My writing and writing process - blog roll style

Kimberly Derting tagged me in a blog roll to talk about writing and the writing process.

(She talks about hers here...and I loved her answers! :)


1. What am I working on?
Oddly enough, I am working on a couple of picture book projects and a middle grade series. I am also continuing the Untraceable series into Book 4. (Book 3 just released in June)


2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I usually write very dark teen thrillers. For some reason, I need a short break from those so I'm veering off my main path to have some fun in different genres. But my heart is in YA thrillers.


3. Why do I write what I do?
I love thrillers in general so I love writing them. It's most of what I read and watch on movies. If someone doesn't die or isn't being chased, it's hard for me to get into it. Though I'm getting better about branching out some :)


4. How does my writing process work?
I used to be a pantser but it would take me much longer to finish a book. So now I have a process that seems to work for me. I create a logline and synopsis. Then I do a strawman outline. I pretty much write from that outline (keeping it open so I can make changes along the way.) The simple process gives me structure yet flexibility to be creative.


5. How does my writing process not work?
It works for me :) Right now....at least I think it does.


Three other tagged authors...

Amy Evans - author of one of my favs, Clicks.

Elle Strauss - author of the awesome Clockwise series (and author of Lee Strauss' Minstrel series)

Karen Hooper - author of the gorgeous Kindrily series.

Thanksgiving Meme

If you want to enter the "Thanks for Following This Turkey" contest for some free marketing stuff, be sure you are a follower and that you comment on the official Contest post.

I was looking through last year's Thanksgiving Day post and decided to do something different this year.

If you decide to do this, let me know and I will create a link of Thanksgiving Day posts at the bottom.

1. How will you be spending your Thanksgiving this year?
We are going to my mom's house.

2. Will you be cooking or are you just an eater?
I am in charge of dessert and entertainment (JK on the entertainment!)

3. Do you watch the parade every year or football!!
We watch star wars or Indiana Jones - dont ask me why!

4. Whats your favorite float?
I like the santa float b/c it reminds me of xmas coming.

5. Dark meat or white meat? Dark

6. What is your favorite dish besides the turkey?
Duh Dessert! who ever says green beans is totally lying!

7. Homemade cranberry sauce or cranberry sauce from the can?
My mom's only

8. Do you decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving day?
No we start xmas stuff on Dec 1st. I need to breathe in between holidays.

9. What are some special family traditions?
So we dont argue with inlaws about who goes where when - we do Thanksgiving together. That means, we trade off every year between my sister-in-law's mom and my mom. That way we only travel every other year.

10. Pumpkin pie or pecan?
Pecan and pumpkin please. Twice! :)

11. What is your favorite thing to do with the leftovers?
What else is there to do but eat them! Wear them?

12. How long will you spend eating your thanksgiving meal?
Probably 30 minutes (what can I say - we have 6 kids under age of 6 between the families so dinners dont last too long) ...but we try to spend hours talking after the meal.

13. Are you worried about putting on weight this Thanksgiving?
I expect to put on weight over the holidays and then make a resolution to take it off in the new year. It's the American way!

14. What do you normally eat at Thanksgiving?
Turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, rolls & pie. Lots of pie!

15. What will you be thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Oh gosh, where do i begin. My family and my renewed health. My agent. My friends. My writing. I'm grateful for every thing I come across, including all of you.

16. What is your best Thanksgiving memory?
The Thanksgiving before I got married. Our wedding was on Nov 30th. So my husband's family came over from UK for 2 weeks. It was nice to have all the families together and it was exciting knowing I was only a week away from marrying my man. :)

17. Will you be waking up early to hit the sales?
Yes, budget is tight this year.

18. Are you planning on going shopping the day after Thanksgiving?
Yes! We are n a budget so this year I am dragging my butt out of bed for Black Friday. It better be worth it b/c I am not a morning person.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Other Thanksgiving Day Memes! (please put your link in the comments and I will create a list)

Lisa Owens

Catherine Denton

Let's makeup!

The last few months have been slammed with edits and kids back in school (yada yada yada!)

I have some belated Pay it Forwards to do.

Lemonade Award

Diane over at Writer Roller Coasters nominated me for a very cute award, known as the Lemonade Award. Yay for turning lemons into lemonade, one of life's sweetest recipes! You have to award it to 10 recipients - I only did 5.

Here are my recipients:

Susan Mills over at Walk in my shoes who somehow finds a shoe for every writing analogy possible.

Heidi Willis at Some Mad Hope for holding onto hers.

Bj Andersen at Hope Springs Eternal for her Book Trailer Tuesdays

Christina Farley at Chocolate for Inspiration because I love hearing about her adventures in Korea

Holly Cupala at Brimstone Soup because she is a great contributor to readergirlz which BTW is having teen read week next week.


I know my ABCs

I love these meme's. And they're a great opportunity to learn a bit more about each other. Karen over at Novels During Naptime tagged me. (great name right? its how I wrote my first book!) Go check out her blog if you haven't already because (a) she's a mom! (yay mommy writers!) and (b) she's a self proclaimed sassy pants. (not to mention she won an award of her picture book at MidSouth!)

So....here goes:

Available or in a relationship? Relationship

Best Friend? my hubby

Cake or Pie? Cake (Cheesecake factory's Dulce cheesecake to be exact!)

Drink of choice? extra dirty martini (if it is supposed to be non-alcoholic - oops - then it would be sweet tea)

Essential item for every day use? an IV of Coffee (Its definitely not a shower!)

Favorite color? Black (oh crap that's not a color ) then bluish green.

Google? always, everyday, all day. It is my life (pathetic huh?)

Hometown? Born in St Louis - show me state!

Indulgences? right now? candy corn. Normally? Pomegranate dark chocolate

January or February? Jan - its a brand new year!

Kids and their names? Princess (5.5) (also known as baby girl, pooter pie, or Noodle bug) and prince (2.5) (also known as Buddy or tootle bug)

Life is incomplete without…? my family

Marriage date? nov 2002

Number of siblings? 1 younger brother

Oranges or apples? neither - grapes (am I a rebel or what?)

Phobias and fears? dying and leaving my kids behind

Quote for the day? Trust your gut, no matter what anyone tells you.

Reason to smile? I love y life and my kids are hilarious

Season? Fall

T (there was no t) so I am going to do my own. TV show - Glee!!!!!

Unknown fact about me? I have a green belt in Tae Kwon Do. (You scared yet?)

Vegetable you hate? its a toss up between asparagus and beets (YUK!)

Worst habit? too many to pick one. playing with my hair which only leads to more frizz, interrupting (my brain is too fast) or constantly rubbing my eyes (i wear contacts)

X-rays you’ve had? you name it - Ive had it. seriously - everything but my lungs has been scanned in some way.

Your fave food? La paz Mexican cheese dip (its got 8 cheeses in it people!)

Zodiac? Virgo and proud of it!

I'm going to tag.....Little Ms J (cuz her's have got to be funnier than mine!)

If someone else gave me something or tagged me - please let me know again. I think there were a couple others but I cant find them :(

Thanks for the tags and awards!