{"id":4901,"date":"2021-04-15T02:57:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T10:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2021-04-15T02:57:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T10:57:38","slug":"thoughts-for-thursday-most-asked-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4901","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Thursday \u2013 Most Asked Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Many non-writers are interested in what actually goes into the writing process. They ask, \u201cDo you sit and wait for inspiration?\u201d \u201cWhere do the ideas come from?\u201d \u201cDo you write every day?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your schedule?\u201d I get different questions from other authors or those writing their first book. They want to know, \u201cHow do you know when the book is finished?\u201d \u201cHow do you discipline yourself to write?\u201d \u201cDo you have beta readers and editors?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to address the question of ideas in \"\"tomorrow\u2019s post because it\u2019s perhaps the biggest question here. As for the other questions, I get up every morning around four a.m., feed the cats, start the coffee, drink a tall glass of water, squeeze a glass of orange juice, and go to work. I write for most of the day, breaking occasionally for food, a walk, household chores, errands and my latest distraction, our calico kitten, Olivia. Around 11 almost every day Olivia comes into my office and begins chirping. Yes, her mews are like chirps and she won\u2019t stop until I leave my office with her and engage in a play session. After a wild game of chase-the-ball, she goes down for her nap and I go back to the computer.<\/p>\n

\"\"I\u2019m so well disciplined after 48 years of writing professionally that I don\u2019t worry about distractions such as Olivia, phone calls, a surprise visit, a spur of the moment jaunt to the lake or out to lunch. I can go back to work and pick up where I left off without issue. I still put in at least eight hours per day most days.<\/p>\n

As I said in an earlier post, I hire out just\"\" about everything except the writing, the shipping, the promotion, and the bookwork. And I still do my own housecleaning and cooking. I hire a gardener and window washers.<\/p>\n

Another question I get is why, when you switched from nonfiction to fiction writing, did you choose to write cozy mysteries with cats?<\/p>\n

\"\"The short answer is, I adore cats, I have an even greater respect for cats since I began writing about them. And I like reading light material\u2014quaint, cute, light-hearted stories with only a little suspense and mystery. So of course that\u2019s what I wanted to try to write.<\/p>\n

After nine years, with 51 Klepto Cat Mysteries under my belt, I\u2019m still having fun. Oh, another question I get is how long does it take you to write a book? It is about a two-month process for me\u2014the writing, necessary research, rewriting and editing (which is where you spend the most time) and proofing. Then there\u2019s the two weeks the editor takes to make it even more purrfect, the formatting for both the print and kindle books\u2014the entire process takes about two months. Last year I unintentionally published 9 books. My average is 6 per year.<\/p>\n

By that time I often have a good start on the next book because I work on the next book while the current book is with the editor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many non-writers are interested in what actually goes into the writing process. They ask, \u201cDo you sit and wait for inspiration?\u201d \u201cWhere do the ideas come from?\u201d \u201cDo you write every day?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your schedule?\u201d I get different questions from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4903,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions\/4903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}