World Blog Tour 2014

Welcome to the 2014 World Blog Tour!

First, I want to thank Carole Brown, award-winning author of The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman and Hog Insane for inviting me to participate. I encourage you to check her work out.

You can find Carole’s blog at

http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/

“Like” Carole on Facebook: https://facebook.com/CaroleBrown.author

Connect with Carole on Twitter

https://twitter.com/browncarole212 Her user name is @browncarole212

During this tour, each author/blogger is asked to answer four questions.  Here are my responses:

1)   What am I working on? As usual, I have several irons in the fire. I am engaged in serious editing of my second novel and in the throes of drafting my third. The second book is about a young woman who opens up a coffee shop in Door County, Wisconsin. I am tentatively calling it Shirley’s Cuppa Joe. The current work is a novel about a woman who finds herself caught in the middle—again. She is a middle-aged woman, the middle of three siblings, living in the Midwest. Her life is turned upside down when her aging mother begins to show signs of dementia. When “Mimi” moves in with her middle child, everything seems fine at first. But soon, Karen finds herself once again in the middle—caught between two strong willed people she loves dearly—her mother and her husband. Both are contemporary Christian fiction like Breathing on Her Own.

2)   How does my work differ from others of its genre? Christian Fiction can range from “in your face” evangelism to simply “clean reading” with little to no reference of a relationship with God. Every novel I have written to date seems to carry the theme of forgiveness and redemption. My characters are flawed. They don’t always have their lives together, but by God’s grace they learn about themselves and about the God who loves them.

3)    Why do I write what I do? I write to tell a relatable story to Christians. We are all in different places in our walk with Christ. I write in the hope that others can see themselves in the characters in doing so, commit—or recommit—to being the persons God has called them to be.

4)    How does my writing process work? It’s messy. The story usually plays out like a movie in my head. I grab the scenes from the mental movie and plot them on a timeline. Then I write from scene to scene. I like to get the initial story down and then tackle the rewrites. Sometimes in the rewriting phase I see where I can weave in a meaningful subplot that will explain a particular character’s actions later. I use a calendar to keep the work sequential. I plot the scenes on the calendar. That way I make sure I don’t have something goofy like it snowing in August in Ohio or something. I also keep a spreadsheet with information about each of my characters. I like to know where they went to school, their birthdates, and so forth. I may never use the information, but it helps me make sense in writing. For example, I once read a book where the couple celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary yet from other context clues, they didn’t get married until the husband had finished his law degree and the next year he would be turning the big 4-0. It didn’t add up.

Now you’ve seen my answers. Be sure to take a peek at Carole Brown’s blog and to meet two more authors follow these links this next week:

Gloria Doty is the author of the award winning book, Not Different Enough. The book is the story of Gloria’s daughter, Kalisha, and their 30 year journey together with autism, Asperger’s, and intellectual disabilities. Gloria is a prolific writer and regular contributor to several publications.

Check out Gloria’s blog, Montage Moments on her website

www.writingbygloria.com

“Like” Gloria on her Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/gloria.doty.98

Gloria is available on Twitter https://twitter.com/detour27 

User name: @detour27

            Buy her book HERE 

* * * * *

Renee-Ann Giggie, author of Stella’s Plea. Renee-Ann is a Canadian writer. As an interpreter for over twenty years in a deaf ministry, the deaf community remains a recurring theme in Renee-Ann’s writing. She has published in several arenas.

            Go to http://reneeanngiggie.com  to read her blog.

            “Like” on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ragiggie 

Renee-Ann can be found on Twitter https://twitter.com/StellasPlea 

User name: @StellasPlea

Buy her book HERE

Have fun on the tour and a great Fourth of July but, don't forget to come back to A Novel Creation on July 9!