BLOG HOP, OR 4 QUESTIONS ABOUT WRITING

Fellow author at Poisoned Pen Press, Sandra Parshall (www.sandraparshall.com), tagged for for the blog hop, where I am asked to answer four questions about writing.

What am I working on?

I am just off a long-ish book tour, and am doing research on the third in my wine mystery series, set in BURGUNDY. My plan is to go there at harvest time (late September) and spend two to three weeks, then return and do nothing but write for the next four months. Another non-mystery novel, Mara's Secret, is in fourth draft and will soon be off to an editor. 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write from the point of view of an American, NYPD detective Max (Maxine) Maguire, and Frenchman Olivier Chaumont, a juge d'instruction. These opposites in personality and culture provide some of the conflict, and a bit of amusement as they have entirely different methods of solving crimes. My books have been compared to Ellen Crosby's wine mysteries set in Virginia, and to Peter Mayle's light-hearted mysteries that involve wine, but mine are a little more complex, I think, especially BORDEAUX: The Bitter Finish,where there is so much wine research, and shifting my characters back and forth between New York and Bordeaux.

Why do I write what I do?

I started this series with a young French woman and close friend, Astrid Latapie. As time passed and we weren't ablel to sell it, Astrid went into full-time work.  I revamped it and it sold. The first two still carry her energy. Astrid accompanied me to Bordeaux to do research, and I set CHAMPAGNE: The Farewell in her family home in Champagne. Mara's Secret was my first novel, and I have picked away at it until I think it is almost ready to go to the agent. I don't like the term "women's fiction,' but I believe that is how a bookstore would categorize it. I don't see a great deal of difference in writing mysteries or other fiction. 

How does my writing process work?

Another novelist in our blog hop, Michael Shere (www.michaelwsherer.com) describes the two camps: pantsers and plotters. He wrote, "The pantsers jump into each book with no idea what it's all about or where it will end up. The latter rely on a carefully crafted story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. I am definitely the former. Though I am doing research on the Burgundy area, I go with the notion that I will find my story there. It can be terrifying! When I return I write from beginning to end, when I stop to see what I have. I know Max and Olivier, and their family members quite well now, and that will help a lot. I'm excited to see where the story will take them!  

I am tagging two fine authors, Tina Whittle, a mystery writer working in the Low Country of the Southeast, and Tammy Kaehler, who authored The Kate Reilly Racing Mysteries. 

Find Tina at www.tinawhittle.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-am-i-up-to-now-you-ask.html. Tammy is at www.tammykaehler.com.  (I'm doublechecking that). 

Let me hear back from you!  And thanks for joining me, Janet