My Writing Process (A Blog Tour)

Dear Blue,

Nothing thrills me more than to be thrown into an ecstatic discourse on literature and how each person perceives his ink ticked journey. I was invited to join in on the Writing Process Blog Tour by one of my most elegant literary friends, Casee of book blog  Literary Inklings and fashion/lifestyle blog The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower.

Here we go:

What Are You Working On?

In my head, I'm working on a plethora of stories with characters who can't seem to stop raising their hands in class all at once. In the practical present, I'm working on a novel and a screenplay for a short film (and also, possibly adapting my novel into a film). Sometimes I find it so hard to choose which medium I love more, films or novels.

How does your work differ from others in its genre?

Admittedly, these questions have always been a bit challenging for me to answer, but here's my gander at it. I've always been about entwining romance with Spirituality and slight magical realism. I almost cringe at tacking the word 'romance' down for the various connotations that come with it, but the point at which a man and a woman connect with each other has always been so fascinating to me. That being said, I'm also not a fan of romance for its own sake. I often use what I know of the couple as a springboard for the challenges that each individual character faces. It's so important to me to layer each character with rich depth, and pretty heavy circumstances like abandonment, or rape, or suicide. Again, not for the sake of adding drama, but more so that when God inspires me, the spiritual side will shine through all the more. I want to, hopefully, encourage people who may be going through these grave circumstances that God is there (in even the darkest places), and He loves them. Magical realism is always beautiful and whimsical, and such fun to play with, but it's that spiritual side, the idea (and truth) that miracles happen, that God's presence is, that angels exist, that all of these God ordained scenarios are possible...that in a nutshell is what makes my work different from other's in this genre.

Why Do You Write What You Do?

As I mentioned earlier on, I hope to inspire someone to believe that miracles exist, and beauty is possible in the mire because of God's beautiful love for us. I think I also write to continue to make myself aware of this possibility as well. I love taking myself on journeys that I may not even consider without the help of my imagination.

How Does Your Writing Process Work?

And now for the scroll...Most times I will have watched a film, or listened to a song that will get the ball rolling, and once the ball is rolling, all I need is a bus.

I don't know what it is about transportation that suspends my vicious little critic. Perhaps, it's the act of cruising down a highway, my eyes roving over trees and bright skies that gives me permission to trust my instincts and dream up scenes. About 98% of all the ideas I think are pretty awesome are connected to a ride down to the city.

After the words start coming in like fragments, I usually jot them down in my phone before any actual writing takes place. Whilst in Grad School, I re-taught myself  how to write all of my notes in longhand to fully implant myself into the story before sitting to the dreaded blinking cursor. Once the bones are connected, then I can breathe enough to start sorting it all out.

In a nutshell, that is what it feels like to be encased in Britta's imagination.

I tag my lovely writer bud Thesanica of Just Pick One Dangit! Along with being one of the most awesome people I know, she can edit whole manuscripts into masterpieces! She has whipped many of my word into shape, and continues to be a constant creative inspiration!

What about you, lovely writer? How do you work out the kinks to get the beauty inside of you out? If you're a blogger, I invite you to join in on this book tour! Please let me know when you post so I can tag you!

Thanks so much for reading, Dearie!

Hugs and love,

Britta

Glass House

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Dear Blue,

If you're on Tumblr, I'm sure you might have scrolled past a picture of a looming glass house full of windows. I had for a long while, until I finally clicked the photo, which led me to an article on Yahoo as well as a documentary about the two artists, Nick Olsen and Lilah Horwitz, who decided to quit their day jobs and build a house on their family land. Not only did they succeed in making one of the dreamiest living spaces imaginable, they did it with only $500 and determination, hoarding old-fashioned window frames from antediluvian barns or yard sales they happened to come across.

Can you imagine driving up a long stretching lane, and parking your car in front of your own glass house, nestled in green, with only the sound of the wind and crickets to score your night? The artists' say that the house sets fire as the sun slides beneath the earth. To be sheathed in amber every evening and every morning; How lovely does that sound? They wanted to build a house that wouldn't isolate the sunset to one room. 

As much of a city dweller as I am, whenever I think of my future family, midnight's with the man who'll be my husband, or reading, or writing, my mind comes back to something natural. Something so pure is a little frightening, because it's free of distractions. Free of the constant *dinging* of our smart phones, or the temptation to keep yourself busy with Twitter or Tumblr or Apps galore. But purity is also a calling home. the exact place that God wants you so you can finally connect with Him, instead of all these things.

On an artistic side, these two insane people decided to build a huge house with their own hands. The thought of building a conventional house seems daunting, but to design and create your own house, it's own foundation that you used your own hands to lay? How brilliant! Lilah explained that that she never thought she could build something so massive, and in the act of building it, she realizes that she can do anything. 

I think that's what I'm learning about my novel, and my many fears that it won't amount to what I imagined it would. This life is about the process of things. The end result is wonderful, and there's a calming breeze that comes with succeeding. But you can't succeed without the doing. If Lilah and Nick thought about this house for years, but fought with themselves over how unconventional it is, they wouldn't have this beautiful dwelling, and we wouldn't be able to celebrate with them.

So as you move forward in all of your various projects, or even if this is the week you decide to get those newborn goals onto a sheet of paper, I encourage you to move childlike, push everything aside, and live in the process.

Loads of  Love,

Britta

P.S.- The books are coming, I promise. I've had the most distracted reading year ever. It's been very hard to get into one novel and stick to it, but I'm working on it. I'm in the middle of reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinones, and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Soon coming :-).