Meet the IWOTY Finalist: Sue Duff

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I am a pantser! When I first sat in front of the computer to write, I never dreamt I had a novel in me. But I heard and visualized the story in my head like a movie playing. Luckily, I type fast (thank you Ms. Irwin, my high school typing teacher) and my fingers could keep up with my thoughts. By the time I was ready to start my second novel though, I’d taken classes, courses, and attended presentations on writing. I was convinced I should be plotting, so I attempted it before I initiated Masks and Mirrors, book #2. IT WAS PAINFUL. My story ended up convoluted and problematic. I had to start over and rewrite it by the seat of my pantser-self. It became obvious to me that although I know what the basic story is about, and essentially what has to take place before I start the process, my stories take on a life of their own as I write them. As a pantser, my ideas feel fresh and genuine. Of course, because I write that way, I have MEGA editing at the back end!

What does your writing routine look like?
To be honest, I can’t write every day. When I try to force myself to sit down and produce, it is a waste of my time. I’m a speech therapist in an elementary school and work with low cognitive, severe needs and autistic students. For nine months a year, I often put in 9- to 10-hour days between conducting therapy at a table or on the floor, doing the massive amounts of paperwork or attending Special Ed and IEP meetings. When I get home, I need to VEG. Most of my writing occurs on the weekends, during school breaks like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break, but my most intensive writing is during the summer months. I’ll crank out a novel in 6 to 8 weeks when I can sit down for several hours each day and stay committed and focused. I write best in the mornings, typically between 7 a.m. till about 2 p.m. Then I take a major break, and when I return, I edit what I’ve written that morning. Sometimes I’ll write one day and edit the next, alternating that way all summer long. When I first wrote, I was ten years younger and found myself so excited about the story I’d get up at 6 a.m. and not stop until 2 a.m. I’d forget to eat a meal! I’m not that crazed, or young, any longer. I’ve also found that when I get stuck or my characters are in an awkward place in the story, I walk away and quite literally sleep on it. When I wake up the next morning, I often know how to fix the problem. Because of this, I believe I must write in my sleep!

Do you have pets? If so, what kind and how many?
I have a Morgan Great Dane named Eva. I inherited her after my son passed away three years ago, and she has been a joy. Jonathan taught her to sit and give a paw before putting on her harness & leash. Whenever she does, I feel like he’s saying good morning to me. She has a black coat with a white throat and chest. Her back toes are white, too. Despite being five years old, she can still be a puppy at heart. When she gets home on the days I take her to doggy daycare, she is so happy she has what I call a SPAZ moment. She runs back and forth between the dining room, through the living room and jumps onto the couches in the family room. Then she turns and repeats her trek over and over until she eventually collapses on the couch breathing heavily. Eva has her senior moments, though. She adopted my bed as her bed (try to argue with a Great Dane when they throw their weight around, I dare you) and she’ll make herself at home upstairs, especially if I leave the TV on. She hates it when I sit in front of the computer to write or answer emails, and I take her to daycare if I have a heavy writing schedule that day. Then she sleeps when she gets home, so even half a day of daycare gives me a full day of writing!

Share an interesting fact about yourself:
When I wrote each book in the Weir Chronicles five-book series, I knew ahead of time what I wanted on each cover and what the color scheme would be. Since I write the novels in the summer, I would choose that year’s color as my toenail polish as inspiration. For the first summer, my toenails were fluorescent green (Fade to Black). The next summer they were shimmering gold (Masks and Mirrors), then blood red (Sleight of Hand), ocean blue (Stack a Deck) and finally last summer they were purple (Dim the Lights). Although I’ve completed the series, I plan on spending most of my time promoting it this summer. I just might alternate the entire color scheme between all ten toes!

Sue Duff is the award-winning, bestselling author of the fantasy/sci-fi series The Weir Chronicles and has recently released Dim the Lights, the final book in her epic five-novel series. In addition to managing her own publishing house, CrossWinds Publishing, she is a contributing author of speculative fiction short stories with the award-winning authors at Wicked Ink Books. The group of Colorado women writers have published two anthologies, TICK TOCK: Seven Tales of Time and OFF BEAT: Nine Spins on Song, both of which have won the coveted EVVY Awards through the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA). Their third anthology will be available October 2018. The RMFW 2018 Anthology Committee recognized Sue when they selected her short story, Adrift, for this year’s anthology, False Faces.

When not saving the world one page at a time, Sue works as a speech therapist in Denver Public Schools, specializing in assistive technology support for low cognitive, severe needs and autism students. She is honored and thrilled to be recognized alongside Bernadette Marie and Corinne O’Flynn for the 2018 IWOTY. For additional information, check her out at www.sueduff.com or follow her on Facebook at Sue Duff–Writer, on Twitter at sueduff55, and on Instagram at sueduffauthor.