Blog Hop- Writing Process

Today, I'm taking part in a blog hop about my writing process. (I did a similar one in October and thought it would be fun to see what had changed since then.)

The lovely and talented Ally Malinenko tagged me on her blog last week.Thanks, Ally! You can find her answers HERE. I've had the privilege of working with Ally on her upcoming release THIS IS SARAH.

This is Ally's cover debut week- be sure to check out her blog (or my tweets) for behind the scenes looks at this incredible novel. Check out this AWESOME cover by Anita Carroll.

Now for the questions:


1) What am I working on?
I am currently in line edits for Faery Marked (releasing this summer from BookFish Books), working on edits for The Mystery Prince (a novella I am releasing this summer) and am halfway through a first draft of a romantic comedy I'm titling Catching the Boy Next Door. It's about a girl trying to win the heart of the boy next door- or at least to get him to see her as more than a friend. (for those wondering Faery Marked was the paranormal romance, The Mystery Prince was the novella, and the other work is sitting on the back burner at the moment.)

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
I never quite know how to answer these kinds of questions. It's different because my voice is different. It's in first person (yeah, I know many others are, too) and my MC has a lot of heart. Her BFF has a lot of snark, and together they will use tricks and traps from some Harlequin's to win the boy. Or, at least they hope they will!

3) Why do I write what I do? 
I write what I write because characters come to mind and beg me to tell their stories. I spend lots of time thinking about them and the situation they are in before I start writing, answering questions, asking questions, trying to put them in different situations to see what happens. In the end, they tell me what they want me to say and I put their story on the screen.

4) How does my writing process work?
(Ooops! Guess I should have read ahead a little more!) I do a lot of preplanning, then I write. I don't outline (usually). In the case of Catching the Boy Next Door, I titled my chapters (something I've never done before) and gave some bullet points of what I wanted to happen in these chapters. For the most part, they've stayed the same as I've been writing, although I have made little tweaks as needed based on where the current scenes take me. Once I have a draft down, I go back over it and flesh out description and emotions and build it up as much as I can. Then I send it to beta readers and critique partners for their input. Once I get that back, I make the necessary changes and repeat as needed.

Phew! That was tough!! Let's hope that TAMMY LOWE, the person I'm passing this on to, has an easier time than I did!

Tammy Lowe is the author of The Acadian Secret.
When she isn't writing, you will either find Tammy surrounded by little children and covered in glitter and glue, or on some grand adventure: inside an Egyptian pyramid, twirling on an Alp or climbing the Great Wall of China. She's part Mary Poppins, part Indiana Jones.

Tammy lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her husband and their teenage son.

Be sure to stop by Tammy's Site next week and see how she answers these questions.