The Writing Process Blog Tour

I was tagged by the fabulous Ms. Gini Koch for this writing process blog tour – and well, when amazing authors like that tag you in something then you jump, jump, jump! I’m feel pretty dang cool, by the way. I felt pretty relieved after reading Gini’s blog post. It’s nice to hear a successful veteran author have the feelings about the writing process that she does. Seriously, check her post out – it’s fantastic!

 

So we tag 3 authors – besides me, Marsheila Rockwell and T.L. Smith were tagged and definitely check out their posts that went up today. And then I tagged my fabulous author friends, Ronald C. Tobin, Deena Remiel, and P.J. Hulstrand. So make sure to check their writing process blogs next Monday, the 17th!

 

And now… the moment we’ve all been waiting for (sort of? not really?) Here are the questions that I was asked to answer.

1) What are you working on?

My sanity. Okay – sort of working on my sanity. Meaning – I’m just trying to juggle the craziness that is my life. But I’m guessing  they mean books. Well… I just finished up The Melanie King Affair and it’s currently with my editor. So, I jumped right back into Apocalypse – Undead Winter, which has become a thorn in my side. Don’t get me wrong, I love it – I love it because of how much my readers love it. But this has been one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever worked on. This girl is definitely celebrating once it’s officially complete.

2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I write in several different genres. What I write, usually doesn’t fit too snuggly in those genres either. As far as how is it different? One of the things that I try to do is to take the reader on a journey themselves. It’s not only about my characters but the person reading it. Whether I’m writing Women’s Fiction or Horror or Sci-Fi  I try to accomplish one main thing, to make the reader think. I’m personally a reader before I’m a writer and my favorite books to read are ones that leave me contemplating long after the last page has turned. So I try to do the same thing in my books.

My characters are flawed and sometimes not even likable – but they’re real. In fact, I think that’s what people like. One of the most evil characters I’ve ever written has turned into a favorite among my readers. My heroin makes mistakes, my antagonists have their own story, and in the end I want people to realize that no matter what we think of people, that ultimately none of us are perfect and we shouldn’t strive to be, because that’s what makes us amazing.

I wrote about a woman who cheated on her husband and put her career before her daughter – someone like that would be easy to hate and think negatively about. But that’s not what happens. Though the reader may have hated her actions, in the end I think a lot of them walked away with some empathy. And then the characters we think are fantastic right off end up not being who we thought they were. I guess for me, I like the journey to be psychological more than anything. I think that’s where I’m different.

3) Why do you write what you do?

Author Sharon Skinner explains this much better than I do. (Click here to listen to her talk about her own writing process) But I really don’t have a choice in what I write. It’s what ever comes to me. If someone told me to sit down and write a fantasy story about a wizard I wouldn’t be able to do it. The best way for me to say it is this; I can only bring to the table what my muse gives to me. Undead Winter, Alice Hill, and Moonlight came to me in a dream. The Bohemian Grove trilogy was inspired by a single song. Clusters was inspired by a show I heard on the radio. So whatever happens, happens. I just hope my muse never goes silent.

4) How does your writing process work?

I don’t have a writing process. I honestly don’t even know what this is. I sit down and just start writing. I have no control over it – the story just writes itself. There were times I was just as surprised by an outcome in a story as my readers were. It wasn’t until I was halfway through writing a scene that I even realize what was happening. The only thing I know I have to do is write linear. That’s why I’m struggling so much with The Apocalypse is because I’ve written so many sections of it that now I just have to piece it together like a puzzle. It’s a process and I’m definitely growing through it. I guess that’s what a process is?

I hope you enjoyed this blog post – it’s a bit different from what I normally do. If you like it then please share and leave in the comments what you think!

Author Bio’s, Blog Tour Date March 17th:

Deena Remiel : My name is Deena Remiel, and I am an author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and romantic suspense. I also teach language arts to middle schoolers. I belong to RWA national and the Desert Rose Chapter of RWA, where there are outstanding people writing fabulous stories. I grew up in Philadelphia, home of the most amazing soft pretzels, oh and the Liberty Bell. It was incredible to be living there during its Bicentennial celebration. My husband and I began our own family in New Jersey, but just a few short years ago, Arizona called to my spirit and tempted my husband with much better weather! We moved our family, and the rest is history, or the present, as the case may be! These are a few of my favorite things: writing and reading of course, chocolate, music with lyrics or melodies that speak to me, soaking baths, singing in the shower, dancing with my buds, romantic dancing with my hubbie, scrapbooking, watching my girls enjoy what they love to do, and laughing at jokes. I love talking with fans, so contact me at deenaremiel@yahoo.com http://www.deenaremiel.com

PJ. Hulstrand: PJ Hultstrand has been a graphic designer for 24 years; Book Publisher with 60+ books published since 2009; Publicist for Arizona authors; Managing Editor of The WOD Newspaper/Webzine; Radio Interviewer- KWOD Radio; Event Coordinator – WOD Media; and Author of Time Conquers All fiction series and Marketing non-fiction books. (She also likes to leap tall buildings when she damn well wants to!) Readers’ Cubby Blog – http://azpublishingservices.blogspot.com/

The Conclusion of Moonlight

 

Jump for joy!! The conclusion of the Moonlight mini-series is finally here!! You can now buy part 4 by clicking here. 

 

You can also pre-order the paperback copy of The Melanie King Affair, which has all 4 parts plus new chapters and a final conclusion from Warren’s perspective.

To pre-order a signed copy of The Melanie King Affair at a discounted rate please click here

 

The Conclusion 

Cover Release – Moonlight 3

Here it is! I’m so excited! This means the end of the series is approaching.

 

Free Download of Moonlight tonight!

Click here to download your free copy of the first book in the Moonlight mini-series!

Moonlight 3 – Cover Release!

“I won’t lie to you – you are the lie.” Moonlight 2 Teaser

Warren hailed the cab and he took my hand in his as we sat in the back seat. His wedding band reflected the light like an ominous beacon. I twirled it under my thumb so it spun around on his finger. He looked at me curiously.

“How many?” I whispered, wondering if he knew what I was asking.

He smiled. “First time.”

I raised my eyebrows at him.

“I have no reason to lie to you. You are the lie.” His face was void of emotion when he spoke and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. “It’s not too late to back out you know. You can still go home a loyal wife.”

From the corner of my eye I saw the cabby glance up quickly into his rearview mirror and I self-consciously lowered myself further into the plastic seats. I shook my head.

“I want this.”

And it was true. I wanted it more than anything and I couldn’t see myself turning back.

Moonlight will be on Amazon in the AM!

Romance / Adult / Erotica

 

Read here for details

Here’s my secret…

I went back and forth for the last few weeks whether I should share this or not with my readers or just let the book be completely anonymous. So, here’s my conclusion. I’m sharing this here on my blog and maybe once or twice on my page… and will go from there.

I have no main reason for keeping this writing completely separate from my other work than just mere curiosity to see how it does on its own.

If you can’t tell from the cover, it’s erotica. And if you’ve read any of my books then you already know that I don’t adhere to a writing a style. In fact, I tend to like to challenge myself and try different things. Not necessarily a good thing for my readers since I understand readers tend to stick to a certain style they like.

Either way, I guess this is just me challenging my readers as well.

The story. Moonlight follows the affair of Melanie King and Warren Brown. It’s based on real events. (I’ll leave it at that, except please know that both me and my husband have always been faithful to each other.) The story focuses primarily on the story line and the spicy, hot sex comes secondary to the story. So, if you’re looking for just non stop sexual content, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for a story that doesn’t hold back in any way, then this might be more your style.

Anyway – it’ll be broken into a 4 part series. Each book will be available (for now) as a kindle exclusive at .99 cents each. Once the series is complete, depending on its success, I’ll either publish it into a novel or not. We’ll see.

All together the 4 series will be a full length novel so in total you’ll have spent $3.96 on the whole book which is pretty typical for a kindle book. Some parts may be shorter while the other parts are longer. Regardless, it’ll be full-length by the end.

I’ll release each part about every 6 weeks, give or take — depending on my other writing obligations. It won’t go longer than 2 months though, this I promise to you. I’m not one of the writers that likes making my readers wait forever. Hey, I’m a reader too! I get it.

Okay, so here’s the cover – and it should be available on Amazon by the end of the week.

Hope you enjoy it 😉

Oh yeah – the name Lisa Sumil. I didn’t want people to accidentally start reading erotica when they’re expecting my typical horror or sci-fi book. That’d be pretty weird and like I said, wanted to keep this genre of my writing separate.

For some reason, random people always accidentally call me Lisa. (It’s Tina) So now you’re in on the inside joke. Sumil is just a combination of my maiden name and married name.

Happy Reading!