Come on, ride the train, hey, ride it, woo woo

 

I feel like I win anytime I can quote Quad City DJ. But, that also means I’ve won exactly once.

Today.

Right now.

The lovely and talented Denise Long invited me to participate in the (chugga chugga) Literary Blog Train. So, here it is! 

 

What am I working on?

• Editing a new story I wrote called Crybaby Bridge and getting set to start shopping it around. 
• Working on a once-short story (but, now longer story – a life of its own, this one) called The Wild Hunt about The Pinery Dens of Wisconsin in the 1800s. Has a bit of magical realism, violence, sex and zombies. Just kidding about the zombies. Well, I don’t know. By the time I’m done, there might be zombies. 
• A young adult novel called The In (Between) Crowd about what happens when time literally stops for one group of teenagers. 
• Submitting, submitting, submitting. 

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I don’t think my work falls into any one genre because I’m still finding my groove but I do love writing horror and stories with an unreliable magical bent. I gravitate towards fakelore – those small town stories that get passed around our communities like The Warlock’s Grave, Crybaby Bridges, etc. Magical thinking, at its heart, is unreliable and I like to write about that ambiguity. 

Why do I write what I do?

When I was younger, I’d try to write to trends and it always failed. So, now, I wait until something catches my attention and I write my way into it. My writing can be dark so I guess I write that because my mind is a dark, cold place.

I watch a lot of murder stories on Dateline.

I like them.

See, I’m a wicked dark soul. 

I’m not so great at introspection, maybe. I write what I write because that’s what I write. *shrug*

How does my writing process work?

Something, a word or a phrase, snags my notice. Sometimes, that triggers an idea and I start writing around and around it until something takes shape. Oftentimes, it will end up being completely different than what I first imagined. If I try to write from an outline, I feel stifled and get frustrated so I just let the writing loose when it comes. 

Then, I edit, edit, edit. I edit as I write my first draft. I edit and re-write sometimes 10 more drafts until it feels right to me. Then, I put it away for a week and edit it again.

Sometimes, I get excited and send it out for submission early. A few times, this has worked. Usually, this is a great way to get a rejection in my inbox. So, it is always better to wait a day even if I feel like something is ready to walk out the door. 

Tag, You’re It!

And, because turn about is fair play, I’m calling on a few of my friends to play, too: Sarah Bost-Askins and Molly Schoemann-McCann. 

Dooooo it, Ladies. Dooooooooooo it. All the cool kids are doin’ it. Just sayin’.