It’s my turn on the grill today for the Steel Magic blog tour!
First up: I answer some questions about the writing life on contemporary romance author Jennifer Loring’s blog!
An excerpt:
Do you have a special writing place? What’s in it? What can’t be in it?
I have an amazing home office that I practically live in for editing and marketing work. But for some reason, it’s really hard for me to actually produce words there. It’s not even an access to the internet thing, because the first thing I do when I get to one of my multitude of local writing spots (coffee shops and cafes) is turn on the WiFi. Perhaps it’s just knowing that I can’t go home until I get my daily word goal finished!
Elsewhere on the interwebs, the beginning of my three-part interview at Calico Writes was also posted today! This is part of a feature called “Calico in Conversation,”so join us for a bit as we talk about things like how my day job affects my writing and who some of my biggest inspirations are.
Another excerpt:
Can you talk a bit about editing? You say you freelance: is that fiction or medical or both? I can see how editing fiction helps you as a writer, but what about the medical side of things? Do you utilize medical research for your fiction?
While I enjoy medical editing, it is definitely what I do to pay the bills. Fiction editing is my first love, so those are the sorts of freelance jobs I take. However, I feel like the basic knowledge set I have acquired after editing journal articles about everything from spinal cord injury to traumatic brain injury to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has improved my storytelling, especially as a fantasy author. Too many times, injury (both physical and mental) is either not portrayed realistically or completely brushed aside. I cringe when I see characters receive blows to the head and wake up later with no ill effects, both on screen and on the page. I am also challenging myself with a PTSD storyline later in the Steel Empires series because I am constantly amazed when heroes are put through the wringer book after book with no lasting effect stronger than the occasional nightmare.
Don’t forget that today is the LAST DAY to take advantage of the Kindle 99 cent sale for Steel Victory! You’ll definitely want to be caught up before Steel Magic is released tomorrow.
Congrats on the book release. I totally relate to how medical editing influences your work and can interfere with your enjoyment of others’ work, since I’m a medical writer. 😉
Thanks! I bet you get twitchy about people getting knocked out, too. 🙂
That and more. People heal awful fast on TV, for instance. Too many miraculous cures. 😀
Ugh, I know! How many times are main characters in action shows knocked out with no ill effects. Traumatic brain injury, even mild, is a thing!