The Write Time: Blog Ring of Power Interview with Sue Bolich

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Blog Ring of Power Interview with Sue Bolich

Welcome to part II of a five part interview with Author Sue Bolich.

Part one is on Sandra's blog: here
Wednesday, The Creative Process--Terri
Thursday, About Your Current Work--Theresa
Friday, Words of Wisdom-- Emily

Her book Firedancer, is set in a world where four races each control (or attempt to control) a different element.

Today Sue is going to discuss The Writing Life

What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine? Do you use pen and paper or computer? Work at home or at the library/Starbucks, etc.

I usually write in the afternoons/evenings when life slows down a bit. I like sitting on the deck with my laptop in the summer with the outdoors surrounding me, feeding my sensory inputs and appearing on the page in some shape or form. I could not write longhand to save my life; I need the keyboard to keep up with my brain. I also need privacy, not someone looking over my shoulder. I can’t imagine writing in a public place.

How do you balance writing with other aspects of your life?

I try to make time for the other important stuff: family, friends, etc. I just try to bring everything I do into the writing so that I’m absorbing life as I live it, not sitting around thinking about what I should put in my books. Every experience outside the house can lead to something fun or wise to put in your book. You really need to go out and check out the real world now and again or you end up in a bubble.

How much time per day do you spend on your writing?

That varies depending on what else is going on, but I try to achieve 3-4 hours a day of steady progress. I write fast, normally, so the words stack up in that amount of time. I used to do a steady 20 pages a day but it’s seldom that I can get that much anymore. Sometimes less is more.

What has been the most surprising reaction to something you’ve written?

I had someone try to accuse me of racism for using the old cliché “black as sin”. That’ll teach me to make up my own metaphors. J

What is the strongest criticism you’ve ever received as an author? The best compliment?

The best compliment I ever got was when my sister, reading the middle book of an epic fantasy trilogy I was working on, came storming into my office one day, manuscript in hand, and screamed “You can’t do that!” By which I presumed she had reached the end and discovered a huge cliffhanger in which the hero was presumed dead. That, and the time my husband and I sat up very late to watch the chariot race in Ben Hur, only he missed it because he was reading one of my stories and wouldn’t look up despite my elbow in his ribs. Great writer moments! I love it when people complain I kept them up all night.

How do you deal with rejection and/or negative reviews?

Rejections made me huddle up for a long time and kept me from progressing my career, rather stupidly, as I received lots of incredible personal feedback from editors but was too stupid to realize how rare that was. It was not until I got into an online writers’ workshop that I developed the rhino hide to realize that my work was not deathless, needed improvement, and no one was actually out to get me by rejecting it as written.