Guest: Stefanie Sloane

Ladies (and Gentlemen?) your friend Lime has been a busy girl today, as you can see! First, there was The Gown post – and Evil Weddings of DOOM. It’s a pretty awesome post, and if you ever had to buy a dress for something… or had an iffy dress – you must check it out. Next, Shiloh Walker stopped by! And then… I talked about Childhood Hunger at Home. Posts one and three were to have gone live on Saturday, April 14 while I was at the EDWoD. Which is why this post happened. There are giveaways with Laura’s gown post, Shiloh’s Post, and the Saturday post.

And/but to round it all out… A post from author Stefanie Sloane. This… was quite the ordeal. I only just got the post this past Tuesday – and then of course I had computer issues! Along with a number of mix ups, drama, etc…  – but it’s here! Yay!

Writers, you will find, talk a lot about their process. I learned this at an early age while listening to my mom chat the hours away with fellow writers at a used bookstore in our hometown. Admittedly, I didn’t pay much attention at the time. After all, I wasn’t a writer, nor did I intend to be one in the near future—really in any future.

So you would think that in 2008, while the ink was still drying on my first book contract, some small, shiny twinge of recollection would resurface and whisper in my ear, “maybe NOW is the time to think about process. Since, you know, you’ll need one to finish your books.” It didn’t, and even if it had, I’m sure that I would have found a way to ignore it. I was still just young enough to believe that I could, and would, not only finish the books but do a remarkably fine job of it without overthinking anything.

Process, according to Dictionary.com, finds its origins in Middle English, introduced sometime between 1275 – 1325 and adapted from Latin for “a going forward.” My first three books were an absolute whirlwind of “a going forward.” From a partial to three complete novels in two years meant long hours, hard work, and barely enough time to eat and sleep. No stopping to smell the flowers, let alone pondering the existence of my process. Who cared? I was tremendously proud of the work—still am.

And then I turned to book four. The second set of three books started out just as the first three, the plan coming together within a matter of days, a synopsis written, and the go ahead from my editor received.

And then? And then I stared at a blank computer screen.

And stared at it some more.

I’m not really a person prone to dramatics. Don’t get me wrong; something was up, that much I knew. But it would do me no good to cry or shake my fist at the unfairness of it all. At least, not all on my own. So I phoned my agent. And I phoned my editor. And I cried and shook my fist—the other hand, obviously, since I was holding the receiver. Being the ridiculously smart women that they are, both offered up the answer: the culprit, it seemed, was my process. “A going forward” implies growth. A leap, albeit a small one at times, in perspective and wisdom.

Frick. My process had something to teach me. Which meant, of course, that I not only had to first identify said process, but then be willing to learn from it.

I also had a book to write. Bad timing, process! Bad timing, indeed. But try as I might, book four refused to be written. And so, I checked myself into a hotel (you thought I was going to say a mental hospital, didn’t you?!), surrounded myself with silence, Sprite, and Skinny Cow candy, and figured everything out.

Well, not everything. World peace, as it turns out, is tricky.

But my process? You bet, at least partially. As with most anything worth the time, one’s process has an annoying habit of morphing—or growing, if you will. Or even better, of “going forward.” Which not only tidily wraps up my guest post by pounding my point into your brain, but means there’s more introspection, more tears, more fist shaking, more fears in my future. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ms. Sloane is very generously offering up all four of her Regency Rogue books to one lucky person! That’s right, you could be the lucky owner of a bright shiny new copy of The Devil in DisguiseThe Angel in My ArmsThe Sinner Who Seduced Me, and The Saint Who Stole My Heart.

Are you a writer? Did this sound familiar? If not a writer – what’s your process for… anything? Do you have a process? Like the peeks into a writer’s life? Tell me something. Anything! Do you like historical romances? Did you have a good day? Comment to win! (Giveaway “rules” can be found here.)

0 thoughts on “Guest: Stefanie Sloane

  1. candymorton

    I love hearing about an author’s writing process. They are all so different. What blew me away with your is “the plan coming together within a matter of days” Wow! That’s fast! I’m not a writer but I am a reader and would love to win a set of these books! Thank you for the chance!

    Reply
  2. Cathy P

    I really enjoy reading Stefanie Sloane books, and love historicals.

    The last two days have been really bad for me since my husband has cancer and his blood pressure dropped yesterday to 40/25. He has been in ICU since last night. His blood pressure is back up, but he has an infection somewhere and they don’t know where. They also gave him two bags of blood today. Please pray for us. Thanks!

    Reply
  3. myrandaroyann

    My day hasn’t been great because I’ve been sick and finals are week after next (I’m in college). I do like historical romance but I am not an author. 🙂 I know I have processes but my brain’s not working! The only one I can think of is when writing a paper: procrastinate and don’t do any prewriting. 🙂 But it works out well for me (gradewise) because aparrently I’m good at B.S.-ing. ;D

    Reply
  4. librarypat

    I haven’t yet these books, but wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of them were buried in my TBR mountain.
    Process is important no matter what you are doing. It helps get things done. I am not a writer, but I have planned events, workshops, campouts, children’s programs, etc. I need to have everything in front of me and on paper. I make lots of notes, do lots of outlines, and make lots of lists. When planning workshops for example, I have a piece of paper for each session for every hour for every day. That way I can spread them out on the table and see how different configurations work. I try to figure every step, outline the flow of events, and get a 3 dimensional view of how it will work. It isn’t perfect and there are always hiccups, but for me it works .

    Reply
  5. JoAnne

    nice post – would love to win the series
    I’m not a writer but a reader and love historical romances, chick lit, contemporary romances and romantic suspense.
    I stay away from paranormal and urban fantasy
    I have a process as I approach work and things I do as a volunteer – I try to do the best job that I can at all times and try to keep things organized and not touch the same paper twice (if possible)

    Reply
  6. CrystalGB

    Great post. Thanks for sharing your writing process with us. I am a big fan of historical romance. Your books look good. Thank you for the giveaway.

    Reply
  7. Mary Kirkland (@scarymary66)

    That’s really interesting. Whenever I have something I need to get done it will bother the heck out of me until I get it done. I just get in there and do it, even if I have to re-do it because I did it wrong the first time. lol

    Thanks for the great giveaway.

    Reply
  8. jeannemiro

    Stephanie –

    I fell in love with historical romance when I was in High School and read The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Manchaby Miquel de Cervantes. When I was dating my husband we went to see the movie Don Quixote and fell in love with the song The Impossible Dream. When we married several months later we danced our first dance to that song!T

    Every year on our anniversary we play the song and dance one more time to celebrate the romance in our marriage (when our sons were young they would laugh when we danced together in the family room!).

    My favorite genre is historical romance and I love learning the history of the time period and always love when the author shares the morays and difficulties that face their characters and the prejudices they faced.

    I think reading historical romance also shows the reader that even today many of the same problems exist today just in a different setting.

    Thanks for the giveaway and for the way your books also give us insight into the prejudices that shaped and influenced the characters in your stories.

    Reply
  9. Mich

    I love to read, and I’ll read just about anything. My Kindle seems to be almost full – I should probably cull, but I just don’t have the heart to cut any books. So it’s like the boxes in my garage full of paperbacks, but…digital. Would love to win the series.

    My day was pretty good – went out to my favorite mid-valley winery for their debut of a few new wines, had some nice conversation and some tasty wine. The sun finally came out (we’ve been enduring a lot of rain), and I got to read a book today. All and all, a fun day.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply
  10. Barbara E.

    I love historical romance, I’ve been reading it for a long time. I’ve branched out into lots of other sub genres, like paranormal and steampunk, but historical is my first love. 😀 I always enjoy peeks into a writer’s life, it makes them so much more like regular people instead of these mythical beings that turn out fabulous stories with no effort.

    Reply
  11. Eva P.

    I really find it fascinating how different your writing methods are, but it makes sense, something works for one writer, does not work for another, so you have to find what works for you and then that becomes your process. I can’t say that I have a process for anything really, I’m such a procrastinator, I finally made it to file my taxes on the 14th, that’s just how I roll 😉 And I love historicals, I started reading them back when I was a senior I high school and my love has continued, I have expanded a bit, I never liked to read contemporaries, but I do now, and I have also started reading some of the steamier romances ;-}

    Reply
  12. Monikarw

    Let’s see! Hi, Lime!:)
    Yes, I like historical romance. Right now I’m reading The Husband Hunt by Lynsay Sands. I had a good day but I’m tired, Nobody told me this running-the-family-business thing was going to be so.. Umm.. What’s the word for it? Well, overwhelming, really! I guess.
    I love Stefanie Sloane in twitter, Love the quotes 🙂
    I don’t know what else to say, so, bye :*

    Reply
  13. eli yanti

    i’m not a writer but i really want to be a writer one day 🙂

    and i really love reading HR, this is my fave genre beside paranormacly romance and young adult =D

    Reply
  14. VanillaOrchids

    Stefanie,
    I can just imagine how frustrating being able to practically zip through three books but then struggling on the fourth must have been. I’m glad that you were able to work things out and figure out what your process is, at least in part. Very interesting post, indeed. Thanks for sharing it.

    Lime,
    I love historical romances! 🙂 They are one of my favorites. As for my day, well today I’ve been rather tired because I had a fun, yet exhausting day yesterday. I worked as an extra in a Matt Damon movie that is filming around where I live. Got to work rather close by him and he even talked to me briefly which I was so thrilled about. Of course, I stayed professional. On the outside, at least. I was giddy on the inside. LOL He was really nice. Plus, John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt were on set, though Emily isn’t in the movie.

    Reply
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