Reading, Writing and Holiday Festivities with Sharon Poppen

Regan, Thank you for hosting me this Christmas week of 2012. It’s always a pleasure to be visiting on your exciting blog. I appreciate this opportunity to meet new readers.

A little about me, usually I write historical romance novels. My first three books focus on strong women in the old west. However, my latest novel ‘Regardless’ is a step in a new direction for me into the sci-fi/gay genre. It’s the story of two men in the future who, against all odds, find themselves in love. As with all my novels, it is very character driven. These characters have many good points, but they can also be very human. By human, I mean they often follow their hearts versus their minds. And, this sometimes brings them to do some naughty things, which make my books adult reading. They are not of the ’50 Shades ….’ naughty, just true to adult relationships.

Now, on to our questions of the week.

How do you manage your writing/reading schedule with all the other activities around the holidays?

I once had a professor ask me if I was a writer. When I said yes, she asked if I wrote every day? When I said no, sometimes life just gets in the way, she insisted that true writers write every day. She said to compare it to exercising. If one overdoes it for a few days and gets behind with daily life, the writing gets set aside and it may be days or weeks before we get back to it. So, if one sets up a time, like maybe 30 minutes each day, and faithfully adheres to it, one can manage their daily responsibilities like getting to our appointments, paying bills, returning phone calls and such. Then, once the daily chores are completed, a writer can go back to their work and write for hours. I took her advice and set aside at least a half hour each day for my writing and I pretty much stick to it.  Oh, there are some days when what I’ve written gets tossed, but quite often I’m surprised at how quickly I can get back in to my stories. She gave me that advice about ten years ago and I now have 10 full novels and over 350 short stories written. So, thank you, Professor Thwig, wherever you are these days.

How about traveling during the holidays: do you go visiting or have you in the past. What has that been like? Have there been any absent family members during the holidays? How has it effected your writing’ have you used any of that in your stories?

As for traveling, I drive from Arizona to the San Francisco area every Christmas to be with my children, grandchildren, siblings and their children. The drive is long, but well worth it. Sharing the season with my kids, grandkids, and other family members is filled with multiple traditions and I wouldn’t miss them for the world. A funny tradition is our Secret Santa gift exchange after Christmas dinner. The gifts are often crazy and can be ‘stolen’ twice before being retired. I have a really fun one this year that is sure to bring some smiles.

As for absent family members, it has happened when someone has passed away. This year we lost my brother in October and it will probably bring a certain melancholy during the day. But fortunately, we are blessed that his twin sons are both going to be new fathers in the next few months. I just know that talking about the new additions will bring much gaiety into the day.

Thanks so much for stopping by Regan’s blog. Please leave a comment on these questions or share with us how you would answer them. Your comment might just win a $50 Amazon gift certificate when we draw one lucky winner at the end of our blog tour. Then, stop by my blog www.poppensthoughtsonwritingandstuff.blogspot.com where you will meet book reviewer Angie Dobson.