Author Blog Hop - Meet The Authors

Lisa McManus Lange invited me to participate in a blog hop.  Today it's a different kind of blog hop.  Not a reader hop, nor a book hop, nor even a review hop.  Today it's an author hop.  How did this happen?  Or more aptly, what is this?

Well it's a hop that passes the torch from one author to another.

But first, a little more about how I got here.  As I said, Lisa McManus Lange invited me.  I met Lisa ages ago when I stumbled on her blog and was intrigued by a fellow Canadian author and by what she had to say.  So I'd leave a comment from time to time and one thing led to another and soon I found us in the "ultimate" of friendship moments "facebook friends".  Seriously, Lisa is one of those go-to girls you can always count on to cheer you on or help you out.  Not only that, but she just published her young-adult book Newbie Nick, the release date coming up soon!

The purpose of all this is so that you can find out a little more about the authors participating in this hop, starting out with me and moving on to the two authors I've tagged - and of course going backwards and checking out what Lisa had to say in her post.  So without further ado - here are the four questions that tell you a little more about me.


1.  What am I working on?
I am in that lull between projects.  The latest romantic suspense was just completed and I've agreed to do a romantic suspense series.  And the lull?  I'm not sure if you can call "thinking about the next stories" a lull.  But the action is all going on in my head right now and not on the computer.  Sorry, to scare some of you folks but yes, that's the way it is - there are voices in my head.  In my world, we writers call them characters.

2.  How does my work differ from others in my genre?
My work differs from others in my genre I think in one word, as with other authors, voice.  Each of us views the world in a different way and that transposes to our writing.  For me, I love exotic locations but I've also learned that one doesn't have to travel too far from home to discover  something that is strange and different and right in your corner of the world.  I like to find the differences and show how very much the same we all are - even in the face of difference.

3.  Why do I write what I do?

-->I write romantic suspense and women's fiction.  The latter is because I love to delve into the human condition, explore how life impacts women and give each story hope too, with a thread of romance weaving through whatever issue they are dealing with. And suspense?  I suppose writing romantic suspense was inevitable.  I grew up a cop's daughter and while other children were told not to talk to strangers, I was told to get a good description of the suspect and report home.   Now, that exchange in an airport or at a temple or the library or...  I think what if that's not just an innocent discussion, what if that's not just a pen, what if it's something more sinister? 

4.  How does my writing process work?
I usually think of an idea - sparked by something I see, hear - might be just a line someone says.  After that I need a setting, once I have that I begin to think of scenarios and then characters - what do they do, who are they?  This is where a lot of the research occurs, making sure I have the facts to make the setting and the characters' motivations real.  Once I have that I begin to write a synopsis and from there I write as close to three final chapters as I can get.  Once I've done that, I start writing.  That's when the organization stops, I write freestyle from there to the end, stopping only for the occasional fact finding mission or sometimes I just mark the trouble spot and worry about all of the remaining "reality" checks when I finish the first draft.

And the authors I've tagged? - Laura Whiskens and Annette Bower.

Laura Whiskens is a writer I met online in a writers' group.  She's one of a number of writers from "across the pond" whose work I've had the pleasure of reading lately.  I stumbled on her when I read her short story Danny Boy and knew I wanted to read more.  If you haven't read this story, I'd highly recommend it. 

Laura J. Whiskens is a British writer who published her first short story in July 2013.  Since Danny Boy was released she has written a further 3 short stories and published a paperback collection of her work, Telling Tales.  She has received 5 * reviews worldwide and is currently working on a new novel, two childrens' books and a further short story in The Hunter collection.

You can view her online blog here:   laurawhiskenswriter.weebly.com/blog.html

Like me, Annette Bower is a Saskatchewan romance writer.  I don't remember the exact time and place that we met but Saskatchewan romance writers are relatively rare, so it was inevitable that we would bump into each other.   Annette's recent Woman of Substance is a thought provoking story that takes us to the heart of what it might be like to live as a morbidly obese woman. 

Annette Bower writes 100 word stories, and short stories that are published in anthologies and magazines.

Annette Bower writes novels, Woman of Substance, and soon to be      re-released, Moving On.

Annette Bower writes with a view of her city 

@ www.annettebower.com/blog and her home is www.annettebower.com.  

She loves company.

Mark your calendars and on June 16, hop on over to Laura's blog and on June 23 hop to Annette's and see how they both answered these same four questions and what authors they've tagged to do the same.  I'm betting that you'll stumble on a few books to add to that "To Be Read" pile.

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com