Some answers!

I got a lot of really good questions from my request in my previous blog entry (don't be confused by the solitary question on that one, my Twitter followers came up with a lot). Many I think will require a full blog post to answer each, which is awesome as that means I have several blogs now planned for the future!

But today I thought I'd answer the ones requiring slightly less space. So, here we go!



From @smiley_b: A question I like seeing authors answer is "what books have you read that made you say 'wish I'd written that!' (if any)" ?

It doesn't happen to me that often. But when I read the first book in the HUNGER GAMES series I definitely had that thought. For the most part though the books I love tend not to be the kind of books I'd write, so I never wish I could have. If that makes sense. So the Harry Potter series for example - I love so much about it, but at the same time I know I never would have written something like that. And anything by Douglas Adams, as much as he inspires so much of my writing, it's still very much him.

I think a part of it also comes from the fact that I am so happy I get to experience the book as a reader, and not as the writer, that I don't desire to be the writer of it. It's a whole other kind of experience being the creator of something as opposed to the consumer. It's the same thing with acting. There are so many films/plays I claim I wish I could have been a part of, but then when I think about it more I realise, "But then I wouldn't have got to watch them and appreciate them the way I do as an audience member."

Hopefully this makes sense.


From @charlesatan (who made numerous suggestions, and most of which I need to spend full blogs on): Current goals and how you plan to accomplish them.

My very current goal is to finish writing THE FRIDAY SOCIETY. It's due to my editor very very soon. I plan on accomplishing this by . . . writing it. On that note, I should mention that I am now being published with Dial, not Dutton - they are both imprints of Penguin but my editor recently moved to Dial. Just fyi.

When the first draft is done, I'm planning on returning to the project I was writing last summer while I wait for edits on TFS. And my agent and I recently had a chat about a submission game plan for some other already completed work of mine.

In the summer I'm acting in a Fringe show at the Toronto Fringe, and that requires me to also write a monologue that is due this month. Rehearsals I imagine will start up late spring for that. Really excited about it. Hopefully in general the acting work picks up, I do have an audition for a theatre company tomorrow as a matter of fact. Which means I need to dust of ye old comic monologue.

I also have two anthologies coming out (CORSETS & CLOCKWORK and THE GIRL WHO WAS ON FIRE), so I have some promotional stuff coming down the pipeline, giveaways, blog posts etc.

Conventions/Conferences are starting up again too, and I'll be attending at least two in April (Ad Astra and Canadian Steampunk Exhibition), probably some in the summer as well. And as always there are school visits (probably one of my favourite parts of being an author).

So . . . I'm pretty busy as you can see.



From @RoryHartshorne: Here's a writing topic for your blog, if this one floats your boat: is it Thomas's or Thomas' etc argument. That would help many of us in this pickle!

This is actually quite tricky, and both are technically correct. It depends which style guide you use. I've always been a Thomas's girl myself, but recently had such a choice corrected by an editor. I think Thomas' is becoming the more popular choice, but still, I guess I'm an old fashioned kind of girl.



From @FannishSunny: do you listen to music when you write? Does it influence the pacing, mood of a piece?

It depends. I know YA authors are known for having playlists etc for their novels, but I tend to find music extremely distracting. For some reason I really have to listen to it, it can't just be background for me, so I find myself not writing, just listening. But every once in a while, yes, I do listen to music. Especially if I am feeling particularly blocked. I like to choose music that reflects setting of my books more than mood. So music from the time period, or the country etc.



From Bethany Mattingly (in the blog post comments section): Favorite Adam Lambert song?

I actually really quite like "Whataya Want From Me?", and his music is fun in general. But my fav songs, I have to admit, would have to be his covers of "Mad World" and "Feeling Good" on American Idol.