Today I’m delighted have award-winning author Georgia Beers join me for Work-In-Progress Wednesday.
Georgia, September is National Better Breakfast Month. Personally, I hate breakfast. If I have to eat it, I like the fast food drive thru. Do you eat breakfast? What’s your favorite breakfast? What’s your dream breakfast? Does eating breakfast help you write? Any other observations on breakfast you’d like to share?
GB:
I happen to love breakfast. It’s my favorite meal in the world. In fact, breakfast for dinner is my favorite thing to eat, ever. I love eggs. I love pancakes. I love waffles. I am a big fan of the PopTart. And I could live on cereal. Unfortunately, I have gotten into the habit recently of not eating breakfast and that is something I need to fix. I do find I work better if I’ve eaten in the morning.
MJ: If you didn’t write, what would be your creative outlet?
GB:
You know, I have a lot of creativity in me. Lots of outlets. But I have terrible follow-through. Truly horrendous. I have everything I need to crochet and I also have a basic knowledge (though there’s much more for me to learn). Yet my supplies are collecting dust. I love to garden and I have a bunch of houseplants. But I work on them in spurts. I planted a garden in May and have weeded it exactly once so far this summer. See? No follow-through. That’s something I need to work on. One thing I love and do on a somewhat regular basis is color. I have a stack of coloring books and a huge container of crayons. And for my birthday, a friend bought me colored pencils and an *adult* coloring book. So that’s been awesome to help me feel creative when I’m not writing. It’s relaxing and it lowers my stress level. I highly recommend it.
MJ: I love coloring, too! Other than writing, what would be your dream job? Why?
GB:
I would love to be a film director. I think I’d be very good at it. I am a huge movie buff. In addition, when I write, I always see my books as movies. I’m very visual. So I think I’d be good at getting a vision from my head onto the big screen.
MJ: Describe your ideal/dream writing space.
GB:
Hmm. The one I have or the one I wish I had? LOL. I would love to have a separate building on my property that I could remodel into a big, open, sunny office space and then head there every morning like I’m going to work. But since I live in an average-size house in the city, that’s not going to happen. I’ve got an office. It’s bright and sunny (windows and natural light are important to me when I work). Lots of windows. I have my desk set up so I can gaze out the window if I need to or look at shelves of books to inspire me. My dogs are usually on the floor nearby and I have a bulletin board and a white board for jotting down or pinning up ideas. I have also been known to use a change of venue on occasion. I will take my laptop to Barnes & Noble once in a while because there is something inspiring about being surrounded by books. I also have a local coffee shop that I have worked in successfully. It really depends on my mood.
MJ: What do you love most about your WIP hero?
GB:
Well, I’ve got two heroines, so I’m going to answer it that way. What I love most about Ashley is her sunny outlook on life. She is always smiling, always looking on the bright side, always positive. Those are traits that I, as a person, have never been able to master. Ashley doesn’t let anything get her down. She is the epitome of “if life hands you lemons, make lemonade!” I can’t do that.
MJ: What do you least like about your WIP heroine?
GB:
Lisa lets herself get stuck. She knows it, but she can’t seem to do anything about it. If she’s angry about something, she stays angry. She holds a grudge like nobody’s business. If something bothers her, it bothers her for days and days. She has a hard time letting go of negative emotions. (*Her*, I can relate to. LOL.)
MJ: What genre is your current WIP?
GB:
It’s a lesbian romance. All my books are.
MJ: How did you come up with your characters’ names?
GB:
I do two things. First, I have a list of names I like that I’d like to use for a character. Whenever I hear a cool name, I jot it down for possible use in the future. That being said, I also have to pay attention to character ages and whether the names I like make sense for when they were kids. So I also Google the most popular names for the year they were born and I go from there.
MJ: How did you choose the setting for your current WIP?
GB:
I wanted to write a series. My audience tends to be mostly lesbian, so I tried to think of a setting that would draw in lesbians, but not exclude the rest of the world. I also had to keep in mind that I needed someplace large enough to have a lot of gay women associated with it without it seeming too contrived or unrealistic. I landed on an animal shelter. There are enough people involved with a large animal shelter (employees, volunteers, donors) that I can hook up several pairs of them and not have people roll their eyes or shake their heads in disbelief. And lesbians are all about their pets!
MJ: Can you share the first five to ten sentences of your current work in progress?
