A few weeks ago, I did a blog hop for my son, Joe. Rather than do the usual thing of drafting people to participate, I am going to simply send you around to some of my favorite blogs that I check out on a regular basis. Some of the questions below I answered before, but things shift and change and occasionally, so I was up for taking another stab at it since I am working on different projects now than then.
My son, Joe Humphrey, did his own blog tour post at the website for his Bloodletting novel series. Truly, it is one of the most gritty, edge-of-your-seat, hardcore, fun, interesting, well-written, well-planned fictional series I have ever encountered. I urge you to check it out at http://bloodlettingbook.com/ and then get started on the series by clicking here and choosing PDF, Kobu, iTunes, or Amazon. If you like “true to life,” brutal, vampire fiction, you will not be sorry you did.
The author who started Joe on his blog tour is Aral Bereux, wqho wrote the popular dystopian Juliana Rey series. You can check out her books here: http://www.aralbereux.com/ and read her own blog tour interview here.
Now for my own interview questions:
What am I working on?
I am so excited because the Tarot book, Tarot For Real People, is finally finished! I first wrote this book in 1997 and it was, in fact, the first book I ever actually completed. It was always a goal of mine to go back over the book and polish it up for proper publication. Little did I realize what a chore it would become! Of all twenty-three books I have now published, the Tarot book took me the longest at two months. Now that it is finally available in both print and e-book form, I feel as though the weight of the world is off my shoulders. Completing that book represents completion of a long-time goal and now I feel excitedly free to move forward.
This brings me back (mostly) to the exciting world of fiction! I have TWO novelettes in the works and if all goes well, they will be published by the end of July. I do not want to go into the storylines because I am still working them out on my head. Stay tuned and I will have more info, but for now, two fictional pieces.
I also will rework the GH Fan Club Weekend book so that the guidebook part is its own book and the subsequent years are divided into yearbooks. I intended to do this before, but life just happened.
I have other projects on the burner, but they are so far down the list that I have stopped putting energy into them until I am there. After those three items above are completed, I get the honor and privilege of going back to Avalon for Book #3 of the Seven Sisters of Avalon Series. Those girls have been knocking at my brain’s door nonstop for attention and I am excited to give them their due. I expect that book to be done by the beginning of Fall.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
It doesn’t. I’m just that good, plus I have this amazing staff of editors and muses and think tank people who make me look better than I am.
Why do I write what I do?
…because I have to write or I will die. That being the case, I choose nonfiction that is based in some subject about which I know enough to draw reasonable conclusions. Because I am such a jack-of-all-trades, that includes divination, energy movement, religious premise, childbirth, book publication, 1960s and 1970s Kentucky, General Hospital, and a ton of subjects I have not yet even tapped. When I write fiction, I go into worlds that interest me and wait for the story to be revealed. Often, I am just as eager as the reader to find out what happens next.
How does my writing process work?
I sit at the keyboard and start typing and a book comes out. There really is no greater mystery than that. On my preferred day, I write hot and heavy for around fifteen hours or so and then get back at it first thing the next morning.
I write the book hot and edit it cold. I write straight through in stream-of-consciousness with outlining or “storyboarding.” I know basically where the story is starting, usually where it is ending, and the overall theme. I have zero idea how the journey will go until it comes out of my fingers. Often, I am left thinking, “Huh. I didn’t know that” when the characters tell me something new. It is always about and through the characters. I am just the interpreter of the story.
Once the book is finished, I take a break of a day or two and come back to it with fresh eyes for what I call the “rewrite.” This is where I go through and fix any inconsistencies, typos, grammar errors, or problems with story flow or sentence structure. One the rewrite is finished, I break for at least another day and then come back for the polish, which is where I filter out all (I hope) of the things I missed and then do the formatting for publication.
After that is done, the book goes off to the editors and I wait for their corrections to come in. Then I do the final fix and upload the book.
One thing that has remained consistent is that I often have no idea where to even begin a story until the cover of the book is finished. Once it is done, I have the nature of the book established and it begins to unfold in my head.
Final thoughts . . .
One of my greatest passions is getting the story out, not just of me, but of every adult who feels that they have a story to write. No longer does a writer have to shop their manuscript around to dozens of “real” publishers to see their work in print. If you have a manuscript collecting dust in either your file cabinet drawer or your head, you owe it to yourself to pull it out and get busy, even if only for an hour or two a day. If I can do it, you can do it.
Some Other Blogs To Check Out:
http://carolynridderaspenson.com/
http://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/
http://karenalbeck.com/ (see her blog in the right sidebar of her site)
So there y’go.