2013 Debut Author- Sarah Ashley Jones- Day In The Life...
/As a writer I have a process for how I go about my writing. Basically it involves lots of snacks, music and yelling. I will detail my crazy process for you eventually but for now I have something even more special...
I sat down and asked other 2013 debut authors to do guest posts for me on how their process has been. I basically gave them free will to write anything that described a bit about becoming a published author.
Today I have
When Michele asked me to write a Day in the Life posts,
I’ll admit, I was super pumped about it. I don’t live a particularly
interesting life, but I try and have as much fun as possible with what I was
given to work with. So here’s a little taste of what it’s like to be me and how
I get down and write! It is a little different around my house now since my
husband has been gone for a year. I think when he comes home he won’t know what
hit him having a wife who is now a crazy author! Well here it goes.
On most days, I hate waking up. Actually, every day I
hate waking up. It’s because of this I set my alarm twenty-five minutes early
so that I can hit snooze twice, and if I’m lucky, I’ll actually really only hit
it twice and be up and ready to go on time. At some point during the rush to
get ready, I have to wrangle my four 40-90lb dogs through the house and let
them outside to do their business.
After I’m done making myself as presentable as possible,
the dogs go into their kennels and I’m on my way to work! I’m the opening
person at a paint your own pottery and woodcraft studio, so I get in, turn on
all the lights, throw my paint splatter apron on and get to work! I might be
bias, but I have the best day job ever. My creative brain never stops and
getting to work in an art studio is like the icing on my cake.
After a few hours of helping people sling paint on
things, I head home. I may or may not stop at Taco Bell for some bean and cheese
(with only beans and cheese) burritos. It’s a weakness. Deal with it. Also this
is where daily errands would normally be inserted. Once I get home, I’m greeted
by those crazy four-legged boogers of mine again. If it’s nice we will play
outside for a little bit before I have to be a grown-up and do lame grown-up
chores around the house (apparently someone lied to me when they said being a
grown up was better).
Now comes the fun part. I write. I’m pretty busy during
the day so I tend to write into the wee hours of the night, which I’ve found
out is pretty common when I’m tweeting at 2AM and other authors and friends are
tweeting me back. At least I’m not alone! I don’t have any particular writing
rituals, but this is what I do.
I get a running start and jump into my giant fluffy bed
and roll around in it a few times before I prop all my pillows up around me and
snuggle under the blanket. Then I turn my little personal heater on that sits
next to me on the nightstand because I am perpetually cold and it’s freezing as
I write this. I then grab my computer and sit up against my headboard,
criss-cross-applesauce, and stare at the blank screen for a few minutes. I may
be the only one who does this, but I always end up doing it and I don’t know
why.
To set the mood a little bit, I go into my Spotify and
find the perfect song for the scene I’m going to write. Then I set it on
repeat. I will listen to the same song over and over until I’m satisfied with
the scene. This could take upwards of twelve hours. Yes, that’s a true story
that happened a month ago with me. I’ll tell you this: It was worth it!
I tend to get
really caught up in my story. My characters suck me in. I may go into a scene
with an outcome in mind and then someone has to go rouge and completely change
the direction of it. These guys have a mind of their own I tell you! I laugh, I
cry, and I get mad with them – sometimes at them! And I always act out the
dialogue out loud. This is partly because if I didn’t do it, all my characters
would end up speaking just like me, which doesn’t work out very well. I make
the facial expressions I see them making as they go through a scene. Pretty
much if a hacker got into my webcam they would probably think I was nuts the
way I look when I’m writing.
The best way I can
explain my writing is that I have a movie in my head and I’m just typing out
the screenplay for people to read. I see everything that happens to them in
vivid details and I just hope that my readers feel and see what I did when I
wrote it. I live to write and enjoy getting sucked into the stories that I have
in my head.
When I started writing, I had one single scene in my head
and that was it. That scene is now my first chapter and has evolved into my
debut novel, Promise Me This. In the
short amount of time I’ve been writing I’ve grown so much and I cherish
everybody who has helped me along the way. There has been many late nights and
early mornings, story planning sessions over dinner, times where I have to stop
driving and write down an idea that pops into my head, and even a few tears
shed along the way. But I know I wouldn’t do anything differently because at
the end of the day, if even one person reads and enjoys the stories I have in
my heart, my mission is accomplished!
I hope you all will look out for my debut book, Promise Me This, a New Adult Romance
that will be out this summer! I’ve included a little teaser to enjoy while you
wait. This is a glimpse into Jhett’s mind as he thinks about Charlie, the main
character he just can’t shake out of his mind.
We
stayed like that for a while, watching the movie together in silence. When she
mentioned starting to live her life for her, I wanted to tell her just how
badly I wanted that for her, too. It was an odd feeling to care so much for a
person you just met. I couldn’t tell if it was just the regret I felt about
Cameron, the responsibility I felt for his accident, or the fact that she was
the only girl who seemed worth my time since I’d been in San Diego. She was
stubborn and untrusting as hell, a change of pace from the girls who basically
threw themselves at me, although I never complained before.
And there you go! Anyone else want to hack into Sarah's webcam and watch her
write with me? Heehee!
I LOVE me some Sarah, aka Cupcake, and you can often find us chatting on FB and
Twitter. In fact, we have a permanently open message window on FB for all
of our plot sharing, complaining and tom-foolery!
Come find us and chat!
