People often ask me about my creative process, so I thought it might be helpful to provide an illustration of the exact process that went into creating last week’s post. Voilà: My Creative Process.
P.S. We have a release date for Book 10, Spy Away Home: September 4, 2015! I tried really hard for August, but it just wasn’t to be. Pre-orders should be available at all distributors within the next few days (Amazon and Smashwords are already up). If you’ve signed up on the new-release notification list, you’ll get an email when all the pre-orders are up, and again when the book is available.
P.P.S. I’m on the road today, so I won’t be able to respond to comments until this evening. ‘Talk’ to you then!
This seems a rather honest account of the creative process to me. 🙂 I recognized the bit about an observation being true but not funny. There are certain things I’ve been wanting to write about for a while, but until I can find an angle — some way to make them funny — they’re going to remain nothing but squiggles in my notebook.
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I know what you mean. And it’s odd how sometimes something that should be funny won’t quite turn into a blog post, while my mind immediately begins to giggle at things that shouldn’t be funny. But that might just be me. Hence the tagline of my blog: “Probably Inappropriate…”
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Aha! I see. 🙂
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Hahahaha, I think mine is similar but not as ingenious :”)
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“Basically indistinguishable from insanity,” should be your tagline.
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I like it…
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If insanity works … so he it … so I raise my glass of wine to toast your insanity.
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I’ll drink to that! 🙂
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Alright … the more the merrier. I’m pouring … which would you like: red or white wine?
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Yes! Absolutely! 🙂
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Cheers.
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Thank you! I like a bit of wine with my toast! 😉
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Oh yes … red or white?
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How about a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc? (Or a beer. It’s all good.) 😉
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New Zealand Sauv Blanc it is … enjoy this one from Kim Crawford. Cheers … Clink!
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Thank you! Cheers! *clink*
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Kim Crawford fans here, too. Personally, I like Argentine malbecs, too. Mendoza Province malbecs in particular. But that’s just me. 🙂
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That is hilarious. Yes where do those ideas come from and where the bloody #1@%** do they go?
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I’d sure like to know. Maybe they’re in the same place as all the lost socks. 😉
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Yey finally a dare for the new book, and almost perfect as I’ll have it in time for my birthday what a great present to me. And probably better than buying myself more jewellery, although I can see me doing that too
hope you had a great day out travelling Diane, even if it took you away from finishing proofing the new book
big hugs
karen
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Thanks, Karen! I did have a lovely day – today’s my birthday, so I took the day off and spent it rambling out in the country in gorgeous weather. Finished off with a delicious seared ahi dinner and a Rocky Road ice cream cone, so all is well in my world. And tomorrow I’ll be raring to go on the final proofing!
Happy early birthday to you! 🙂
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A belated happy birthday to you Diane, I’m glad you had a great day
hugs and best wishes
Karen
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Thank you, Karen! 😀
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Oscar Levant said that the difference between genius and insanity was a thin line, which he had erased. You may have done the same for creativity.
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Also for good taste. I’m pretty sure I crossed that line a long time ago. 😉
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I like to think that we didn’t “cross that line” so much as “extend its borders.”
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I like the way you think!
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I love it. Your brain cell goes like a ping pong ball in a tornado. Mine too. But at least yours is creative. Only way to travel. By the way, there is a fine line between numerator and denomonator. I need to get back to your books. I am reading really heavy shit right now.
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‘Aaargh!’ to your joke – good one! But vinucula is one of those words I’m always hesitant to use – I worry that someone might think I’m offering them a wine fermented from vampires…
Hope you finish plowing through your heavy shit soon!
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I had to look up vinculum. Who knew? Besides you. Fermented vampire wine sounds bloody awful. Finished Suvorov’s book and read my first (and last) Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale. As I said in my review, at least Orwell knew what he was writing about.
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Y’know, I tried to like Margaret Atwood’s work. I really, really tried… *fail*
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I had to read that wretchedness as an assignment for a sociology class in school a hunnerd or two years ago. That’s the class I took as a GPA booster. All my buddies took a sociology class from a certain prof and claimed it was a gold-plated blow-off, and I needed a GPA booster at the time. Well, that guy’s classes were all full, of course, so I took another guy’s class. Big mistake. I worked my, well, I worked really hard at it and barely scraped by with a C. And Handmaids Tale was the *best* thing on the reading list. Gad, that was a terrible semester. 😦
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Ew, that’s horrifying! (Gee, I wonder why the other prof’s classes were all full…?) 😉
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Gad, I love your cartoons! The facial expressions, the posture, body language, and backgrounds are just right. Just enough detail to be perfect.
And the parallels you draw with those things are just scary. Have you been reading my mail? 🙂
THEPTEMBER! (Foot still tapping…)
(244k, 528 pages and counting. The wife sez, “Aren’t you through with that thing YET?” Quoth I, “I’m sorry! Stuff just keeps happening! And *somebody’s* gotta write this stuff down!” Is it always this way?)
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LOL! I think you’re writing a trilogy and you just haven’t broken it up into books yet. And thorry about Theptember. I really tried for Augutht, but my final proofreader jutht dithcovered a big oopth, tho I’m glad I didn’t rush it!
Glad you got a laugh out of the cartoon!
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A big oopth? I hate it when I find a big oopth! I hate it worth when your proof readerth find ooptheth! But I underthtand. Thorta. You thtill rock, thithter! And 246k. Today hath been a good day!
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And Happy Birthday!
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Thank you! I had it. 🙂
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Actually I’m incredibly relieved when my proofreaders find oopses because it means my readers won’t find them. But at the same time it always makes me worry about what else I’ve missed… 😉
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So if I am insane I may also be a writer? That actually gives me a boost of confidence in my possibilities. I still can’t remember to keep a notebook for writing down all the great ideas I forget about.
I am waiting impatiently and with baited breath for Spy Away Home. It’s true my breath smells like bait because I often warm up my minnows, worms, and leeches by putting them in my mouth. It’s a pretty common practice in these parts.
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Bahahaha!!! Vivid mental image happening here…
And yes, since you blog, you already qualify as a writer. But I’ll leave the diagnosis of insanity to those more qualified (and saner) than I.
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Ha! I know the feeling all too well. A seemingly wonderful idea–so wonderful that there’s no way I could forget it in the short time it takes to walk to another room. And yet I do.
Safe travels and congrats on the book!
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Thanks for both! And I’m really glad I’m not the only one with a faulty memory!
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