September 18 2018 Romance Writers Weekly

Hi Everyone, Welcome back for Romance Weekly. This week’s question comes from myself, Fiona Riplee.

You’ve probably come from the lovely Jenna Da Sie’s blog site. If not, be sure to check it out when you’re done here!

I’ve started a new paranormal series that takes place by the beach. So far, in my current work in progress many events take place during the day and maybe I’ve neglected the evening hours. Makes me wonder do you prefer day or evening outings? These could be for a fun date or just hanging out with family or friends. What’s your pleasure?

I would have to say this topic preference depends on my mood and various factors like the weather and time of year.

Obviously, I’ve been writing about day trips in my current work in progress because the setting is near a beach with close boardwalk shops. I can write about things I would enjoy in that setting, like shopping, walks on the beach, boat outings, getting coffee, and relaxing with friends or the hubby. When it’s warm and sunny there are so many things that are fun. A younger me really enjoyed amusement parks or finding a state park and hiking a trail. Now, with a four-year-old we can add stuff like going to the zoo or Children’s Museum, or putt putt boogie which is my son’s version of Paw Patrol mixed with Putt Putt golf. We also enjoy going to a movie which can be either a day or nighttime event.

Before the kiddo, nights were our preference for events, but now we are just too tired by the time 9 pm rolls around. (At least I am.) We used to enjoy going out for drinks with a group of friends, eating good food – or junky bar food, dancing, and socializing. Hubby and I had a standing Friday night movie date that was our go to. For a few years, we had Rock Band parties where we’d get a bunch of friends over, have some drinks, and play Rock Band until 12 am. That was a blast. Now we occasionally have a game night where we do the same but with board games.

It’s okay my preference has shifted from night to day. The important part is to have fun with my peeps whenever the event.

Brenda Margriet is up next. Follow the link to find out if she likes day or night activities. Catch ya next time!

photos are from Depositphotos.com

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January 24 2017 Romance Weekly

Welcome back for another week of Romance Writers Weekly blog hop. Be sure to check out Dani Jace's blog to discover her answer to this weeks questions!

Jenna Da Sie has some interesting and fun questions for our authors this week.

She prefaces each with Would you rather?

1) Go way back in time and meet your ancestors Pre 1800s or go way into the future and meet your great grandchildren Post 2200?

This is a tough choice because I think both directions would be very interesting to me. Having to choose one I would say I’d go into the future. I’d like to find out how different the world would be for my decendants beyond the year 2200. I like thinking that as a human race we figured some stuff out and that there are some really cool advancements in technology, science and possibly even space colonies. Maybe my decendants are living on the moon or Mars by then. Yeah, I’m a total nerd/geek and I’m sure the DNA will have rubbed off on anyone related to me.

2) Have no Internet or no cell phone?

I think this is a trick question because if I have a cell phone I have Internet. LOL But I’ll play along and say that it’s either or. I’d go with no cell phone. I think the way the future is going that the need for a cell phone is going change. Internet access is spreading across the planet and in the future everyone will be online. We’ll have Internet in our cars, in our homes, somehow in our clothes or items we wear. The need for a separate phone for communication won’t be necessary. As for the present – if I have an emergency I’ll have to borrow my hubby’s phone. :)

3) Talk like Yoda or breathe like Darth Vader?

Give me challenging questions this week, you have. Yes, mmm.

Be proud of your testing of us, you should Jenna Da Sie. Yes, mmm. :)

4) Have the ability to fly or read minds?

I’d love to be able to fly. I’ve always had a fascination of flying and of course flying without a plane is like super hero stuff. So yeah, I’m cool.

I think reading minds would just drive me crazy because I’d rather not know what someone is thinking about me. If I don’t know I can imagine that the thoughts are nice. J

5) Have mermaids be real or unicorns be real?

Unicorns are cool. Definitely unicorns.

I can't wait to find out how Jenna Da Sie answered her own questions! She's next in line for the hop.

See you next week!

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January 10 2017 Romance Weekly

Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all..... About our writing of course! Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.

This week's questions come from the lovely Leslie Hachtel. She asks: What do you love best about your writing? Like the least? And what are you doing to fix the things you don’t like?

Before we begin, the hop is a loop so check out author Jenna Da Sie and find out how she answered this week's questions.

I have a love hate relationship with editing. For those writers who hate even the hint of the dreaded “e” word, trust me I understand.

Let’s just get this part of the discussion out of the way. Self-editing is long and tedious. When my initial writing is going quickly and the ideas are popping up like rabbits in spring, the editing process puts all of that in low gear and those gears grind like you wouldn’t believe. I know the edits improve everything. Yet, this is when the process becomes slow and sometimes boring. Especially, when I’m trying to find all the repetitive words in my work in progress and decide what to keep, what to change, and what to discard. That’s just me editing my own work. Now, after that’s done I ship my baby off to a professional for her to find all the repetitive words I didn’t find and all the other holes, grammar errors, and downright silliness I have to fix. Another slow process and one that causes great distress when I’m sitting at home wondering about the horror of a manuscript I’ll get in return.

I’m sure your wondering where the love comes into the story.

Editing is where the true story comes out into the light. I’m very single-minded. I can’t write and edit at the same time. What comes out in writing just comes out and there isn’t time to stop and analyze what is either being typed or written on paper. My mind must get all the pieces down first. I would compare my first draft to a baby who was given a paint brush and paints, a smock and hours of play time. The writing is fun and laugh out loud glorious. Occasionally, the words slow and the process bogs down, but the draft is always faster than the edits. I let this wondrous creation sit for a bit and then I read the pages and pages upon pages of crap. The editor in my brain comes out and tells me all the areas where I lost track of the plot or the character and how on page 230 a key element from chapter one is missing.

Why do I love this?

My editing process required a lot of re-reads. I get to know the manuscript and my characters well and I fall in love with them, the world and the stakes that are causing them distress. The pieces of the manuscript start to fit together like puzzle pieces and I finally see what I had written was a good basis, but now the really good stuff is coming out. In keeping with my metaphor I wouldn’t say by this time I’m a fine artist – I’ll go with art student – but the pages don’t look like they’ve been created by a ten-month old. The last piece is getting additional eyes on the work and sending to a professional editor. Because I know the work so well it’s easy to miss when I’m filling in the blank and a reader would be like … how old is this writer, is she a baby?

The hating part of editing I think is difficult to fix. What I’ve tried and continue to try is attempt different techniques where the first drafts aren’t such a free-for-all. I’m not a plotter by any means, but I’ve utilized a summary of my work in progress that helps keep me on track in the early stages of writing. I’ve tried different writing tools to help speed the process and I try to not hate editing, because I know at that stage I’m close to having a finished book!

So on to the next writer in the hop, Tracey Gee. I can't wait to find out what she loves and hates about writing.

See ya next week!

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