A Day in the Writing Life of … Lillian Grant

Today, we are featuring erotic romance author, Lillian Grant. Welcome, Lillian and thank you for participating on our blog.

Warning : some content is not suitable for under 18.

What time of the day do you write? Are you a morning, night-owl or anytime writer?

When I first started writing I used to bang away in the evenings, but I was more concerned about quantity than quality. Now I am much more careful with my first draft, taking time to write sentences that make sense and have plots that actually go somewhere, I find it tough to write after a full day at the coal face. Bob Mayer said at the RWAustralia Conference in Melbourne that if you have a day job that requires you to think a lot then writing at night is impossible, and I have to agree. Now I grab time in the morning, if my hubby leaves early for work, or write on weekends and spend my evenings on marketing, blogging and critiquing for other people. 

Do you spend much time reading over the previous day’s work? Do you have a special system in place in order to begin writing or go with the flow?

I try to stop at the end of a chapter. I usually read the chapter I just finished before starting the next one. However, if I’ve been caught up with edits or other things, and it’s been a long time since I last worked on the story, I have been known to go back and read everything I have written to date before carrying on.

Are you a plotter / planner or a pantser? Do you edit as you go or prefer to edit after completion of the ms?

I pants but I have mini plots in my head. I usually have an idea about what will happen at the end and my muse lets me know what the next plot point is once I start to write, but how I get from the beginning to the end, or how long the story will be is as much your guess as mine.   I don’t edit as I go. If I start to edit I lose my ability to be creative and get stuck trying for perfection. Added to that, I write short. My first draft is plot heavy and emotion and description light. I can add as much as 25% more to the story when I edit. If I get bogged down with all the detail along the way I lose the will to write. 

Where do you write? Do you have your own special place? Does the location vary?
I used to write sitting on the sofa with my laptop balanced on my knee but my last baby has finally left home so I have converted his bedroom into a study.  Now I have a glass top desk with the word love in many languages etched on it and a beautifully comfortable office chair.

What writing tools do you favour? Long hand, computer …..

I love my laptop and my netbook. No one can read my writing, not even me and I can type much faster than I can write.  Everything is created on the computer then saved in about a dozen different places.

Do you use whiteboards, posters, visual aids to help in your creativity?

I have used pictures to get story ideas but usually I don’t have visual aids, just a very strange imagination. Although, I’m not ashamed to admit that the cover for my next book gave me the incentive and inspiration I needed to get to work on the sequel, gees it’s getting hot in here!

What is your favourite form of procrastination? Do you have any tips to beat off that old foe “procrastination”?

My favourite form of procrastination is surfing the net or starting another story. I used to write one story at a time and could never work out why other people had so much trouble just working on one thing but it’s really funny that when you get to the middle of a book where it’s all getting too hard and you just want it all to be over another bright shiny idea pops into your head. I currently have five stories in various stages of disarray.  I have now learned to write down the basic idea, save it somewhere and then ignore it and concentrate on what I am supposed to be writing, although some days it’s really tough when that hot new hero is begging for your attention. 

What’s the last thing do you do before you finish your daily writing session?

Save everything on everything. I recently had my netbook infested with multiple viruses and I learnt a very valuable lesson, never assume it won’t happen to you!

I have attached the cover for my book, Male Order due out on 12 September with Liquid Silver Books. My website is www.lilliangrant.com.

Warning : some content is not suitable for under 18.

Thank you, Lillian and we wish you well with your latest releases.

Posted by S E Gilchrist on November 11, 2011

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