Blog Tour

One of Susan’s nonfiction projects.

This post is a part of the #mywritingprocess blog tour. I was tagged by writing buddy Susan Uhlig.  I met Susan when we were both regional advisors for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.  Susan is one of the most remarkably diverse authors I know wring picture books as well as readers and for religous and trade magazines.  You can find out all about her published work here.

Current Project

As many of you know, I tend to work on two or three things at a time.  When I get stuck on one piece, I move to another, unless a deadline approaches. When that happens, amazingly, I write on one project and only one project.  Right now (other than blogging), I am writing a book on the Ancient Maya for Red Line.  It is due May 26 so, although I may break away for a bit of this or that, I am devoting my energy to this one project.

How Does My Work Differ

While I usually strive to be unique and let my individual way of looking at the world shine through, the Maya book is for a series.  That means that I am having to make sure it fits with the other books in voice, reading level and tone.  While a lot of writers find this suffocating, for me it is a puzzle.  What can I do to make it just so?

Why Do I Write What I Do?

Some people seem surprised that I actually chose this culture.  Yep.  They gave me a whole list, and I picked the Maya.  In part, I chose them because I know a little something about them but that’s because they facinate me.  They built such huge, magnificent cities and then POOF! I’m all about puzzles and mysteries and this one is huge.

How Does My Writing Process Work?

That’s a tough one.  I noodle things over and then I write.  It seems pretty straightforward to me but I’m not sure that’s actually true.  My first drafts vary from pretty solid to frightening.  Then I rewrite.  While I do some rewriting on screen, I do at least one draft on paper.  Old fashioned but dependable in that I always catch a few things on paper that I’ve consistently missed on-screen.

I know that this isn’t how everybody works and next week you’ll have the chance to see how two of my fellow writers handle their craft.  Sioux Roslawski, Elizabeth Humphrey and I all blog at the Muffin so this is pretty exciting to be doing this as a group.

Sioux will be blogging on May 26, 2014.  You can read her post here.

Sioux Roslawski is a 3rd grade teacher in St. Louis, a dog rescuer for Love a Golden, and she freelance writes. She is one of the five founding members of the infamous writing critique group, the WWWPs (Wild Women Wielding Pens). Sioux’s stories can be found in nine Chicken Soup for the Soul books, as well as several volumes in the Not Your Mother’s Book series. More of her writing can be found at http://siouxspage.blogspot.com .

Elizabeth Humphrey will post on May 24, 2014 at the Muffin.

Elizabeth King Humphrey, a North Carolina writer and editor, teaches online copyediting courses for the University of California San Diego Extension and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Her writing has appeared in The Writer, Scientific American Mind, AOL.com, WomenOnWriting.com, Greater Wilmington Business Journal, and the Wilmington StarNews. Her book credits include Idiots Guide: Gluten-Free Eating and The Feminist Movement Today. 

–SueBE