Happy almost Friday! I’m revving up for the upcoming release of my contemporary romance, Hate to Want You. What does that mean? It means edits and more edits. My writing process is to write, edit as I go, finish the story, let it sit for a week or two, work on another story, then edit and fill in the finished story. Anyone remember Christopher Lowell, the interior designer from the late 1990’s? I’m dating myself here, but I bought one of his interior design books and how he furnishes a room stuck with me. Furnishing a room then reminded me of applying make-up. First we start off with a clean slate. In interior design or our face, that would be an empty room, a clean face. For writing, that’s a blank word document. My favorite parts of a story is the beginning and the end. The beginning shows us a hero and heroine living life NOT to their fullest. They want more in life. By the end of the story, the get something close to their ideal life, and readers notice a noticeable change in the characters. I love seeing my characters change to become better versions of themselves.

But, I’m going off course, lol. So after an empty room, a clean face, a blank page, we start adding layers. For a room, I would start with the big pieces, i.e. furniture. After the furniture comes the accessories. Think area rugs, throw pillows, curtains, wall art, etc. With make-up, there’s foundation and concealer followed by highlighting parts of the face, i.e. eyebrows, eyelashes, cheeks, and lips. With writing, it’s all about the words. But the words have to work for their place on the blank page. Words needs to mean something. Words needs to tell a story. Words needs to make readers feel. I try to get the words down first so that they have meaning, tell a story and make ME feel something. IF I feel something, I hope my readers do, too. When I’m done with a story, I’m not completely done. I go back and read the story through for redundancies, any unclear parts (dialogue, exposition) that can be written clearer, and description (more? less?).

So what does the above have to do with the title, “Why Two Is Better Than One”? I write better when I have two computer monitors. I can have my word doc on one screen and do my research or social media surfing on the other screen. Two screens is also great for comparing and editing different versions of the same story. Did I tell you I think I like to write in past present tense then realize, oh, eff it, I’m writing this story in present tense. Reading the past present and the present tense versions side-by-side is eye-opening. My paranormal romances are in past present tense. My contemporary romances, lately, are in present tense. I love having the flexibility to choose which tense to write in.

I also like having two monitor screens because I’m a big believer in multi-tasking. Are my kiddos running out of lunch money? Well… let me head on over to the other screen and check while having my word doc still open on the primary screen. If you like the idea of having two monitors, don’t make my initial mistake. Please, please, please, buy two of the same size monitors!

But if you prefer one rather than two, well, kudos to you! It’s all personal preference, right? Thank you for reading my post. Off to editing and writing.