, of whom she’s guardian. The character of the lovable but loopy Arthur is based on my son, Michael, who is schizoaffective. If my women’s fiction novels have enjoyed worldwide popularity, I think it’s partly because they’re woven of threads from my own life. Honesty is the best policy – never is this truer than with fiction.
3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO? I write what I’m moved to write. That sounds mysterious, but it’s not really. Inspiration comes in many forms–decorating a cake, for instance. Mine just happens to take the form of words. I used to play the piano and paint watercolors, but a wise woman once said, “You can court many Muses but marry only one.” Acting on that advice, I sold my piano and put away my paintbrushes to devote myself to writing full-time. I never looked back.
4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK? I fly solo. No one- and I mean no one is allowed to see my first drafts. They would think I was an imposter, and wonder who really wrote the Eileen Goudge novels they’d enjoyed. My writing process is like building a house. First, the blueprint, then the framing, and on and on, until eventually you have a solid structure. Editing also plays a huge part. Where would I be without the clear eye of an editor? I’m blessed with the wonderful editing team of Samantha Stroh Bailey and Francine LaSala and it really helps that both ladies are talented authors in their own right. If I had one wish it would probably be for my works to emerge fully formed with a single draft. But until I find a magic lamp in a cave I’m stuck doing it the old-fashioned way.
5. AND THE OTHER PART OF THIS QUESTION, HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS NOT WORK? My writing process is seldom a problem. I’m fortunate in that I don’t suffer from writer’s block. The problems I encounter are when my life outside my writing encroaches on my time or saps my energy. It’s a constant juggling act, since I don’t lead a hermetical existence.
The three authors I’ve tagged to follow me are wonderfully talented and among the warmest people I’m blessed to know. Sonja Yoerg, author of HOUSE BROKEN; Kathleen Irene Paterka, author of numerous novels, among them FOR I HAVE SINNED, and staff writer for the historic Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Michigan; Deborah Schwartz, author of WOMAN ON TOP. I’m eager to hear what they have to say!
