What does your family think of your writing? My family supports me in my writing. They know I still have other responsibilities but I have felt pride from them. They were surprised by the genre I picked. They knew I love those types of movies but I don’t believe they expected the deep dive I have done. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing a book? My future book will be my experience of the mother of an Army Ranger who was deployed nine times. There is a huge amount of support and concern for the spouses and children, which they deserve. But us mothers out in the middle of the country, small towns, no one understands what we go through unless they experience it too. I want to put those feelings on paper. I love Lisa Gardner’s books and her sassy dialogue from her characters. This makes me feel part of the story. That is my goal. Do you have any suggestions to help other writers to become a better? If so, what are they? One of the surprising things during my first book was how I just knew where I was going with the direction of the characters. I ended up re-reading a couple chapters and erased several. I
flow. I will never just jump into writing without prepping again. I don’t have patience but the prep work time is an advantage to actually putting down words on paper. Describe to us a typical day for Nancy. My typical day for writing is on a day I don’t have to go to work. Weekends and all summer is when I get the writing done. I get up from bed, go lay down on the couch. My dogs let me lay there for about 15 minutes then we go out for a walk. Morning activity helps the dogs not get sick from heat and it gives me time to do other things. I do some housework, laundry, then about 10:00, I go into my office. I get the draft pulled up, my notes, my research, my progress chart, my water or diet Coke, snacks, my low music ready, then I go back upstairs. I don’t usually start writing. I then play the rest of the afternoon, go out with my husband, or ride my bike, play catch with the dogs, watch tv. I usually do my best writing after dinner. I seem to always set things up in the morning but never really get any work done until after 6:00 pm and I work until 2-3:00 am. I have always been a night owl. EC
hated what I had done. I stopped writing for months. Talking to someone helps. I have a group of writers in a group chat where we share our experiences. When a writer struggles, they can tend to bad mouth themselves, this is normal. Other people can talk you out, they have all been there. What do you think makes a good story? I love new and old movies and tv shows. I am fascinated with the Catholic church and the lore of the power of symbols and historical facts along with fictional stories. One of the most important things I have learned from my first book is setting up my second book in the planning. I have taken the time to plan the chapters, the plots, the characters’ personalities and what happens during the book. I have an arc on my wall where I write and tons of sticky notes with comments on what I want to happen. If during the process I need to rearrange the order of events, the sticky notes can shift without problems. I did not plan my first book to this degree. I had a history of the game so I just wrote, but I wanted to add to the story and I had to stop and research some things for the fictional part of the book. My writing process of the second book has been an easier
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EC Magazines | Seoul Edition 2023
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