My Writing Process...Simmers

I want to take the time to thank Sue Bradford Edwards for asking me to participate in a unique blog tour.

Working in the kitchen often gives me
quiet time to work through issues in
a work in progress.
Photo credit | EKHumphrey

With the My Writing Process blog tour, bloggers are being asked to answer four questions and nominate three authors to follow with short bios and blog links.

The four questions were the easy part (see below!), but the recruitment of three author-bloggers to pass along the baton didn’t go so well. If you are reading this and are a blogger-author who would like to participate in this blog tour, please contact me, I’ll send you the details and add your name to the end of this post.

Here are the questions and my answers:

1) What am I working on?

Intermittently, I am in the preliminary stages of working on a series of mysteries. It's a work I'm excited about. I’ve sketched out many of the murder plots and I’m trying to outline several of the books. Perhaps it’s a procrastination technique to postpone the writing, I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this.But I like that outlining can help me keep focused during the actual writing.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Although murder mysteries are dark, I like to add dollops of colorful characters and light humor throughout my writing. It’s a delicate balance, but I’m trying to create a protagonist who can capture all of that, not take herself too seriously, and...solve a mystery.

3) Why do I write what I do?

For decades, I’ve been writing for other people during my work hours. These days, I have included editing and book design into that mix. Still for other people. Too rarely am I writing for myself. Solving a puzzle, which is how I approach writing a mystery, is my way of exercising my brain for my own writing. It gives me something to think about while I take a breath from the paid gigs. I decided to work on a series of mysteries because I realized those were what I reached for when reading for pleasure. And when I was younger, I read Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. Reading mysteries has been a constant throughout my life.

4) How does my writing process work?

My process has evolved over the years, mainly when I became a parent. I used to sit down at a computer and be able to write for hours. Now, as a parent, I grab the snippets of peaceful time to move forward the writing of whatever I’m working. But when I’m cooking dinner, gardening or something else when the kids are scarce, I have time to work through a plot point or rethink a character’s traits. I keep a notebook handy to write down my ideas.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and editor living in North Carolina. She will post your name and a link to your blog if you comment below and answer the four questions above.