Blog Hoppin'

I don't usually blog about writing, but last week I was invited by my St. Louis, MO-based friend and writer extraordinaire, Sue Bradford Edwards, to participate in this "blog hop interview." The idea is pretty straightforward: She sent me some interview questions, which I answer (see below), and at the end I tag a couple of other writers who will in turn answer the same questions on their blogs next week. 

Please check out Sue's answers to the questions at her blog, One Writer's Journey. Feel free to leave a comment and tell her you heard about it from me. 

And now, without further ado--

THE QUESTIONS

1. What are you working on right now?

• I am in the process of writing an article for Children's Writer Newsletter   on the subject of following up on submissions/queries. Then, hot on its heels, I have an article about writer/editor relationships to write for Writer's Guide to 2014. (The link takes you to WG2013, which also cantains an article of mine). In addition, I am  putting the final polish on my middle-grade historical fiction novel about the cliffdwellers of Mesa Verde--working title: The Flight of the Cliffbird--which is under contract with Royal Fireworks Press.

2. Why do you write what you do?

• Because I like to. The articles on writing give me opportunities to interact with publishers, editors, agents, and other writers, and glean from their wisdom. Middle-grade fiction, though, is my favorite thing to write. You can dive in deep--into characters, setting, plot. I get enough starting and stopping from the articles I write, so a long-term project is great to keep on the burner to work on in between the shorter stuff.

3. How does your writing process work?

• For articles, it usually looks like writing a set of interview questions, researching editors etc. that are willing to answer said questions. Once they send the interviews back to me, I pull the article together blending quotes and research in a hopefully writer-ly way. Fiction, though is a much more organic process for me, in which I alternate between times of inspiration where sentences flow so easily that when I read back through, I can't remember writing them, interspersed with sectors of revising and polishing, working on the overall structure and deepening characters, plot, pacing, and all those elements that go into making a good story.

4. What is the hardest part about writing?

• Starting. That white computer screen staring back at me while I try to formulate the first sentence. It's funny, but I always want my beginning to be perfect, even though I'm willing for the rest of the article or book to evolve. But most times perfection doesn't happen right off the bat, so I'm like a kid teetering on the end of a diving board trying to pysche myself up enough to take the plunge, even if it's not a perfect dive.

5. What would you like to try as a writer that you haven't yet?

• I would like to explore poetry. It would help if I actually understood poetry, but mostly I don't, especially contemporary poetry. I mean--what makes a certain conglomeration of non-rhyming, non-metered words poetry?

So there you have it, even if you didn't ask the questions, you now have the answers. The writers I've tagged are posted below. Check out how other authors answered these questions and more! 

Posting July 4 – Cheryl Harness at her blog
Posting soon: Patricia Newman, SCBWI RA for Northern CA at her blog--http://www.patriciamnewman.com/bio.html