Writing Process Blog Tour

I was tagged by Maggie Jamieson to participate in the Writing Process Blog Tour. How it works is she posted on her blog last Wednesday the answer tot he four following questions and then tagged two more people to answer the questions this Wednesday. And I in turn, will tag two people to answer these questions next week on their blog. 

The questions:

​1. What are you working on now?
2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?
3. Why do you write what you do?
4. How does your writing process work?

1. I am working on the second mystery book in the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries Series, Tarnish Remains.  Shandra is a potter who uses clay from her ranch to make gourd-shaped vases that she decorates in Native American design as a nod to her heritage. In books two she digs up a skeleton while digging up clay. 

2. My work differs from others of its genre because while I consider it a cozy mystery because of the amateur sleuth and a law officer and the murders are not gory or do I go deep internal thoughts of the killers. But I give Shandra and Detective Greer equal points of view in the story and it's told in third person rather than in one person point of view and first person. 

3. I am writing mysteries because they have always been my favorite books to read. I enjoy the intrigue and trying to outguess the sleuth. Piecing together the characters, their motives, alibis, and making a twist at the end is half the challenge and fun of writing the story.

4. For the mysteries I start out with my sleuth, Shandra Higheagle, and come up with a realistic reason she could become involved with a murder. The first book her friend was suspect for the death of a art gallery owner. The book I'm working on now the body is found on her property by her and the first suspect is her hired hand. I'd set up her helper, Crazy Lil, in the first book. Giving her an interesting but illusive past. So using her as the main suspect in this book was easy once I had her background figured out. Then I made a chart with a list of suspects. I have columns for how they know the victim, their motives, their alibis or lack of alibis, and who I believe the real killer is. With that chart I then make a six stages chart that shows in the story when each suspect is discovered and when they are discounted as the murderer. It's a lot like piecing a puzzle together only instead of pictures I move people and words around. ;) 

Those are the answers to how I write my mysteries which will be available Jan., Feb., and March 2015. 

These are the two people I tagged to continue this blog tour next week, September 17th: 

Christy Carlyle http://romancingthevictorians.blogspot.com