Writers on Writing Blog Hop

ELCOME to another edition of the Writers on Writing Blog Hop. Many thanks to the lovely and talented Jaleta Clegg for giving me the opportunity to participate. (You can read her responses to the following questions here.)

And now without further ado, or even further adon't, the questions and their questionable responses:

What am I working on/writing?
I'm always working on the blog. One of my New Year's resolutions was to post something to the blog at least once a week this year, and so far I've met that goal. Other than blogging, I have in various stages of completion a couple of short stories for writing contests, a first draft of a young adult fantasy novel tentatively called Unseen, and a screenplay for my sister.

How does my writing/work differ from others in its genre?
Crikey. I'm guessing "because I wrote it" isn't going to cut it as an answer, is it?

Hmm. Perhaps this question is difficult to answer because I haven't really settled on a genre. Sometimes I'm working on articles about popular culture, sometimes personal essays, sometimes short stories, sometimes another chapter of the novel, sometimes pure silliness. As Heinlein famously wrote, "Specialization is for insects."

Why do I write what I do?
I write because I feel compelled to. I write because not writing would put holes in my soul. I write because the music of words twined together on paper can cause the implausible to become real. I write because it's the closest thing to real magic I know.

How does my writing process work?
Sometimes a story or an article I've read spurs me to write something. Sometimes it's a personal experience or a memory. And sometimes I just pull up a blank page and start typing to see what words come out of the ends of my fingers.

The actual composition process varies depending on what kind of piece I'm writing. If I'm working on creative writing, I usually write down ideas and phrases in a notebook. For some reason the mental creative process seems to be aided by handwriting. If I'm writing an article or something else that requires a more logical thought process, I almost always type it out. Later editing is also typed; it's much easier to edit when you can move big blocks of text around willy-nilly.

Are you a writer? Want to be tagged? I'm looking for at least three people who would like to keep the blog hop jumping along. Hit me up with a comment and I'll add you to the list!