Carrie Green

While writing is my main passion, I also find time to indulge in DIY interior design and decorating (I'm a huge fan of HGTV and Bravo shows on these subjects).  My husband and I totally remodeled our current home, interior and exterior, floor to ceiling.  We literally replaced every surface.  I now have the house of my dreams.

Dancing, is another consuming hobby.  I met my husband on the dance floor.  If you have a sharp eye, you may notice the 'Forever Tango' poster behind my head in my author's photo.  We've taken ballroom dancing (Latin) lessons and we're always visiting nightclubs seeking great DJs.  Live music (the local Chicago band, Seventh Heaven, is an all-time favorite) can be wonderful, but the audiences at live shows tend to just stand there and watch the stage, so that we usually prefer venues with a DJ.

Holidays are a big deal to me with Halloween being the highlight of the year (hey, I am a horror writer).  Ghosts hang from the tree branches, lights cover the bushes, the front lawn becomes a graveyard, and a skeleton bride and groom peek from the windows.  Kids are pretty excited to trick or treat at our house!

I always looked at writing with the goal of creating a world for the reader to escape.  When someone reads one of my stories or a novel, I'd like them to be transported, hopefully, somewhere more exciting.

The process, itself, is not nearly as entertaining as the result.  I can't imagine anyone being interested in how I write, unless they wish to be a writer, themselves.

There is no romance.  It's quite dull.  I write in a room with a view, but I face my desk towards the wall, to avoid distractions. 

When I wrote fiction in college, I used to employ yellow legal pads and create the first draft in long-hand.  Today I compose directly on the computer (mainly due to my typing speed improving, so that I can keep up with the thoughts in my head).  Typing is a practical time-saver, allowing me to write much faster than I did before.

Editing happens both on the computer and via hard copy.  The hard copy is required to catch typos.  It is too easy to mistake an 'a' for an 'e' on a computer screen.

Editing and revision is probably the most important aspect of writing, in my opinion.  Rare is the work that can not be improved with judicious editing!