The term “blog roll” is a new term for me.

Apparently it’s like the game “Telephone” we all played when we were younger where we sat knee to knee in a circle and one person whispered something to another person, then another person and at the end it came out as some crazy – ass garbled sentence.

Only with a blog roll, it’s author to author, asking each writer to answer the same set of questions, then send them on, and there is, hopefully, no crazy ass sentences at the end.

Oh, wait.  That’s what authors are known for.

Some are known for just being plain plum crazy, too.

In fact, I feel semi crazy today.  I have recently started writing another book. I am sure it will come together at one point before I become a raving hermit and move to the backwoods of Montana with a herd of cats. At this moment, I can’t see it and am wondering which cats I should take with me.

I digress.

I was asked to be a part of a blog roll by my new friend and fellow author, Lesley Kagen, who wrote, among other books, the wonderful, Whistling in the Dark.

Here’s her website. http://www.lesleykagen.com/

Thank you, Lesley!

At the end of this blog roll I’ll recommend the writer that I am handing off this Blog Roll to next…

 

1. WHAT I AM WORKING ON

Cathy Lamb: I am working on staying sane.  Yep. Summer. Kids home. Lots going on.

And I’m trying to write another novel.  Here are a few hints: It’s set in Scotland.  Men in kilts, flowing gardens, The Lochness Monster, bagpipes, cobblestone streets, all that.  My main character is … well, a bit like me.

The story is about best friends with one best friend not being honest about what is going on, and has gone on, in her life. So is the friendship still true and real?  Do the lies lessen the quality of the relationship? How do you define friendship? How important are girlfriends and best friends?

Can I eat chocolate EVERY day?

2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?

Oh, I don’t know. I know lots of excellent fiction writers who write for women audiences, and about women, like me. On a side note, if I were to list the fiction writers who I think are better than me I would have to go hide in my closet with a nice, fuzzy pink blanket over my head and rock back and forth in a pathetic fashion. Let’s do move on here.

3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?

I write what I do because I have a wild imagination and stories in my head.  I like writing about issues, problems, and challenges that women face. I like writing about real life, with a whole ton of humor and funny antics thrown in.  I like developing quirky characters and giving them friends and family and men that you want to hug/strangle/kick/cook with/laugh with/tie up and send to Pluto. I like giving my characters full lives and watching those lives go up in smoke and then settle down into something lovely.

4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?

Well, currently my writing process isn’t working. I have, for the first time in my life, written the ending FIRST of this next novel. I have then worked backwards from the end.  Last night I started to fill in the middle – end.  I suppose I will write the beginning one of these days, after I cut and paste the book until I feel like I’m putting together a brain numbing and stupid puzzle.

I do write 2,000 words a day, 10,000 a week when I’m writing a first draft, which is what I’m doing now. I am up very late.  I edit every book at least eight times before it goes to my editor. I edit each book twelve times total.  Why? Because that’s how long it takes.

By the time it’s done, well, it’s done. I don’t want to read it again. Not in this lifetime and not in the next one, either.

5. AND THE OTHER PART OF THIS QUESTION, HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS NOT WORK?

Oh gee. I think I just answered this. My advice: Do not write the ending first.  Ever. It’s ridiculous. I am ridiculous.

PASSING THE TORCH of this blog roll.

Please. Read Cassie Selleck Dandridge’s The Pecan Man.  I loved it. She is a smart and depthfull  (did I just make up a word?) writer and she self published the book on Amazon, that literary daredevil. Only $4.99. Trust me on this one.

Cassie Selleck Dandridge

http://thepecanman.wordpress.com/

 

Happy reading to one and all.

PS The horses are my sister’s. I put them in this blog because I think they’re smiling.