How does this week’s guest write about all that hot stuff? 🙂Â
This week’s Spotlight, erotica author:Â
Kelly Maher
Tracee, thank you so much for having me this week! Hello everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying the fabulous posts so far! Tracee asked us to share some info about our writing process, and it is somewhat apropos that thoughts of working on this post were shoved aside so I could focus on edits from a beta reader. 🙂
My writing process is in an evolution stage right now. For the last few years, I’ve been focused on raw production as I failed in achieving that during the early part of my career. I’ve worked myself to a point where I can draft up to 12,000 words on the days I dedicate to drafting, if I work a full day. I usually reserve my weekends for drafting and save my weeknights for vegging in front of a book or the TV, if I don’t go out with friends. For now, this is what allows me to balance a high productivity mode without hitting burn out stage.
The backend of drafting that much is editing it. I am not a perfect “first” draft person. My first drafts are essentially a raw block of clay that I then have to sculpt into a gorgeous statue of Artemis in flight. I’ve got a lot of manuscripts that are part-way there, and only a couple that are close to completion. Some of the not-so-done books may not ever be completed, but I’ve learned something from each and every one, so doing this has never been a waste of my time.
The one thing that has been consistent for me with my evolving process is listening to music. I’ve been doing this since I was in high school and realized that it helped distract the squirrel part of my brain, first to let me fall asleep at night, and then to actually study and write papers. I’ve got a station on Pandora that I call “Write It Out” that I use both when I’m writing (drafting *and* editing) and at the day job. Headphones are my friend 🙂 The other productivity trick I use when drafting is a variation on Pomodoro. What seems to work best for me is 15 minutes on/5 minutes off, and I do three sessions of  those in an hour. When I’m doing a marathon day, I’ll do 10 15/5 sessions for a total of almost 3 ½ hours, break for an hour to an hour-and-a-half, and then do a second set of 10.
Like I said, my process is still evolving, especially for the editing portion of creating those statues of Artemis, but it’s a real pleasure when I can see my skills level up and that image of Artemis feels like it is in reach of my fingers. I hope to see some of you at the Westminster Public Library on May 1st where you can learn more about the writing process from all of our great panelists!
Kelly’s latest title, Blizzard Bliss: A Capital Kisses Story is available now.
About Kelly:
Kelly Maher
Kelly Maher writes hot romance and erotic fiction when she’s not working as a librarian in Washington, DC. Her current projects include romantic suspense and mystery, and she’s hopeful of one day being able to use in a story what she learned from her undergrad degree of how to hide the bodies.
Website
As Kelly mentioned, please come out to meet her, myself and 6 other romance authors at the Carroll County Public Library, Sunday, May 2, 2016 for all the romance you can stand. We’ll be doing a panel and talk all about writing, publishing and just about everything else you want to know. Here’s the line-up.Â
