5Qi

@KatherineArlene - 5Qi

Q1. Why do you write?

Answer: I've written off and on throughout my life, and at different times, I wrote for a lot of different reasons. When I was very young, there were these stories inside me that just had to come out, and writing them gave me a lot of joy. When picked up writing again four years ago, I was going through some big changes in my life. My oldest daughter had left home for college while at the same time I realized my fiftieth birthday was approaching. It makes me laugh to say it now, but the story I wrote was the product of my mid-life crisis. Now I feel like I've come full circle in a way, back to the first reasons I wrote. Today I'm motivated to share the stories that are inside me with my readers. Seeing them happy when they read all the twists and turns, makes me happy. The process of crafting them gives me intense joy and I feel a lot of pride for how they've turned out.

Q2. What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Answer: Sitting down, getting my head into my imaginary world, and getting words on the paper or in the computer. The beginnings are always the hardest part for me, and each new chapter is a struggle. But once I get started, the words come more easily, and then usually by the middle I'm flying. The worst are the chapters where I struggle all the way through. My poor husband, and anyone else unlucky enough to be around me, hears ad nauseam how the chapter is never going to come together and I'm doomed. Funnily enough, those chapters often end up being my favorites. It's like a miracle, all the threads knit together and the chapter turns out beautifully, I just wish it wasn't like pulling teeth to get there. LOL

Q3. Where do you get your inspiration?

Answer: From books, movies, and songs, but I also draw a lot from my real life experiences. Maybe what's unusual is that I take the emotions all those things made me feel, even if it was something I saw or happened when I was a child, and I'm able to inject that into my stories. I feel lucky that's something that's come easily to me. Thank goodness, because everything else about writing is hard for me.

Q4. Do you ever get writer's block, and how do you get over it?

Answer: I've never had true writer's block, but as I said in my previous answer, I do struggle quite a bit with getting the words flowing. The tricks I use to help me get over the hump is to go somewhere where I can be completely alone with no distractions, use rainymood.com for some thunderstorm background noise, and maybe some music on top of that. For some reason, a blank word doc makes it harder for me to start, so I get a pen and notebook and then start writing. If I can't start with a scene, then I start with what the chapter is going to be about. That usually does the trick, and soon I'm right in the middle of a scene and writing dialogue. I also give myself permission to write the parts of the chapter out of order. Whatever scene is most prominent in my mind is the one I focus on at that moment.

Q5. How did you discover Wattpad?

Answer: Actually, how I found Wattpad is kind of fuzzy in my mind, which is funny because I clearly remember the decision to find a place to post my story, setting up my profile, and posting my first chapters. I'd been working on a story non-stop for six months (this was my mid-life crisis story), and I thought it turned out pretty good. Not good enough I could publish it for sale, but I thought maybe a few people might enjoy reading it for free. So I used Google to search for free reading and writing websites. Where it's kind of muddled is that I somehow knew about Wattpad already. I think it was on my radar because I'd bought The Boy Who Climbs in My Window by for my Kindle.

Thanks so much for asking me to participate in this project! I'm honored to be included with all the great authors who've already contributed answers!

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#5Qi - August 13th, 2015