Questions from my newsletter subscribers!

Recently, I did my bi-annual newsletter subscriber survey. As usual I asked if there were any questions. My subscribers did not disappoint! Here are my favorite questions:

1) From Debby: She wanted to know what authors I read and what ones are my favorites.

Hoo boy, I don't have a favorite, per se. There are so many great authors out there. Latest reads include Yasmin Angoe's Her Name is Knight series, Shirlene Obuobi's On Rotation medical romance, Milla Vane's Heart of Blood and Ashes, Kimberly Lemming's That Time I Got Drunk fantasy romance series, and an alien/sci-fi romance by Aria Starling. Oh, and I read Elizabeth Everett's Victorian/STEM romances recently and they were also excellent!

So, yes. My reading tastes are eclectic!

Perennial favorites include anything by Robin McKinley, Anne Bishop, J.R. Ward, Holley Trent, and Katee Roberts. And, like everyone else in the world, I'm also reading through Sarah Maas's ACOTAR series right now.

2) From Nancy M: How do I stay motivated to write everyday? Do I keep a journal to jot down random thoughts or ideas to use as inspiration?

First of all, I don't write every day, mostly because of my Day Job. I write as much as I am able, but the work often comes in blocks of several days or a week at a time. After writing in those blocks, sometimes I do feel like I got run over by a dump truck!

I jot down notes regarding the characters or the story that I'm currently working on. But I don't have a specific "idea journal" for future stories. One other thing that's interesting. My brain insists on remaining pretty linear. Meaning, I have to work on one project at a time. If I skip around between two or more incomplete projects, everything gets really muddled. So, even on deadlines, I have to wrap up one project (draft or edit) before moving to the other project.

3) From Kathy: How long do I spend each day writing? Do I schedule it? Do I write a really rough draft first?

Again, I don't write daily for all the reasons above. When I have time off, I do block out chunks of time to write. (Meaning, I make sure hubs is out of the house on what we call "alone day" so he's not driving me nutty!)

Oh yes, that first draft is absolute garbage. Awful spelling, minimal punctuation, no dialogue tags. It's utter crap, and I am happy with that. Because once the draft is on the page, I can fix it! The more important part of prepping that first draft are my 10-page character interviews of each main character (and villain, when applicable). That, and a refined outline are what sets the stage for me to draft quickly.

Thanks to my subscribers for these great questions, and happy reading!