Hello everyone! I hope you've kept warm during this horrible, never-ending winter. (And if you're lucky enough to be from somewhere warm all year round, I hate you a little bit.) (Just kidding.) (Sort of.)
This winter in Montana has been brutal. I'm talking -20 on a regular basis kind of brutal. It got so cold that we had to pull our car halfway out of the garage to let it warm up because the cold made a barrier at the opening of the garage and wouldn't let the exhaust out!
But one good thing that came out of this horrific weather was the productivity. I started querying in January, went through a whole overhaul of revisions in the last month and a half and now I'm writing something new while The Blood Train is stuck in query-land again.
And there are few things I love more than dreaming up new things to put into a new book. I get so into it. I make maps, I create new playlists, I sketch characters (though, not very well, mind you.) I think up wild plot twists and scribble them on post-its that hang ALL over my house. It's a mess, and it's chaotic, and a little bit confusing, but I LOVE IT.
I love the freshness of a new book. I've learned so much about editing with The Blood Train. Mainly, that I don't like editing. I'll do it for hours and days and months to make my books what they need to be, but when push comes to shove I'd rather be drafting new things than editing.
Anything can happen in a new book. My characters aren't so full of baggage and plot problems, they're fresh and uncertain, and do unexpected things. I love getting to know them and their feelings, and fleshing them out. It's so much fun, and I enjoy every single second of it.
What about you? What's your favorite part of the writing process?
