Writer Routine Wednesday: Patti Lacy

Hey, all!
It's another week of my new blog segment:Writer Routine Wednesday, where every Wednesday from now until the end of August, I will host an author. We'll get to know them better and their books as well as hear them describe their usual writing routine.

Maybe you'll pick up an idea they use for yourself!
Lots of great prizes are scheduled too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, please welcome author Patti Lacy today and hear about her writing routine!

BIO: When Patti Lacy left the Louisiana swamps for college in 1972, she returned to the home she’d lived in as a five-year-old, the boys’ athletic dorm at Baylor University. Patti’s two hundred big brothers entertained her with magic tricks and tales of wild escapades, planting the love of stories in her heart.
The influence of her schoolteacher parents led Patti to pursue an education degree at Baylor and master’s work in literature at Indiana State. She taught in public schools and at Heartland Community College until she resigned in 2005 to write full-time.
Patti’s first novel of women’s Christian fiction, An Irishwoman’s Tale, explores the first memories of a feisty woman grappling with scars inflicted by two dysfunctional mothers. What the Bayou Saw, Patti’s second novel, takes a chatty Southerner from Normal, Illinois, back to a Louisiana swamp. Patti’s first two novels were finalists in Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year contest. In January 2011, Kregel will release The Rhythm of Secrets, Patti’s third novel. Reclaiming Lily, a story that took Patti to the hutongs of China, is a work in progress.
The secrets women keep and why they keep them continue to capture Patti’s imagination. She writes full time, teaches Bible studies and seminars, and attends book signings. Patti and her husband Alan, an Illinois State faculty member, live in Normal. They have two grown children and a dog named Laura.
FMI: http://www.pattilacy.com/



Thanks for stopping by, Patti!

Please describe a “typical” writing day for yourself. For example: Do you get up have your coffee, check e-mail, then write to a certain time? Do you have a set word or page goal when you do write?
The alarm buzzes me out of bed at 5:00 to 5:45. I usually trip over Laura the dog on my way to that first cup of coffee. Then I check e-mails, post my ART BITE of the day on Facebook, eat, guzzle more caffeine, and spend time in worship and praise.
Properly fortified, I glue my seat to the computer chair and try not to budge until three to six pages are written. In sports terms, that task gets me to first base! Other chores, including the typical mom/wifey shopping and cooking and general family social coordinator, follow. If the cylinders are firing, I write more on the WIP. Rewards come in the form of blog and Facebook checks. By noon, I’ve rounded second base and coast to third with lunch and my reading time. I trot on home with publicity stuff, blog posts, and e-mails. This year, I’ve tried to reserve evenings for family and friends.

Do you have another job outside of writing? I run the household here in Normal, where life is anything but! Occasionally I accept speaking and teaching engagements, like this past week, when Monday and Tuesdays took me to a retirement village and memoir writing classes. I love to intersperse (and fund!) my writing life with contracted engagements.

Are you a laptop, PC, Alphasmart, or by hand kind of writer? I am definitely PC on several levels.

Plotter or panster?
Dear Jennifer, I’m plotting this very moment. In fact, I’m in a police station in Fort Worth, Texas. Sigh. I plot for at least a couple of months, mulling things over with a couple of writer soulmates and agent Natasha. My first two novels flew by the seats of their pants and needed lots of in-house and out-house (yikes) unrumpling. Hopefully my conversion will smooth out these little wrinkles I seem to develop…

Some writers make collages or listen to or create music soundtracks for their work-in-progress. Do you do any of those or have you thought about doing one of them?
Music fuels me, along with chocolate, coffee, and tea. I have a wonderful and eclectic collection of CDs…which I cherished until my son taught me, like, two months ago, about www.pandora.com. Yeah, I was a real dinosaur. So far I’ve downloaded Sigur Ros, David Crowder Band, Corrine Bailey Rae, Tenth Avenue North, Jamey Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Passacaglia. You wouldn’t believe the “special mix” those little people in the Pandora site have concocted for me!

What’s your favorite book on writing? Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Hands-down.

What’s your favorite fiction book you’ve read so far this year? Sigh. Jennifer, you’re shoving me into a dark corner. I GOBBLE up books! I just can’t stop at one, so…Hotel at the Corner of Bitter & Sweet, Wild Swans, Chasing Lilacs (Carla Stewart’s new book), The Good Earth, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Madonnas of Leningrad…I’ll stop now!

What’s your favorite way to reward yourself after you’ve finished writing a book?
I call up my special soulmates who’ve propped up my hands when they are sick of the keyboard and we meet at Thai House, our favorite restaurant. No menus are needed as we order family-style and celebrate with praise in our hearts and delicious food on the table!

Thai sounds fun, Patti! Thank you so much for sharing a little of your writing routine and life with us today!

Patti has two books out now. Here's a little about both:

An Irishwoman’s Tale
Mary Freeman’s earliest memory has haunted her since childhood: An old oaken table, bitter faces guzzling tea, a heated argument about what’s to be done with the “little eejit”—her. Now she is far removed from this family that didn’t want her, and separated from her native Ireland. Living in the United States Heartland, Mary searches out fulfilling roles—businesswoman, wife, Christian, mother, community servant—but her loneliness and torment remain as acute as ever.
A crisis in her youngest daughter’s life—and the encouragement of Sally, a plucky Southern transplant—propels Mary back to the rocky cliffs of her home in County Clare, Ireland. Her harrowing journey unveils her tragic past and forces her face-to-face with God.
Available at ChristianBooks and Amazon
Watch the trailer HERE.


What the Bayou Saw
Since leaving Louisiana, Sally Stevens has held her childhood secrets at bay, smothering them in a sunny disposition and sugar-coated lies. No one, not even her husband Sam, has heard the truth about what happened to her and her best friend, Ella Ward, when they were twelve years old.
Now a teacher in Normal, Illinois, Sally has nearly forgotten her past. Then Shamika, one of her students, is violently attacked, and memories of segregation, a chain-link fence, and a blood oath bubble to the surface like a dead body in a bayou. Lies continue to tumble from Sally’s lips as she scrambles to gloss over the harsh reality of a betrayal that refuses to stay buried.
Finally cornered by the Holy Spirit and her own web of lies, Sally and Shamika embark on a quest to find Ella in post-Katrina New Orleans. With the help of friends, family, and God, Sally can glimpse a life free of the mire of deceit and truly begin to live with joy. Will she pay the price for a lifetime of deception? Can she save Shamika?
Available on Amazon and B&N
Watch the trailer HERE

Don't they both sound wonderful?


CONTEST: Patti has generously offered to give away a signed copy of one of the above books-- An Irishwoman’s Tale or What the Bayou Saw (winner's choice) to some lucky commenter!

Please leave a comment below to be entered to win. The giveaway contest will run from now until Thursday 11:59PM (EST). I will announce the lucky winner this Friday!


Good luck and get into your writing routine!