Thank you to friend and writing sister, Win Day, 
for the invitation to participate in this writing blog hop. Win is a writer, a speaker, a strategist, and a geek. Her company, Creative Implementations, offers lifestyle business strategies and WordPress development and technical maintenance services to creatives and heart-centered entrepreneurs. She’s writing her very first novel, a contemporary romance.
You can read about Win’s writing process here.
The idea of this blog hop is to answer four questions about my writing process and then choose one or two authors to do the same. So here are the answers:
- What am I working on right now?
For the last couple of years, in between my coaching other writers, speaking, and writing content for my weekly newsletter, I have been working on what would probably be categorized as a fantasy romance. It’s a novel that takes place in some distant past in some distant place similar in geography and climate to Egypt or Turkey. Shamanic elements are key to the story. - How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Many fantasy romances involve fairies or ghosts or other paranormal elements. Mine involves more shamanic elements like dreams and helping spirits of the dead. - Why do I write what I do?
I can’t seem to help myself. My stories always travel into places of dreams, shapeshifting, soul work and deep transformation. Myth and fairytale are imbedded deep in my psyche where the storytelling begins. - How does my writing process work?
I have a dream that seems outside of my waking life but has a hook that makes me wonder, “What if?” Someone or some situation in the dream catches my attention. For the current story, I had a dream about vultures. I know… but it was a powerful dream and there was a woman… From the dream, I will start playing with character and more what ifs. Then I’ll start to write.I usually write the first draft in longhand in a notebook or journal like a Moleskine or a Paperblanks, then I’ll transcribe it into the computer, making changes as I go. If I get stuck, I’ll do some conscious dream work or pull tarot cards for a scene. I’ve had some neat twists and surprises turn up that way.
So that’s my process.
Now, let me introduce you to the next writer 
in the blog hop, Zita Christian. Zita is the author of three historical romance novels originally published by Harper and recently reissued as ebooks by Samhain Publishing. She has also written several magazine articles, the foreword and several chapters in a book on grieving by the late Liz Aleshire, and a one-woman play, Warriors Don’t Cry, based on the Civil Rights memoir by Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the Little Rock Nine. Zita is delighted to note that Warriors just finished its second national tour. Zita is also a wedding officiant bringing “Happily Ever After” to life in CT, MA, RI, and NYC. She hosts and produces two national award-winning television shows, Page 1 (about writers and writing) and Full Bloom (about any subject she finds interesting). A third show, Weddings with Zita, will launch in summer 2014. All three shows air weekly on public access channels in Connecticut and Massachusetts and on YouTube.
Zita maintains two blogs, Ritual Writer, the wedding blog and her blog on writing, Z Writer. Check out her writing blog on April 15 for answers about her writing process.