My Writing Process - Blog Tour

Today (well it's actually tomorrow - but I'm away from my PC tomorrow so I'm posting early!) is "My Writing Process" blog tour day, when writers answer questions about their writing process.  Last week, fellow author Judith Arnopp posted hers.  You can check it out here

Judith writes fabulous historical romances set in medieval times, and also the Elizabethan period.  I once met Judith on a writing weekend in Fishguard a few years ago and she's a lovely lady.  Many thanks for the invitation, Judith.

So, what is my writing process?
I write around my working, and home, life (no surprises there!)  Luckily for me I only work part-time now (3 days a week).  But my job as an Environmental Health Officer can be quite stressful, and I often find that once I get home from work I’m emotionally drained to think about writing.  But saying that, since I’ve had a contract and a two book deal with HarperImpulse I’m finding that not to be an excuse anymore as a deadline tends to concentrate the mind somewhat, so I’m writing more or less every day now!  I tend to do most of my writing sitting in an easy chair in our bedroom with my feet on a footstool and the laptop on a small laptop table.  The DH watches TV whilst I type away to my heart’s content.  The only thing I need to get into “the zone” is a pair of earplugs to mute the sound of the TV. 
What am I working on?
That’s an easy question to answer.  My second contracted book which is due in at the end of February!  But notwithstanding that, I have a Viking on the go and a Regency that’s begging to be written. 
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Hopefully, because my “voice” is different from others!  But my love of history definitely influences my work.  Sometimes I have to reign myself in and not overload my books with too much history.  After all, I am writing a romance with a HEA!
Why do I write what I do?
I write what I love to read in a nutshell.  I’ve read romances of all different genres for over 30 years now, and particularly love the “Cinderella” type story with a tortured hero and heroine who journey to their HEA. 
How does your writing process work?
For many years now I’ve suffered from insomnia.  To get to sleep I normally make up stories in my head.  The beginning of a love story between two individuals set almost anywhere!  Then by the end of the first chapter I’ve normally fallen asleep.  (My hard drive is full of “Chapter 1” ideas!).  I also get ideas from reading voraciously.  In my debut book for HarperImpulse – “The Roman”, the idea came from reading a children’s book about Herculaneum that I found in the library one day.  I often find children’s history books (lots of pictures) spark an idea much more readily than a weighty historical tome!  In this particular book there was a villa discovered at Herculaneum which had lots of bronze statutes.  Justina, my heroine in “The Roman” is a sculptress and she lives and sculpts in a huge villa in Herculaneum!  But when it comes to writing the whole book I’m definitely a “pantster” though.  The idea starts and just flows from there.  I’ve tried to plot out books, but to no avail.  The characters just take over and demand to have “their” story written, and not some script I’ve developed for them. 

If you would like to buy my debut book “The Roman”, then it releases on the 20^th of February 2014.  Here’s the blurb :  The Roman – Famous charioteer, Aulus Epidius Marsallas wants revenge against Justina Philipus - the only woman he’s ever loved, but who’d betrayed him by becoming his uncle’s mistress.  Forced to meet Marsallas for the first time in six years, Justina is shocked at the changes she sees in him.  Gone is the carefree youth she once loved, now replaced by a hard muscular stranger.  But there is no denying the attraction that still flows between them, and when his uncle dies, Marsallas offers sculptress Justina a challenge – a bronze stature of himself, and his four horse chariot, to be displayed at the Circus Maximus.  Justina knows that this commission is just what she needs to make a name for herself, and give her the freedom she covets, so she accepts Marsallas’s challenge.  However, Justina is unprepared when Marsallas states one further condition – she must become his mistress.  But Justina has a secret, she’s still a virgin, she just hasn’t told Marsallas yet…

 Amazon.co.uk link is here  

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 Any author’s wanting to participate in this Blogtour – then please post a Blog on your own Blog on the 17^th of February 2014 using this format and mentioning me in the blurb at the beginning.  Then, if you can, link 3 other authors at the end of your Blog who should then post their Blog’s the following week (i.e. 24^th February).  Thanks – Caroline