Q&A

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
It made me much less precious about how I write. When you have a deadline and a book 2 to deliver, you cannot sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. You have to get your butt in the chair and figure it out. It’s a job—a fun, awesome job—but you have to begin treating it that way.

Are you a plotter, planster, or pantser?
Plotter! I love to sit in my writing cave and dream up all the ways I can make things terrible for my characters…and then make them better, of course. 

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? 

17. My first published book (Monstrous) was the seventh I wrote. Currently, I have several projects in the works that hopefully will be published someday and many others that are neatly tucked away in a drawer, happily to never be seen again. Writing has taken a lot of trial and error for me!

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
Two things: 1) Scrivener! It’s the best writing software ever. It was exactly what my brain was craving to help my writing process. I call myself a Scrivenervangelist, I’ve taught workshops on it, and could easily wax poetic about it for hours. 2) Not long after I sold my first book, I began a new job that allowed me to work from home. Which meant I was sitting at my desk from 8am to midnight most days between work and writing. I very quickly began to feel…off.  Turns out all that sitting is really bad for you! So I took a piece of my advance and invested in a treadmill desk. It was life changing. I definitely feel more productive when blood is actually flowing to my brain instead of sinking into my feet, and I no longer crash in the afternoon. Highly recommend!