Monday, March 24, 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour

Big thanks to Sara Lippmann, author of the forthcoming story collection, Doll Palace, who is as chic a dresser as awesome she is a person and as talented a writer. To read Sara’s response to the Writing Process blog or to check out her work, click here.


What am I working on?
I am one of those who works best when multitasking and working on different genres at the same time. Not literally because I have only two hands but you know what I mean. I am currently working on a collaborative collection of poetry, editing novel 2 and writing novel 3 while collecting stories for a documentary film.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I try to make sense of the world around me through writing. And that writing comes from a place of experience, introspection, and reflection, which is mine and mine alone. As Anaïs Nin accurately said, “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

Why do I write what I do?
I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t write. Okay, maybe become an item girl in Bollywood. But how would I manage my obsessions with stories and the need to share them? To me, writing is cathartic and a way of satiating my curiosity.

How does my writing process work?
I believe that stories and inspiration are everywhere, so I carry a notebook (or my iPad mini) with me at all times. There is lots of chai-drinking involved in my day-to-day writing/researching process. I do not function well under chaos or fluidity so my writing process has a structure & a method to it. Being a boarding school kid, I have an old and loyal relationship with discipline.

I pour myself into all my projects until they consume me, so the creative phase (first draft in particular) can be very intense. Since patience isn’t my friend, I work pretty fast but the perfectionist inside of me won’t allow for any lapse in quality. It’s hard for me to not be done with a project after a specific time period. Also, given that I am a Type A and work across multi-genres, I rarely procrastinate.



Next up are some really awesome writers. You should check out their work if you haven’t already.

LISA L. KIRCHNER was once simultaneously the dating columnist for an alternative newsweekly, bridal editor for a society rag and the religion reporter for a gay and lesbian newspaper. The author of Hello American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar (Greenpoint Press, May 2014), she's currently working on the follow-up, Meeting My Inner Bitch, tales of her time in India. She currently lives in New York City. More at www.LisaLKirchner.com.

Georgia Clark is a young adult author living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Her first novel, She's With The Band (Allen and Unwin), was inspired by her time in the band, Dead Dead Girls. Her new novel Parched, a sci-fi/romance, is out this month through Holiday House. Georgia has received various grants and scholarships for her writing, and she has been selected to attend writer's residencies in the US and Europe. She has been published in teen and women's lifestyle magazines and websites. When she's not writing, she performs improv comedy and enjoys a good cheese platter. She is currently working on an adult contemporary about beauty. More at http://georgiaclark.com

The author of “The Bohemian Love Diaries,” the personal perspectives blogger for Psychology Today, and an advice columnist at howdoidate.com (Ask Uncle Slash), Slash is best known for his PBS Special The Neon Man and Me and is currently creating The New American Storyteller for PBS. More at www.slashcoleman.com