YA writer Valerie Cole tagged me for the My Writing Process blog hop. She’s great, so visit her blog, or follow her on Twitter.

1) What am I working on?
A few things! Publishing is a lengthy process, so TNWSY is still in editorial stages. I should be starting copyedits within the next few months, so that’s exciting. Aside from that, I’m editing two manuscripts with my agent right now, in hopes of one of them being my follow-up book. She always finds things to pull out and elaborate on to create a much fuller manuscript, so i’m always eager to hear her thoughts.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I write contemporary YA, and there’s a lot of contemporary YA out there. I like to focus on friendships, romance, and family, and how the three intersect and inform one another. I love writing strong, do-anything-for friendships, because those are what were most important to me in high school. And I like to show how they evolve over time, just as the friends themselves grow and change. And though the bonds may be different, they’re essential in a different way.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I wrote about why I write YA here! And why I write about relationships here! Check it out!

4) How does my writing process work?
First comes the idea. It’s usually a flicker, a scene or location or a character. Then I think about it for a while to figure out if it’s something I’d like to, or even can, attempt. And then I try. At first there’s not a lot of plotting (and sometimes there’s none at all), but the scenes come to come and I write them as I see them. Sometimes I jump around. Sometimes I write it in order. It honestly depends on the story, on my thought process. And sometimes, when everything is right, it’s magically finished.

So that’s my story. I was going to tag people, but I think most writers have done this already. And if not…you’re tagged! (I’m clearly not good at these blog hop.)