Creative Rituals - Featuring Wendy Parris
Welcome to my weekly feature "Creative Rituals", in which creatives talk about how they begin their creative day. Today I feature author Wendy Parris!
Happy Saturday! Welcome to my weekly Substack feature on creatives and their rituals. This is an opportunity for creatives to talk about how they start their creative day, as well as give you more insight into their work. It’s a perfect opportunity to demystify the creative experience, and maybe even inspire!
Wendy Parris - Author
Today’s guest creative is author Wendy Parris!
What Do You Do to Start Your Creative Day?
My writing day starts whenever I can carve away an hour or two. In the winter, I'll have a mug of hot black or green tea by my side, and in the summer I prefer iced black tea (no lemon or sweetener). I write in various locations throughout my home—sometimes at my desk in the sunroom, sometimes in a comfy chair, and whenever possible outside on my patio. To warm up, I'll read over what I did during the previous writing session. I use a notebook and a sharp pencil to write down ideas and figure out my plot first. When I'm ready to start the first draft, I'll type it on my MacBook Air. But my favorite thing to do is edit! I print out pages and go to town on them with my sharp pencil (how I love those sharp pencils). Then I'll type the edits into my draft and repeat the process until I'm satisfied. Which is usually never, tbh—I should say until I've done as much as I can and must send it to someone I've promised it to, whether they be a critique partner, my agent, or my editor!
Creator Bio
Wendy Parris grew up loving books and hoping to glimpse a ghost. After graduating from Northwestern University, she acted in small Chicago theaters, performed improv comedy, and worked in public relations. She lives in Illinois in an old house that is probably not haunted. Field of Screams is her debut novel. Her second book, Stage Fright, will be published in September 2024 with Delacorte Press.
Please visit me at:
Instagram: @wendyparrisauthor
Twitter/X: @wlparri
BlueSky: @wendyparrisauthor
More from Wendy Parris
About FIELD OF SCREAMS:
Paranormal enthusiast Rebecca Graff isn’t happy about being dragged to Iowa to spend the summer with family she barely knows. But when she tracks a ghostly presence to an abandoned farmhouse, she starts to think the summer won’t be a total lost cause!
The trouble is no one believes her. Then Rebecca finds a note stashed in a comic belonging to her late father—a note that proves the same spirit haunted him when he was twelve. Suddenly she feels a connection to the dad she pretends not to miss, and she is determined to uncover the story behind the haunting.
But the more Rebecca discovers, the scarier the ghost becomes. Soon she is in a race to piece together the puzzle and recover a family legacy before it is lost forever, and a horrible tragedy repeats itself.
Thank you, Wendy, for being a guest!
Write on!
Jendia
