“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

 

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⇒ Below the dot points is the actual Blog Hop.

How this Blog Hop works.

An original host set the topic and rules. Unlike some blog hops, this one has no widget button, set duration, or contest. It hops to multiple blogs, introducing visitors to writers’ blogs and to their writing.

For example:

• After Sandra invited me and two other writers to join this blog hop, she sent us the four questions the original host created.

• Then Sandra let us know when she posted on her blog her answers and the links to our blogs.

• We waited one to two weeks so the visitors she sent to our blogs could view our normal blog posts.

• Now we’re answering the four questions on our blogs, and we each give links to other writers’ blogs. And on it goes.

Here’s the actual Blog Hop.

I thank Sandra Ardoin for inviting me to this blog hop. Sandra writes historical romance and historical romantic suspense. Visit her blog, where she posts book reviews under many genres and advice on writing. Here are Sandra’s answers to the questions.

What am I working on? 

Heads and tails. I’m at the head of the process for a new contemporary romance. This week, it’s off to my agent to send to the editors who requested it at writers’ conferences. Proposal blurb: “Forced to caddy for her father, a young golfer meets her ideal man; he’s noble, he’s an amazing golfer, and his father is the sleazebag who stole her dad’s golf scholarship.”

 

I’m on the tail end of the process for my first contracted contemporary romance, Calculated Risk, soon to be released. Now the promotion work begins. Cover blurb: “What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing rep? Romance becomes a calculated risk.”

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Cheeky comes to mind. In these novels, I get to say the things I sometimes think. That confessed, I share my faith in God through the difficult journeys of my characters—in between the sass and humor.

I’m a retired actuary, married to one, so it was fun to give the little-understood profession to my hero in Calculated Risk. (An actuary is a mathematician responsible for evaluating the financial risks of insurance companies.)

How’d I jump from actuaries to the love story of two young golfers caddying on a PGA tour? How could I not, when I saw the two cutest young caddies standing together on a putting green at a golf tournament? The what-ifs abounded.

Why do I write what I do? 

Cheeky comes to mind… Seriously, I can save money making my heart melt writing my own love scenes, laughing at my own humor, and crying at my own tender moments. Seriously now, after four unsold manuscripts, I found what every writer hopes to find: my writer’s voice. Now, I can’t stop chattering in any other voice.

How does my writing process work?

Slowly comes to mind. I’m an edit junky. I edit as I write. I polish what I’ve edited before I submit chapters to my critique partner. I edit as I incorporate her suggestions. I edit the whole manuscript. Then I edit again after my husband reads it. I think maybe I edited the life out of my first four manuscripts. I’m more careful now.

Please visit the blogs of the writers listed below. In a week or so, enjoy their answers to the above questions.

Joanne Sher – Joanne writes children’s picture books. She is a regular at several blogs: Jewels of Encouragement; The Barn Door; The Internet Café; and Faithwriters. So hop over to her blog, to read a post there or to be directed to hop to the blog she’s posting at today.

Sally Jo Pitts – Sally Jo writes stories “steeped in the mysteries of life and love.” She posts Personal Background Investigation – Assignments on her blog: Sally Jo Pitts Investigative Prose. Fun personal stories.

Jane Thompson – Jane is working on a pre-Columbian novel. Her blog, Glimpse of Peace encourages healing and wholeness through Jane’s many experiences, including those as a missionary in Honduras.