This week, Meet the Voices, presents Winter Peck. She is an Iowan at heart. At the age of 10 she discovered her talent for composing stories, and a passion was born. She leans heavily on her mid-western roots, her love of the Old West, and the rodeo. Winter is married to a National Guardsman, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their story during the time of his deployment will be published in the book GOD Strong: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Military Wives, by Sara Horn (Zondervan 2010). She’s the mother of three boys and one cowgirl in training. Along with her own blog Rodeo with a Twist of Suspense; she contributes a monthly column called She Wears Combat Boots Too at the Take Root and Write blog. Winter and her family live in Central Illinois.

What is the biggest writing challenge you’ve encountered this past year – craft, career, writing life, etc.

Juggling my duties between being a wife to a National Guard soldier, a mom to 4 kids, my household chores, and coaching youth volleyball. My writing seems to take a huge hit sometimes when I’m bombarded by all the things I need or have to do that must come first.

How did you solve it?  (Through My Book Therapy or any other writing help).

It’s been a long process of learning what I had to put first in my life and at times I let my writing be front and center while  letting everything else sit on the back burner. I had a reality check with God over this one. Once I put things into perspective, He took over from there.

I’ve been coaching for 2 years now and during the season it seems to take a lot out of me writing wise. But I’ve found ways to get around it, by setting aside time that’s devoted to coaching responsibilities and writing responsibilities. This year is the first year that all my kids are in school. Now I have seven hours to myself and I’m slowly finding when the best time is for me to write. I’ve also found that if I’ve got the majority of my household chores, like dishes, floors cleaned, and laundry done before I sit down to write, I’m not pulled away and I can focus.

What is the one thing you learned that you can share with other writers?

How to deepen your POV. Little tricks I’ve learned from published authors and my mentor. If you’re writing a scene between your hero and heroine where there’s a lot of emotional turmoil, dig deep inside yourself and recall how you felt in a similar situation. How your stomach fluttered in that funny way when you heard your boyfriend tell you he loved you for the first time. How you were so angry at something she said that you felt your blood pressure erupt like a Hawaiian volcano. My mentor even told me of a time where she wanted to know what it felt like to be upside down on a rip line, she propped herself upside down on her couch and recited the same things her characters said in her novel. She went back through and layered in the feelings in her body and head when she did that.

Deepening your character’s POV brings out their characterization and allows your readers to relate and feel for them. Also by pulling on all your senses you can show us what the character is seeing and feeling, without telling.

Tell us about your current WIP

I have two WIP’s I’m actually working on at the moment.

WIP #1–A Dash of Cinnamon:

She didn’t want another Hero.