What writer can resist talking about writing, reading, their own writing habits, and their current projects? Not this one!

I’ve been tagged by the awesome Melanie Noell Bernard to participate in a cool interview-type of blogging game! I will answer a few questions to the best of my ability, and then tag some writers at the end to participate as well! If you are a writer and I don’t tag you, feel free to contribute anyway, and please do link to your answers in the comments, as I’d really love to read them!

Rules:
The rules are listed on A Little Bookish, A Little Writerly, who created this wonderful tag!

Questions:

1) When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?
I have been making up stories since I had enough coordination to draw them out on my grandma’s green and white striped printer paper (anyone remember that?). I made lots and lots of picture stories when I was little. Once I was good enough at writing my words, I started writing short little stories. I still have one about a mommy horse and a baby horse called “Love Conquers All” (very original, yes? 😉 ) in a box in my basement! Sometimes I’d make my grandma, who can draw gorgeous horses, illustrate my horse stories for me. Thanks, grandma! <3

If you’re noticing a pattern here, yes, most of my stories were about horses. 🙂 I guess I wouldn’t say I ever “aspired” to be a writer, apparently I have just always been a writer! I did aspire to be a novelist, though, yes. A published novelist, specifically. I wanted to be published by Tor so badly it hurt. I wanted to be on Oprah as the youngest published author ever. (We all have our dreams!) But then I also wanted to be a paleontologist and movie director … so.

2) What genre do you write?
Um … everything? Call it good or bad, but I write whatever I feel like writing, pretty much, which means my stories cover just about every genre. Science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, paranormal, children’s, and even some erotica. I don’t really write contemporary stories, or historical, or pure romance, although a lot of my other genre books have a romantic subplot thrown in. 🙂

3) Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?
Oh gosh.
My main WIP at this moment is PRIMUS, an epic science fiction thriller I’m attempting to finish editing ASAP so I can query it by the end of this year. And by “epic” I mean it’s 144k words long, and is the first book in a planned trilogy. I started the rough draft in June of 2013 and completed the thing mostly over the next two NaNoWriMos (2013 and 2014).
In Death, Everything – a short story I’ll be self publishing at the end of this month
The Transference – a short story I’ll be self publishing at the end of next month
Breakfast Time on the Farm – children’s story subbed to contest, then will be self published
The Hound of God – steampunk paranormal novella, rough draft in progress
Cheetah on the Roof – fantasy novel, rough draft in progress
Guardian Angel – space opera, rough draft in progress
The Architect of Humanity – sci fi erotica, rough draft in progress

4) What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?
The two that stand out most in my memory are the above-mentioned horse story, and a story about Elmo I wrote for my younger sister to cheer her up one day. 🙂

5) What’s the best part about writing?
I’d say it’s the ability to do anything you want on the page … create entire worlds, universes, cultures, people, languages, events, governments, disasters, aliens … it’s absolutely limitless. And then to be able to actually manipulate another human being’s experience through what you put on the page, to manipulate their feelings, to affect them in profound ways, just through those words and the imagery you’ve created with those words … that gets me every time, and Iloveitsomuch!

6) What’s the worst part about writing?
Um… actually having to do the writing? Ha. But no seriously. It’d be nice if it would all just fall out onto the page just as it is in my head when I sit down to put it out there, but yeah, that doesn’t happen. It’s all a terrible mess and it takes forever to shape it into what I want, and that can be just dreadfully aggravating sometimes. It just TAKES. SO. LONG. That’s it! That’s the worst part — it takes too long!

7) What’s the name of your favorite character and why? (This can be from a book by another author or from your own work. Book crushes are perfectly acceptable here as well.)
There are a lot of characters I really love. It’s hard to even begin listing them! A few just off the top of my head: Arya and Dany from Song of Fire and Ice, Ampris from The Alien Chronicles, Amelia Peabody from The Peabody Mysteries, Claire from Outlander, the entire Weasley family, Severus Snape, Ellie from Jurassic Park … and on and on and on …

8) How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night)?
This has changed for me several times over the past few years. Currently, I get about 1-2 hours Monday – Thursday to write, and that’s only because I wake up at about 5-6am and cram it in before work! Most Monday evenings I meet up with my awesome writing group The Wordwraiths and sometimes get another hour or two there to write as well. Fridays I tend to let myself not wake up early to write, but that usually means I don’t get to do it at all that day. And Saturdays and Sundays are full of family time (and soccer … and grocery store trips …).

Best time to write for me, in dream-land, is in the evenings, or late at night when I’m tired-but-not-too-tired and don’t have anything to do the next day. I tend to be relaxed then, so the writing comes more freely. But since having my son, the best time is ACTUALLY super early in the morning. Though I initially feel groggy, when I start to write my mind immediately comes into focus, and since it’s the very first thing I do, I can be remarkably concentrated and sharp.

9) Did you go to college for writing? Or if you haven’t been to college yet, do you plan to?
No I did not. I considered it, but the whole attitude of “artistic careers go nowhere” had been repeated too often. (Of note, my parents were not the ones saying this. In fact, I’m not entirely sure where that thought was coming from … society at large, perhaps?) I did begin going to school for Broadcast and Film, though (because that’s not artistic at all! and totally should have stayed there), then switched majors to Animal Science, which is what I graduated with. Granted, the Animal Science degree gave me plenty of story ideas, so there’s that!

10) What bothers you more: spelling errors, punctuation errors, or grammar errors?
Probably grammar, then punctuation, then spelling. And it depends on what I’m reading. If it’s a novel, or something written by someone who says they want to be an author/writer, my expectations are higher and thus errors more annoying.

11) What is the best writing advice that anyone has given you?
OH NO! SUPER HARD! Lots of other people tagged for this have covered so many of my favorites, so I think I’ll say it’s this: “Write for yourself and no one else.” That has made a huge difference to me so many times whenever I start doubting myself.

12) What advice would you give to another writer?
Honestly, to attend workshops and conferences and NaNoWriMo write-ins and the like and find some local writers you really get along with. Then hang out with them every now and then and just talk about writing stuff. That can be so energizing and encouraging and keep you motivated when the going gets tough! No one else can understand what you’re going through like another writer!

13) What are your favorite writing sites or blogs that you turn to for help, tips or encouragement?
Well, there’s always Writer’s Digest! Otherwise, I mostly just stick to fellow writers’ blogs I know through social media. And these days, it’s mostly the Monthly Twitter Writing Challenges!

14) Besides writing, what else do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?
I still love horses! 😉 I have a black horse named Morsul (Black Wind in Elvish). I ride when I can, which isn’t often, sadly. I also love table top games, and video games, and drawing and painting and of course reading. Also film and cosplay! I’m dying to learn to play the cello, too, though who knows when that will be fit in!

15) What is the best book you’ve read this year?
Well I haven’t finished any of them! Argh. But I’m really, really enjoying Chaos Station by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke! Check it out!

16) What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?
Considering the hubby and I see about 3 movies a year these days …. hrmmm. Well most recently it was probably Man From U.N.C.L.E.

BUT IT WILL BE STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!!! OMGISITDECEMBERYET!?!

17) What is your favorite book or series of all time?
You know, I’m going to have to say the Harry Potter series. Individual books are so much harder to name, maybe impossible, but as for a series … I think it has to be Harry Potter. Nothing got to me as much as those books did. That world is still so real to me!

18) Who is your favorite author?
Uh. Huh. Well, different authors have different talents, and some authors have great books and then their next book is terrible, but just off the top of my head I’m gonna have to say Isaac Asimov, Elizabeth Peters, J. K. Rowling, and/or GRRM.

19) What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?
Self publish two short stories and maybe my children’s book, finish editing PRIMUS and query, begin serious work on finishing rough drafts of The Hound of God and Cheetah on the Roof.

20) Where else can we find you online?
Facebook (J. R. Frontera), Twitter (@lightning_bug_), fanfiction.net (Lossefalme), Pinterest (Jeni Frontera), Instagram (jenifrontera)

Nominees

1) Caitlin

2) Rod

3) Sarah

4) Kristin

5) Kelly

6) Jenn