Blog Hop

For some reason, I volunteered to do a "blog hop". For those of you who don't know that a blog hop is, don't feel bad, I didn't either until a few days ago. I guess it's like a bar hop, only it's a fun way to check out other writer's blogs, so you "hop" from one blog to another. Each person who volunteers is supposed to answer the following three questions in their blog. At the end of the posting, you tag three other writers (with links to their blogs) who will carry on the "hop".

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? So here goes. Here are my answers to the three questions:

 What are you working on?

I always have more than one thing going at any given time. Some people like to work on one thing until it’s completed and then go on to the next. But not me. I get bored doing work on just one thing until it’s finished. So, right now I’m working on revising several picture book texts, one short nonfiction story for an upcoming contest submission, several book reviews and a couple of articles for a business service guide.

How does your writing process work?

I’m not sure I have a “process.” But, I guess if I think about it and break it down it works like this: I tend to get a lot of ideas. Some I write down on scraps of paper or in a notebook; some I don’t. Depending on when and when the idea occurs to me, I might write it down and then start writing a rough draft of the story/article right away. This could occur while I’m sitting on my couch, in which case I’d start the rough draft with a pen writing in a spiral-bound notebook. If I’m sitting in my office chair, I’ll open a new Word file and start typing the rough draft on my computer. If I don't have access to either my spiral-bound notebook or my computer, I just jot the idea down on a slip of paper (anything I can find) and come back to it later.

After the initial rough draft is finished, I usually let the article/story simmer for a while. I’ll keep going over it in my head, wondering what I might need to add to or delete from the article/story. I’ll keep rewriting and tweaking it until I feel like it’s in pretty good shape.

Then, I like to have someone read it. That someone is usually my soon-to-be-19-year-old son. He has a gift for writing (must get it from his mother!) and is very good at spotting typos and inconsistencies in the text. Until recently, I didn’t have any writer friends to share my work with, but now that I’m part of an online critique group, I will have them read what I’ve written and give me feedback on it.

Who are the authors you most admire?

J. Patrick Lewis has to be on this list. He writes some wonderful poetry for children. I had the pleasure of not only meeting him, but also interviewing him and writing a profile about him.

J. K. Rowling. I think you have to admire someone who can churn out that many books in a series and have people coming back for more.

James Patterson. I really like most of what he writes. He writes mostly fast-paced, action-packed adult suspense novels, although he has written some books for kids. I think I’ve read everything he’s written, both MG and adult fiction. I admire him, not so much for the way  he writes, but for his productivity. He usually has at least three book novels published every year! Granted, he doesn’t write all of those himself, as he co-authors about half of those, but that’s still a lot of writing!

John Katz. Interestingly enough, he writes about dogs. His writes about his experiences with dogs, mainly with border collies. His stories will make you both laugh and cry.

Hmm....I just noticed that all four of their first names start with "J". Is that a coincidence? I might have to go into therapy to analyze this one fully...

In the meantime, now that I've answered these questions, please "hop" over to these three blogs to see if you find their answers to the same questions:

Debbie LaCroix: Author

Dani Duck: Artist Obscure

Becky Fyfe: Imagine! Create! Write!