My Writing Process Blog Tour

My author friend Suzie Tullett invited me to take part in the "My Writing Process Blog Tour." It's a way to help others learn about authors' blogs.

So thanks to Suzie for inviting me. Go to Suzie's website to learn more about her women's fiction novel Little White Lies and Butterflies and Going Underground. 

Here are the questions I need to answer for the blog tour:

Question 1: What am I working on?

I'm working on two things, revising my novel Trail Mix, about two women who decide hiking the Appalachian Trail is the ultimate diet plan. They're really grappling with where they fit in their lives now that their children have gone off to college and are finding new trouble. They have to figure out if their marriages still work and who they are when they aren't mothers.

I'm also writing a new novel Paris Runaway. This book is about Sadie, a divorced mother, who learns that her daughter, a 17-year-old high school junior, has run away to Paris after the French exchange student. Sadie travels to Paris to bring her daughter home, but she has a lot of lessons to learn about trust and love before she can safely corral her daughter. 

Question 2: How does my work differ from other of its genre? 

I like to think every author has a unique voice that differentiates it from others in the same genre. I definitely write like a woman, worried about feelings and family first, and I've lived many of the fears that the women in my novels face. I hope the my novels include strings of gems, words that the reader can connect to and relate to. That's what makes a good novel to me. 

Question 3: Why do I write what I do?

I write about things that are important to me, things that make me catch my breath. The idea of a 17-year-old running away, taking a flight across the ocean, getting mixed up with a questionable crowd all the way across the ocean... that makes my heart start pumping. But the idea that this unhappy mother can go in search of her daughter and find all the beauty that France has to offer, that makes me smile. 

Question 4: How does my writing process work?

Usually, I just write by the seat of my pants. I get an idea for a plot and I just wander around with my words until it comes together in a novel. Then I edit, edit, edit.

This time though, I have an outline that reminds me where my characters are supposed to be going, so I'm hoping it's a smoother process. 

Thanks again, Suzie for asking me to participate.