Gearing Up To Get An Agent Meet & Greet

I'm taking part in this month-long event run by the gorgeous Deana Barnhart.  The first event is this one, a meet and greet bloghop where all the participants can, well, y'know, meet and greet each other.  So I'm going to answer a few questions Deana helpfully supplied...

-Where do you write?

I usually write at home, in my dining room.  But in the middle of winter (no central heating), or when I'm really struggling to focus, I have a table I like to use at the public library.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

The dining room table.  Which is, for once, not covered in a week's worth of clutter since I did the housework this morning.

-Favorite time to write?

Any time I can get.  With a full time job and two young kids, I grab whatever scraps of time I can get to write.  I prefer evenings though (I'm a night owl), but since I work a lot of nights, and often have functions to go to, I  get up at 5:30 every weekday morning so I can get an hour and a half in before the kids get up.

-Drink of choice while writing?

Red wine at night, but not too much of it or I can't type straight.  Green tea any other time.

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

It really depends what I'm working on.  I find some books need a soundtrack, while others need quiet.  I prefer music without lyrics when I'm writing though, or music with lyrics in foreign languages.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

The book I'm working on now, The Sidewalk's Regrets, came to me almost fully formed after I saw a documentary about a musician friend of mine.  His ex-girlfriend said something, just a single line amongst many others, that struck a real chord in me.  And by the next day I knew what my next book was.

-What's your most valuable writing tip?

Keep writing.  If you get stuck, write yourself a note in the manuscript and move on to the next part you know.  And if you get really stuck, set that project aside for a few days while you work on something else.  You'll come unstuck.

So, that's me!  I hope to pop around and see as many other participants as I can, so I hope to see you all!