‘Blood Moon’ Blog Tour – My Writing Process By Catherine Lundoff

My Writing Process

Catherine Lundoff – Blood Moon Blog Tour

 

“Writing process” sounds so very organized and planned, like it’s a thing you can rely on and replicate. I mean, I know some writers can, and sometimes I am one of them, but it’s not quite as straightforward as that for me. I’m a pantser, as you may have guessed. I have tried not being a pantser, but that generally leads to me getting bored and wandering off into other things so a pantser with some very general outling, I remain.

 

But using terms like “pantser” or “plotter” is like putting baby in a proverbial corner, at least in the sense of “all writers do it this way, always” and “pantser” is often just used as a synonym for “disorganized.” Since nobody puts baby in the corner around here, this is what pantsing looks like for me: an idea pops into my head, often in the form of either a first line or a character. The can be inspired by music that I’m listening to or guidelines for a project I want to write for or some other source. 

 

Let’s take menopausal werewolves, for instance, which just so happens to be the theme of my new book, Blood Moon. The original impetus for the story that became two novels was that I was asked to write a novella for an anthology of queer female werewolf stories. I looked around at stories like Suzy McKee Charna’s “Boobs” and the Ginger Snaps films and a few other books featuring young female werewolves and while I liked the stories, they didn’t inspire me to write anything like them. Then I ran across an online medical site with a description of the “symptoms of menopause” which included unexpected hair growth, mood swings and longer teeth (due to receding gums) and voila! The idea of a menopausal werewolf was born!

 

After that, I wrote the novella and created a pack of menopausal werewolves and a reason for them to exist and sent the story off. But the Pack wouldn’t let go of me and many of my friends loved the idea, so I started turning the novella into a novel. I had only written short fiction before that so Silver Moon became my first completed novel. And since my writing time was wedged in around my day jobs, writing short fiction and doing miscellaneous events and projects, it took me a couple of years to get a draft ready for publication. 

 

How often do I write? It depends on deadlines and what else is going on. A lot of my short fiction is commissioned or written for specific projects so I usually have a deadline or two on my schedule. Deadlines come first. Apart from that, I try to carve out a few hours a week that are dedicated writing time. I used to be able to reserve Sundays as writing days, at least most of the time, but that option has disappeared in the last few years what between caregiving, starting a small press and weekend events. But I do write every week, so there’s that. I also tend to work on multiple projects at the same time. Right now, I’m working on a fantasy novel in progress for my Patreon, as well as a Sherlock Holmes short story pitch for an anthology and a mystery story for a different anthology. I have a long delayed horror project for a podcast that I need to complete in addition to that. And that’s not including the other book projects.

 

What about inspiration? How do I stay organized? I carry a lot of stuff around in my head between writing sessions, with varying degrees of success, and take a lot of notes. I also tend to revisit the beginning of a story each time I sit down to write more so my drafts acquire a multi-layered quality.

 

Does that work? Mostly? I miss having big uninterrupted blocks of writing time. A lot. But that said, I’m seeing my 3rd novel published and have had 100 stories published to date, plus several single author collections. I also edited a couple of anthologies and have published work by 2 other authors, so far. I’m making my process work for me, but I’m always hoping for more time and energy, like s lot of other writers. Blood Moon is, in my opinion, my most successful novel so far from a writing standpoint because I’m training my brain to view longer stories holistically rather than as a series of long short stories pieced together. Who knows? In a few months, I may morph into a plotter!   

 

Thanks so much for hosting me!

 

Blood Moon

Catherine Lundoff has a new lesbian paranormal fantasy out, Wolves of Wolf’s Point book 2: Blood Moon. And there’s a giveaway!

The Return of the Menopausal Werewolves.

The Wolf’s Point werewolf pack, born from the magic that calls small groups of middle-aged women to embrace their inner and outer wolves, has been protecting the town for generations.

Now Becca Thornton and the Pack have their hands (and paws) full of all the trouble they can handle. Plus a bit extra. Pack member Erin Adams just found a dead body in the trunk of her car and confessed to murder. But no one’s sure who the victim is and Erin can’t remember what happened. Did Erin fall off the wagon and murder a former foe? She doesn’t trust herself and Becca’s beginning to have her doubts.

If that wasn’t enough, Becca’s ex-husband sold their old house and their new neighbors are clearly up to something. Can the Pack solve the mystery and clear Erin’s name before the next full moon? Or do the town’s new residents have other plans?

About the Series:

Welcome to the town of Wolf’s Point where menopause can kick off with a few additional changes, like bonus lycanthropy. Join Pack members Becca Thornton, Erin Adams and their friends as they fend off werewolf hunters and sundry folks of ill intent while preserving the town for the coming generations. And contend with coming out at midlife, recovery, transitioning, falling in love, making friends and building community.

Publisher | Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CAN | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Universal Link | Smashwords | Goodreads


Giveaway

Catherine is giving away a $20 Queen of Swords Press gift card with this tour:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47174/?


Excerpt

Wolf's Point banner - Catherine Lundoff

Wolf’s Point: a town in a mountain valley where some women of a certain age go through more than a few physical metamorphoses. The local werewolves are the traditional defenders of the valley, their transformations shaped by the valley’s magic. Time: the present, variously defined. A few months ago, Becca Thornton, divorced and newly turned fifty, found herself changing more than she could have ever imagined when she joined the Pack. With her help, the werewolves survived their greatest threat to their existence when one of their former members returned to wreak vengeance on those she thought had destroyed her life. She offered them a choice between a dangerous cure and certain death. Becca was part of that victory but it cost her a home and other things that she cherished from her past.

But now the werewolf hunters were gone, expelled from the valley by forces magical and mundane, so everyone’s life could go back to normal. Whatever that was.

Erin Adams looked out at the mountains and tried not to think about what was in the trunk of her car. At least the mountains around Wolf’s Point were still as beautiful as ever. She wondered if she’d ever get the chance to run through them again, feel the wind in her fur, the ground flying by under her paws. The Pack at her side.

That thought was enough to make her look back at her car. Erin rubbed her aching forehead with one hand and closed her eyes. This was, without question, the worst thing she’d ever done. Even if she couldn’t remember doing it.

But maybe there was still time to call Shelly and get her help to figure a way out of this mess that she’d blundered into. That was what Pack Alphas did, or so Shelly kept reminding her. But that might make Shelly an accessory if they got caught. Or rather, when she got caught. Erin closed her eyes for an instant; lying was never a thing she’d been good at or wanted to get good at. Anyone she called would almost certainly go down with her.

That thought weighed her down like a rock. The Pack couldn’t afford to be without its Alpha so soon after they got her back, not to mention what it would do to Pete and the kids. There was no way that she could drag Shelly into this.

Her thoughts turned to Becca, waded through a jumbled mess of emotions and came back with a single realization: they’d suspect her first. Becca was her friend, her housemate. Her…something they still hadn’t defined, but which felt more like girlfriend every day. Her stomach did a slow, leisurely flip when she thought about that and she almost smiled. But this wasn’t the time to think about Becca. She couldn’t afford to be distracted, to be vulnerable. Not now.

Maybe there was another solution, a way to hide what had happened. But then what? She’d still know and she’d have to carry the burden of what she’d done, alone. And she knew where that road led. Falling off the wagon to cope with her guilt wasn’t an option, either.

Besides, if she ditched the body out here and it was found, the regular wolves would certainly get blamed for it. The new governor was already pushing for a wolf hunting season and that would put things right over the edge. She didn’t want that on her conscience either; the wild wolves were kin as much as they were cover for the Pack and important for the local ecology.

Erin ran her fingers through her short-cropped brown hair, wondering if there was anyone else she could turn to. But she couldn’t think of any other Pack member who’d be able to do anything about this situation, not more than she could do herself, anyway. It certainly wasn’t the sort of thing that her AA sponsor had signed up for, or any of her friends, for that matter. So she was on her own. There was nothing for it but to lie in the bed she’d made for herself.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and selected a contact. “Hi. It’s Erin. I’ve done something…I need…can you come up to Spruce Point? Yes, it’s important. I want you to see it before Sheriff Henderson does.”

She clicked the phone off and glanced toward the road. Nothing to do now but wait.


Author Bio

Catherine Lundoff

Catherine Lundoff is an award-winning writer, editor and publisher based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her short stories and articles have appeared in numerous venues from Fireside Magazine to Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives. Her books include the Wolves of Wolf’s Point series: Silver Moon and Blood Moon, Unfinished Business: Tales of the Dark Fantastic, Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories, A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories, Crave and Night’s Kiss. She is also the editor of the anthologies Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) and Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories and co-editor (with JoSelle Vanderhooft) of Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic.

In addition, she writes erotica and erotic romance as Emily L. Byrne, including the novel Medusa’s Touch and the short story collections Desire and Knife’s Edge. She is also the publisher at Queen of Swords Press, a genre fiction publisher specializing in fiction from out of this world and she teaches writing and editing workshops at the Rambo Academy, Broad Universe and other venues.

Author Website: https://www.catherinelundoff.net

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/Clundoff/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/clundoff

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/670244.Catherine_Lundoff

Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/catherine-lundoff/

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