MY WRITING PROCESS

Pitch Wars pal, Kai Jordan, tagged me for the #MyWritingProcess blog hop a few weeks ago. So here is my attempt at blog hopping.

What I’m working on
I'm working at keeping my sanity, and I seem to be losing. You should have asked what am I writing, but you didn't, so I can't answer that question, being OCD and all. (okay, if you insist) My WIP is about a man. (satisfied?)

How does my work differ from others in the genre
Tough question. I have a friend, who happens to be an agent, and she once told me that my style of writing is different than anybody she has read. She didn't tell me if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I also seem to have an infinite amount of commas, so I throw them about as if they were confetti, drives my wife and editors MAD.

Why do I write what I do
That's easy.
1-I had no choice. I had to write. It is what my childhood chose for me
2-I write because I want my new imaginary friends to love the same stories that I told my old imaginary friends,
3- I write because I just can't help it

4-Writing is not a job. It's not a hobby. It's a drive, a journey. It's something within us that needs to be released.

5-It keeps me off of the streets and from bothering the villagers,

How does my writing process work?
My writing process is totally whacked. I write when I feel like it, or whenever I can free myself from my Twitter addiction. I need to start at the same hour everyday (1pm) if I miss that hour I'll wait until the following day. If I'm starting a new chapter, or WIP, I prefer to start it on a Monday or the first of the month.
However, I can edit almost anytime, go figure.
 I don't have a play list. I would say that I need silence, but the characters in my head never shut up. They keep me awake at night, which is when I get most of my random ideas. I'll throw plot twist ideas to my wife during commercial breaks.

Who I’m tagging
I’m tagging anybody willing to take on the task.

raballard bio.

I was invisible throughout my schooldays (due to my shyness), I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons. Invisibility has definite advantages, especially when combined with a vivid imagination. I spent my youth on a raft floating down the Mississippi with my friends Tom, Huck, and Jim. I chased windmills with Don Quixote. I spent summers in Europe, winters in Alaska. Anywhere my imagination could take me. I created magical, fantasy worlds with magical inhabitants.

 

Time does not stand still. Fantasy worlds evolve into mundane, everyday life. As I grew older, my whimsical travels to far off places diminished and my invisibility slowly faded into visibility.

 

All foolish realms were forgotten, pushed into the furthest regions of my mind. I grew up, but a small part of my mind, the part stuffed to overflowing with imaginary worlds, refused to get older. I must have a Peter Pan soul.


Years passed. One failed marriage became two. I found and married my one true love and began my happily ever after. Happiness has certain side effects my creativity yearned to shine. The imaginary world refused to be silenced; they demanded to be heard.


#PitchWars mentors or mentees that happen to stumble into my little blog, welcome. You might have noticed that I didn't give any reason why you should choose me, sorry that's not my style. But if I was forced to choose a reason I suppose it would be that I retired a few years ago after forty years as an engineer, and I've been married long enough to have learned how to follow instructions, and take NO for an answer.


Thank You
Management

I've been avoiding writing this blog like the measles. As this is, (was to be) the release date for CHASING ETERNITY, I can no longer procrastinate. It's time to face my fears, because ignoring them is no longer helping.


Most of you know this, but about a month ago my publisher, Front Porch What's-its-name, closed its doors. There were no warnings, no discussions. Everybody was left holding their published books in their hands not knowing what to do next. I received my edits on Friday, returned them on Saturday and on Sunday I learned of the owner's decision.




I was lucky as they had yet to publish Chasing Eternity, so all it cost me was my dream. I'm now back to chasing rainbows or fighting windmills. I'm flip-flopping once again between self-doubt and confidence, but I must admit that at time the self-doubt is winning.


I suppose the experience might have been worth it. From my ashes I got a good edit. And even if my soaring over the rainbow was brief, the view was amazing. 

I'm flying

 For years I've compared my writing career to that of chasing rainbows. I finally get to soar with the bluebirds.

I'm pleased to announce that after seven long years of dream chasing, windmill fighting and flip-flopping between self-doubt and confidence, I've signed a contract with Front Porch Romance, a small press for my Historical Fiction, Chasing Eternity.