I have been tagged in the #mywritingprocess blog tour game! The way it works is someone who has been tagged writes a blog answer to four questions. That person then tags other authors, who answer the questions and tag someone else.

I was tagged by Kate McLachlan (http://www.katemclachlan.com/ ), author of Murder and the Hurdy Gurdy Girl, as well as the RIP Van Dyke time-travel series, in the #mywritingprocess blog tour game. It’s just four simple questions about my writing process. I’ll tag other writers to share their writing process. So here we go!

1) What am I working on?
I’ve recently finished edits on book 9 in the Lex & Amanda series, Beyond Always. Next up, I’m doing a little research and note-taking for the followup to Heart’s Resolve, tentatively titled Heart’s Salvation. Delaney and Gib have been tapping me on the shoulder for months, demanding attention. Of course, so have Sam & Janie from Piperton, Shelby & Rebecca from Diving into the Turn, and two new sets of ladies, who shall remain nameless for the time being.

2) How does my work differ from others in the same genre?
Hmm. Different? I don’t know that what I do is much different, other than my early “fade-to-black” love scenes. There are so many great writers out there who do the hot and heavy stuff, there’s really no way need for me to compete. Besides, my mom might read it, and that is just too embarrassing to think about. 🙂

3) Why do I write what I do?
All of my characters are from the same places I’m from, although I do change town names to protect the innocent, namely me. I make up locations, but they’re always somewhat based on things that I’ve done, seen, or at least been told about. For instance, most of my “ranch” experience was from taking care of critters when I was younger, as well as spending time at the ranch that my grandfather ran as foreman. Maybe I’m lazy and don’t want to learn new dialects – or maybe I’m just very comfortable in my twang. Although I don’t think I have an accent, others may disagree, LOL.

4) How does my writing process work?
Sometimes, the littlest thing will catch my attention and get a story started in my head. At other times, previous book characters will wake me and tell me that they’re tired of waiting, and demand satisfaction. A dream started the whole Lex & Amanda series, and now they won’t leave me alone. (turns and yells, “No, Amanda. I will not tell them that!”)

I tend to write linearly, which is from beginning to end. I may have ideas for scenes scribbled on post-it notes or napkins, and I’ll insert them where I need to. Other times, I write an entire story around one scene – those are the ones that drive me nuts. In Trust Our Tomorrows, for example, the only scene I had on my mind when I started the book, was where Lex was stuck in the mud. Then I had to go and build an entire book around it. Fun times! Lorrie has a lot of my attitude, as if you couldn’t tell 🙂

I have tagged:  My wife, JM Carr, author of soon-to-be-released Hard Lessons.  MJ Williamz, romance and erotica author extraordinaire of such titles as Forbidden Passions, Initiation by Desire, Shots Fired and Speakeasy. And one of the first authors I ever read, the incomparable BL Miller, whose titles include: She’s the One, Graceful Waters, Crystal’s Heart, Accidental Love, and Josie and Rebecca: The Western Chronicles. Check out their writing processes, and their books too!

It’s hard to believe, but my first book was released fourteen years ago. I was extremely new to the writing thing, and my publisher, Renaissance Alliance Publishing, was almost as green. We learned a lot together, including how big two books crammed together could be. Ha!

Destiny’s Crossing was the result of my first two stories, Destiny’s Bridge & Faith’s Crossing, being put together under one cover. The editors at the time thought that the stories were too short to be on their own, and suggested a double-book. Wow, was that a monster! Four hundred and eighty-eight pages, in fact.

First edition of Destiny’s Crossing.

reprint of Destiny’s Crossing

After a reprint that was still huge, we decided that it would be best to split the two books back into their original form. Destiny’s Bridge and Faith’s Crossing came out in 2003. Lex & Amanda haven’t quit chatting to me yet, even after all these years.

Next month will be their ninth appearance in print. I had fully planned on ending their tale in book five, Strength of the Heart, but they had other ideas. While I rarely plan on sequels, they just seem to happen. I learned long ago to “never say never,” where they are involved. They tend to make a liar out of me.

**This post has been altered due to the fact that I’m a writer, not a mathematician. And I’m on meds…not that it helps. LOL

Maybe I should be the star of a new reality series – because the last week in the kitchen has definitely been nerve-wracking! As anyone who follows me on Facebook knows, I enjoy baking as a way of relieving stress. Never did I think that it would be the *cause* of major stress – LOL!

It started out innocently enough – I wanted to make some homemade bread to send to my mother-in-law. We already send her a batch of cookies every month, so when Jan suggested sending her some honey-wheat bread, I thought it was a wonderful idea.

I’ve made this bread several times, and each time it comes out great. I put the ingredients in the bread machine (have to cheat on the kneading – my arthritic hands won’t let me do it any other way),  and in no time had a beautiful batch of dough to work with. Got it all ready for the oven, then FORGOT to set the damned timer.  Yep. Two exceptionally burned loaves.

No worries – I’ll just make up another batch, right?

Wrong.

By the way, I should have stopped while I was behind – I also was attempting to get the laundry done. And proceeded to forget to turn the dryer on. Yep. Should have taken the hint and gone back to bed.

But no, I’m stubborn.

Got the dryer going, and another batch of dough in the bread machine. An hour and a half later, the bread machine dings – yay! Gonna get that stuff cranked out in no time!

BUZZZZ! Wrong answer!

Opened up the bread machine, and noticed the dough almost about to explode. Not good. I stuck my hands into the mess and tried to get the dough out of the container.

**Note to self** Next time you decide to play with bread dough, wear rubber GLOVES!! It took half an hour to get all the goop off my hands and clothes.

Okay, so *that* round didn’t go as planned. I’ll try it one more time, measuring *very* carefully, and proceeding with the utmost caution. After all, I’ve done this same recipe many times, and *never* had a problem before.

Third time’s the charm, right?

Uh-huh. Not even freakin’ close.

The last try, I got sidetracked and left the dough in the bread machine about 10 minutes longer than I should have. Did you know that it will OOZE like a volcano?

The good news: my bread machine has *never* been cleaner. The bad news? I still have to bake bread…even if it kills me.