Okay so it isn’t REALLY Helena’s fault. Other than she asked me to join in the writer’s process blog tour. My first thought to run and hide. But when Helena Hann-Basquait, otherwise known affectionately as the Dilettante asks, you can’t say no. Besides Jessica would no doubt hunt me down and Penny, well after her latest shenanigans, I don’t think I want to be on her wrong side either. So of course I said yes.

The tour was designed to discuss writing processes and learn about others method and madness, a new chapter in the DSM if you ask me. Right…..no one asked me. So my process…*flexes fingers in preparation, cocks neck.*

 What am I working on?

A time machine, my existential crisis, enlightenment and healing……oh writing process…..a piece on age and time sparked by a wordpress prompt that’s turning into my mental mount Olympus. The co-worker, my astute editor, called it too sophisticated. Three rewrites later I can’t decide if it should be a beat poem aka Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a personal essay or rewritten yet again as an allegory.

The bulk of my writing time is dedicated to this blog and Friday Fictioneers. Honestly I’d love to be able to write a story longer than 100 words. I have friends that can bang out novels in their sleep. I think it is an automatic writing kind of thing. And their inspiration knows no bounds. Me hmmm….

I have committed my efforts to finish the Croquis Fashion Illustration book I’ve had in the works for two years now. There is a magnetic croquis drawing tool that is stuck on engineering i.e. strength of magnet per size of piece problems. Any experts out there in magnetics please contact me.

In the end I just don’t know why I am not writing and performing spoken-word poetry, combining my love for words and performance. Might be the rhythm issue I recently discovered with the aforementioned beat poetry. I don’t have the beat.

Then there’s the business of  constantly prodding my insanely talented friends to create. Finish their screen play on John Singer Sargent, finish the novel on The Evolution of a Spiritual Teacher, and write the animated series about an inflatable family. Best procrastination tool in my arsenal. No really, try it.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I suspect I need to actually have a genre before being able to tell you were I deviate.  I can tell you I have an insanely dark sense of humor. I think I’m funny. At least I crack up at my jokes a LOT, alone in my room of course. I want people to care about the characters I write, to be intrigued by their mistakes and humanity, to root for them or against them. I want them to evoke emotion even if it’s the bipolar rage of throwing my book out the window at the end of reading it, incensed like in Silver Lining Playbook.

Why do I write what I do?

Because I’m a self-proclaimed creativity junkie and founding member of AAAA, Alliance of Artists Addicted to Alliteration. Because writing is breathing. I love words, playing with them, fitting them together like puzzle pieces click- clack on the keys, scritch-scratch upon paper. I want to capture the magic that lives in ordinary days.

I think as writers we gravitate towards what we love to read, what we know. And as I’m often reminded death and loss are key characters in my pieces. But really it is strength and perseverance, coming to terms with our own power that intrigues me, the foibles of human beings.  I’m still waiting however for a character to take over during the writing and tell me where it wants to go, I dream of this day.

How does my writing process work?

I am of the method school of acting…..oops wrong process.

Maybe this is where the DSM comes into play.  First I usually just get everything offloaded to paper. Then I go back and begin rearranging. Then I trim and edit out. Next I request an outside read through. Sometimes no one replies and as with my blog I simply post. Some days it’s a win, some days…..

Inspiration can strike at any moment so I have voice memos, doodles, pictures and scribbled notes everywhere. Often the supernova implodes and disappears. I had written the great American novel a myriad of times, but never onto paper. It was simply scribbled in the ethers, glittering with the stars late at night in my writerly witching hour.

My process in list format:

1. Mostly I write late at night and in the wee hours of the AM, or when inspiration tugs- often on my commute, at lunch, during a phone call. . .
2. Brain Dump onto paper
3. Analyze: What thee hell am I up to?
4. Edit- revise, shift, rewrite
5. Analyze: Is there a point?
6. Read aloud. I read everything aloud for flow. Where do I trip up? Where are the awkward transitions?
7. Print it off and edit on paper.
8. Read aloud again. (Invaluable tool)
9. Rewrite and save as copy. I don’t want to lose some of my original thoughts that hit the chopping floor. Though honestly most are never seen again, except under duress of desperation in a fit of writer’s block.
10. Email a friend
11. Post, share or file away.
12. Ignore entire process above and simply write, then post.

For me writing is a process of personal discovery and creation. In that vein it is the process, not the product that matters most to me. Practice, as they say, makes perfect. Only I’m aiming for flawed and real. I want to open hearts. And someday I hope to have this conversation.

“So what do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

“You’re only a writer if someone pays you.”

“Like I said, I’m a Writer.”

So who’s next you ask? Well, before I introduce you to these lovely gentleman I need to acknowledge two ladies. First is Anja Partin. I asked Anja to participate. She laughed. Having just been asked by Adam, she was about to request the same of me. So make sure to read her interview this week. The second is Rara or rarasuar. She has also already been asked and was posting this week. So it was left to the Men. And a great bunch of guys if you ask me. But honestly I’m biased.

Without further ado here are the writers to which I hand off the torch.

Richard Voza

Richard Voza has been writing since 4th grade when he forgot about a summer book report and created a story called Carrot Top Mr. Mouse, about a mouse ridiculed for his red hair.  After accidentally becoming an English teacher for 25 years, he now takes writing seriously.

His novel Connecting Flight will be published this summer by Whiskey Creek Press.  He is currently marketing Woodbury Avenue, a suspense novel about a stalker in a quiet, suburban neighborhood.  Two other finished novels are Lizzie’s Journal (paranormal) and Room 317 (suspense).

Most days he drinks coffee and wonders if anyone will read his blog, www.brainsnorts.com , and other days he sits on the beach, listens to baseball, and writes film reviews for www.Cinekatz.com .

MesAyah

MesAyah is a Norwegian musician and poet from Oslo. He has been writing poetry and music since 2005. He has released four EP’s,three singles, two books and have completed one 365 daily challenge before. Now he has started a new 365 daily challenge and is including other artists in the project as well, by releasing a podcast filled with readings and songs of his poetry every month.

KoreyKrauskopf

Born naked and helpless, Korey eventually overcame these challenges and became a useful member of society.  He won a writing contest in junior high school and ever since dreamed of writing professionally.  He took a detour for a couple decades, thinking that high tech and making video games were where he belonged, only to leave and give away all world possessions and travel the world with a backpack and a blog. Currently he earns a paycheck at Nike while plotting his eventual domination of the literary world.