The T-Spot Welcomes Roxanne Snopek!

The T-Spot is back!!!

Grab your beverage of choice (Mimosas for me, of course!), roll up to or flip open a screen and let some talented writers talk to you about their writing process.

This week: Roxanne Snopek is in the spotlight! 

Roxanne is the author of the Three River Ranch series from Entangled Publishing. She has written eight books, more than 150 articles and several short stories. In her spare time she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three kids and numerous pets. So let me get out of the way and cede the stage, stool and microphone to Roxanne:

1. Have you always written stories?

HAHA! No. I’ve always been a rabid journal-writer, however. You know, angst-ridden memoirs of minutia, interesting to no one save students of psychiatry. In high school, I hated creative writing and loved… wait for it… grammar. I know! Gah! I could parse a sentence until the cows came home. (My editors are shaking their heads in disbelief right now.)

2. When did you decide to write professionally?

When I became a mother, mumble-mumble years ago. I knew I wanted to stay home with my children, so when my oldest was four months old, I took a community college course called How to Get Published. My first professional publication appeared on the op-ed page of our local paper a few weeks later. I saw my by-line and I was hooked.

Actually, it was the cheque.

I freelanced for the next 15 years or so, fairly successfully, but at some point, I began thinking of novels. And that’s a whole ‘nother story.

3. What made you decide to go the route you chose (eg. traditional, e-pub, indie)?

I desperately wanted to have a book out, in actual paper-and-ink. However, around the time my first romance was circulating, traditional pubs were trying to ride out the economy. From what I read in Publisher’s Marketplace, few were making deals, and unknown authors might as well be invisible. However, I saw that one new house, Entangled Publishing, was making deals. Agented deals. We all know that agents follow the money, so I asked my agent about them. She said it looked like a good fit, and we subbed.

4. What is your writing process (hrs/day, days/wk)?

When I’m on deadline, I might be at my desk 8 or 12 or x hours/day, 7 days/wk, until I’m done with whatever tasks are at that stage. However, if you keep doing this, you really will go blind, so when I come up for air, I totally take a break and focus on other things. Garden. Yoga. Groom my poodles before someone reports me for neglect.

5. How do you write (crappy first draft then revise or revise as you go)? Why?

I’m a fast-drafter, as Candace Havens calls it. I punch out my first drafts as quickly as possible, usually within a month. (I’m a big fan of National Novel Writing Month, too, which prepared me well.) They are hideous. Truly heinous. Hateful characters. Plot holes you could fly a plane through. But as long as there’s a beginning, a middle and an end, I call it a success. Then, I take it apart, shuffle it around, figure out what the REAL story is and start over.

6. Do you get writer’s block? If so, how do you handle it?

Nope. Writing for magazines cures you of that in a big hurry. If I have a deadline, I write. If I can’t figure out one part, I work on another. If creative stuff isn’t working, I’ll write a blog post, or do some book reviews on Amazon. Go for a walk, whatever. But I always come back and get ‘er done.

7. What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

That tickly feeling in the pit of my stomach when it starts coming together, when I feel I’ve captured a glimpse of the idea that sparked it all in the first place.

8. Where were you when you got “The Call?”

I was at home, in the midst of preparing for a family reunion. I had relatives coming from across the country, and overseas, and we were leaving for the lake the next day. I didn’t even let myself think about it properly until we were back. Except at night, just before I fell asleep.

9. If you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing you have since learned about the business of writing, what would you tell them (you)?

For heaven’s sake, do what everyone tells you to do when you’re waiting on a submission: WRITE THE NEXT BOOK.

Fun Topics:

10. Wine, liquor or beer? What’s your favorite of the spirit you chose?

I like Guinness. I know, I know. But I love that chewy, thick, bitter flavor. I’m sure it says something about me but I don’t care. My husband drinks white wine. When we go out, I order my beer, he orders his Riesling, and they bring me the wine and him the beer. I like to think we’re pioneers in up-ending alcohol-based gender stereotypes. {Tracey’s Note: Okay, double-date. You and my husband can have all the Guinness you like and your hubby and I can have our Riesling. Do you also make your hubby watch you pour the Guinness into a pint glass and smile when you achieve the perfect crown?}

11. What author(s) are on your automatic buy list?

I’m an omnivorous reader and your band-width might not take it so, off the top of my head: Lisa Gardner, RaeAnne Thayne, Elizabeth Berg, Anne Lamott, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Dean Koontz, Barbara Kingsolver, Robin Carr, Kristan Higgins, Susan Wiggs… you see? It’s a wonder I ever get any writing done.

12. What TV shows are you watching?

Oh! Right now I’m totally hooked on Downton Abbey! I love that British stuff. But before that, we blew through five seasons of Sons of Anarchy in a matter of months. Before that, it was The Walking Dead and True Blood. (You didn’t see that coming, did you?) Nothing cracks me up like Modern Family and Big Bang Theory. Way back when ER was on, I never missed an episode, and I’ve got all 15 seasons on DVD.

Now even I don’t know when I get any writing done.

13. Who is your celebrity crush and why?

Nathan Fillion. Firefly. Need I say more?

{Tracey’s Note: No, no you don’t.}

Thank you so much for the interview, Roxanne! You can find more info at her website:
http://www.roxannesnopek.ca
.  You can also connect with her on Facebook at Roxanne SnopekAuthor and on Twitter @RoxanneSnopek. Her Entangled Bliss release, His Reluctant Rancher, book #2 in the Three River Ranch series, is available NOW!!!

What’s your favorite part of the writing process? And what television shows are you watching? Tell us what you think and make sure you check back next week to see which fabulous author is hanging out at the T-Spot.