:welcome: Please join us in welcoming author Jeri Smith-Ready. Her latest novel, Wicked Game is out this month from Pocket Books. After you read her post, leave a comment and you’ll automatically be entered in Jeri’s book giveaway. One lucky poster will win a signed copy of Wicked Game.

And now here’s Jeri! :woot:
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Brainspace

Have you ever noticed, when actors go on talk shows to plug their new movies, they’ll often spend time discussing the movie they’re working on now, a movie that won’t be out for another year or two? You can sense that’s what they’re most excited about. It’s filling their ‘brainspace’—the place where their creative and problem-solving energy is flowing like crazy.

I wish I were the kind of writer who could sit down and work for just ten or fifteen minutes, swatting away distractions like meddlesome flies. But I need time to sink into the story’s brainspace. It can take half an hour or more of sitting still, drinking coffee (or tea, in the evening), and staring at the screen before any worthwhile words appear.

There are many enemies of brainspace, including:

* Television
* Family crises
* Illness
* E-mail/Web surfing
* Upcoming release of a new book (hmm, no idea why that one comes to mind right now)

Some of these we can avoid or at least minimize; some we can’t. Most of us aren’t hermits. We can’t seal ourselves into a vault to do our work. So we need to find shortcuts.

How I create brainspace:

* Music: After working on a book for a week or two, I choose music that resonates with its mood and characters and story. Then I play the same music every day when I sit down to write. Eventually I get like Pavlov’s dog: when I hear those opening chords, my brain clicks into writing mode.

* Spider Solitaire: Just one game, I swear, at the beginning of a writing session, while I listen to the music. I see this as easing my brain into the space. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

* Coffee: Usually it’s the second cup of the day, whether it’s 10 am or 4 pm. (It took years, but I have finally stopped feeling guilty for not writing first thing in the morning.) Of course, coffee enhances concentration most (and tastes best) when accompanied by something sweet.

How to tell what’s dominating your brainspace:

* What do you think about when you’re on ‘autopilot,’ i.e., driving, taking a shower, folding laundry?
* What’s the last thing you think about before going to sleep, or the first thing when you wake up?
* What do you dream about?

I’d love to know: how do you create brainspace for your writing? Do you have a ritual? Is it different for each book? Do you yell at people and pets for invading it? Tell me in the comments to enter a drawing for a signed copy of my new vampire book, Wicked Game.

Thanks so much for having me at Southern Fried Chicas, and thanks especially to Tanya for inviting me!

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Jeri falls into the brainspace of her new vampire series every time she turns on the radio. Wicked Game (and its sequel, Bad to the Bone, coming May 2009) concerns a cadre of vampire disc jockeys and the con artist trying to save their ‘lives.’ Simply Romance Reviews called it “an urban fantasy thrill ride” and “sexy as hell.”

For more about Wicked Game, go here. To visit the DJs and listen to a sample of their shows, click this link. Jeri and her heroine Ciara can also be found on MySpace, though mysteriously never at the same time here and here.