Sunday, September 2, 2012

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!

16 comments:

  1. I love how one line or a single moment can inspire a whole book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so good to get up early to get writing in! Good tip to set something aside!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this blog hop idea. I write in my dining room too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Sidewalk Regrets--that's a great title.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree, great title. I'm horrible at coming up with titles. Sigh. It's very nice to meet you. Good luck with GUTGAA.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great idea, I hadn't even considered listening to music with lyrics in a different language.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very cool on alternate language music. Never thought of that. :) I'm your newest follower. Very nice to meet you!

    AA
    http://anallegedauthor.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great book title! I love your advice -- keep on writing!

    Nice to meet you! *shake hands* :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great advice. Write, write, write. That was mine too :)

    So nice to meet you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have a great job! I'd love being a film reviewer. It's hard carving out time to write when you work and are a mom, but I think that's what makes it so valuable as well--it really pushes me to make the most of it, instead of messing around doing other things.
    Nice to meet you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ooh, I love your writing tip! I've done that lots of times. Usually by changing a block of color in the text and writing "Fix this!" or just leaving a short line about what's supposed to happen, when I eventually figure out how to do it :P

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ahh, a fellow early riser. It seems most of us wake up with the dawn as soon as we have kids. Coincidence? I don't think so. Nice to meet you and good luck with all the GUTGAA action.

    ReplyDelete
  13. So glad you are participating in this blogfest! I'm one of the first-round judges this time around, and I'm blown away by how many awesome people I recognize from the blog-o-sphere!

    P.S.- Your comment about red wine. Yeah, that's me, too. I always thought it would be so romantic to sit around drinking and writing, but I find my words turn into crap after two glasses, so I have to limit myself to one. (Or one and a half!) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Saying hello from GUTGAA! I too love green tea and sip from it from time to time when I write. Hope to read more from you so I could learn more about your work in the film biz.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The title from your WIP sounds cool. Interested that it was inspired by your friend and that's awesome that it just all came together at once. Nice to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Is it sad how happy I was when I saw you'd punctuated "week's worth" correctly? Hee hee I love writers. :) Good luck with GUTGAA.
    Kat
    http://beyondthehourglassbridge.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete