Happy Monday!

With my manuscript back with my agent and the submission process in progress I’ve dove back into the second book of my series. I did hit a wall last week because I was sick so there wasn’t much writing done. However, I did manage to write about 6,000 words. So I think I did pretty good considering all I wanted to do was sleep. Today’s question is do I listen to music when I write.  I have a full cup of coffee, so lets start chatting.

The answer is a simple “no”. I cannot listen to music and write. Music distracts me so I never have it on when I’m writing or doing any other work. I know some of my co-workers at my day job listen to music but I can’t do it. There’s something about the lyrics, the rhythm, I don’t know. And I don’t have a play list for my manuscripts. I really don’t have the time to pick out songs that represent the story or the characters. I do sometimes use a song as inspiration for a story idea or character or even a scene.

I do usually have a television on in the background turned to a cable news program. Hearing the reporter’s voices in the background doesn’t distract me. I guess spending so many years working at the day job I’ve gotten used to background chatter and having the television on provides tat for me at home. There are some mornings when I get up very early and I go into my study to sit and write for a few minutes and there’s no noise at all. I can’t say that my final product is any better, I don’t know. It’s just a different experience.

I did receive a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones this year for my birthday and I used them when there was a lot of noise outside when neighbors were mowing their lawns or when I needed to write and my husband was home watching television. I love the headphones. Every writer should have a pair.

Each writer has her own routine that works for them. It’s good to try something different, if another writer does XYZ and it sounds like it may work then give it a go. What’s the worse that can happen? The one thing writers must always do is to be true to themselves and their creative process.

I’m going to finish my coffee now and if there is anything else you’d like to know about how I name or create my characters please ask. If you don’t have a question, don’t be shy – say “hi” in the comments section!

It’s so hard to believe that it’s November. Where did October go? I feel like I was just buying pumpkins and mums and now I’m preparing for Thanksgiving. I’m also hip deep into the second book of my cozy, culinary series. Which leads me to today’s question – what made you interested in writing this particular story? I have a full cup of coffee, so lets start chatting.

Because I’m not revealing the occupation of my sleuth, I will not be entirely free to discuss the plot for book 2. So if I seem a bit cryptic please forgive me.

What made me interested in writing this story?

First, I love exploring the age-old question about how well do we really know someone. The desire to achieve success at any cost. And the bonding of four strangers despite secrets kept.

Hope, my amateur sleuth, must insert herself into a murder investigation at great risk to her own safety because she believes a person she knows is suspected of the murder. But the fact is Hope doesn’t know that person very well and she’s warned by the people around her to be careful. Why is Hope doing this? She has a tendency to believe in the good in people and she has a hard time fathoming someone she knows, even if the person is just an acquaintance, could be guilty of murder.

There is a subplot of two professional rivals vying for bylines at a local newspaper. I’m curious to see how far they will go to get the story. Both will try to use Hope for information and since one of them is a close friend to Hope I wonder if he is willing to jeopardize a lifelong friendship for career success.

Hope is apart of a workshop where three other people are in attendance and since this is a murder mystery there are some secrets upon the workshop participants but they do share a common interest that bonds them. The dynamics of the group is interesting to me and while I have the book plotted, I feel that there will be some surprises for me as I continue to write the manuscript.

So these are a few reasons why I’m interested in writing this story. I’m going to finish my coffee now and if there is anything else you’d like to know about how I name or create my characters please ask. If you don’t have a question, don’t be shy – say “hi” in the comments section!

Last week my sister-in-law asked me a question. She wanted to know how I named my characters and I told her. Then I got to thinking about some of the other questions I’ve been asked recently about writing and decided to create a regular feature on my blog. Coffee & Chat. I got my coffee so lets start chatting.

How do I name my characters?

It depends. 🙂 You didn’t think there would be a straight cut answer, did you? To be honest, I never really thought about how I go about naming my characters. I just do. Let me use a heroine in a romantic suspense story I began writing.

She began as Sunny Palmer. I loved the name Sunny for her. I’ve wanted to name a character Sunny for some time and when I was developing that story I seemed to find the perfect character for the name. Her background was she had a bright, positive attitude and she lived in the moment not really thinking about tomorrow or the consequences of her actions. In high school she liked to have a good time and she was in love with one of the Leighton brothers. She and Tucker got engaged and they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. That was until she got cold feet and took off. She eventually returned to her hometown a culinary school graduate and the owner of a bistro on Main Street. She’d gotten her act together but there were so many burned bridges she had a hard time settling back in. You see, everyone still thought of her as the young, irresponsible Sunny and not as a businesswoman. I wrote several chapters and my critique partner mentioned that the character I was writing didn’t come across as a “Sunny”. She wasn’t perky or outgoing, instead she was organized, disciplined and focused on defeating a big box store that threatened Main Street businesses. The more I thought about Ellie’s comment the more I thought about a new name for Sunny. I wanted a name that could be transformed from wild child to mature adult. A name that she feels she’s outgrown but many people still call her because they still feel she’s that person.

The name I settled on is Danielle/Dani. She used to be Dani and now she goes by Danielle. Now, she only has to convince everyone from her past to go along with the change.

There are times when I have a character that I have no idea of what his/her name should be. That’s when I used baby name directories online until I find just the right name. Sometimes I come across a name that intrigues me and I want to create a character for that name. There are a couple of things I keep in mind when I do name a character.

I prefer to use shorter names because it makes typing the names easier. I don’t choose names that start with the same letter for more than 2 characters because it can confuse a reader. I like to choose names that are easily pronounced because I want readers to talk my books up and they should be able to pronounce each character’s name.

So that’s how I name my characters. I’m going to finish my coffee now and if there is anything else you’d like to know about how I name or create my characters please ask. If you don’t have a question, don’t be shy – say “hi” in the comments section!