What? Yet another Blog Hop? Say it’s not true, you scream. It is true, I gleefully reply. Blame the post-Easter springiness in my step. It’s sunny out, and I may as well hop, especially as I’ve been tagged by my crit group buddy – writer, editor and book seller extraordinaire, Charlotte Ashley. Charlotte was tagged by Simon McNeil, author of the Black Trillium, and Simon was tagged by Adam Shaftoe, and Adam by Matt Moore. I could go on, but let me quickly start answering Charlotte’s questions before you drift over to more interesting blogs….

1) How different is the current (or final) draft of your novel from the original? What changed and why?

The current draft of the Markswoman, Book 1 of Asiana, is not remotely like the first draft which I started five years ago. The story and the characters are the same, but I picked up a lot on the craft of writing along the way. I got some great feedback from different beta readers, and this helped me shape the manuscript the way it is today. I slashed about 80,000 words from the original draft and used some of that for a sequel. I also learned much more about editing than I’d dreamed possible, including the great debate about the serial comma, and the problems with semi-colons.

2) If you could pick one book you’d like to see your book shelved next to, what would it be and why?

What I’d really like is for my books to fill all the shelves. Say copies and copies of Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, on and on, with absolutely no competition!

Seriously, though, I’d like my books to be shelved with those by Ursula Le Guin. She’s one of my favorite writers. As a kid, I loved Wizard of Earthsea – I still do. And when I was older, The Left Hand of Darkness had me utterly absorbed. Intelligent, thought-provoking speculative fiction that is as absorbing today as it was 30-40 years ago.

3) If you could write anywhere you wanted to, where would you go? What would your writing space look like?

Sigh. I’m in an attic filled with natural light from a large window. Outside, the crash of surf and the smell of the sea. Before me is a venerable old wooden desk lined with drawers, stuffed with my notebooks. It is so quiet and peaceful. No one is knocking on the door or calling me up or wiping their nose on my sleeve, or demanding food. And of course, I’m not getting any writing done at all because this is not the natural habitat of the writing mom…

4) Your novel sells, becomes a best seller and you now have ten million dollars. The first thing you buy is…

Attic as described above, and about ten nannies. 🙂

Tag! I’m passing the baton to fellow Scribewench, the talented and popular romance writer Kate Robbins!