The blog bus rolled into town and stopped at my front door.

My Writing Process Blog Tour is a four-question quiz that gives writers the chance to blab about themselves, and readers the chance to meet writers (and peek into some not-so-private writing lives).

Please hop aboard and indulge me as I ask & answer:

1.
What are you working on?

The world is full of words and I'm trying to live — and write — within these tenets:

Is it kind? Is it helpful? Does it add to the silence?

This is tricky. Answering honestly leaves little room for banter and blather, and a lot of room for crickets. Fortunately, I like the quiet. But, oh, you meant, what are you working on, as in writing? Ummm, the same recipe applies.

2.
How does your work differ from others in its genre?

Every writer carries their own history and approach. In this sense, every writer is unique. And yet, nothing is new. Every story and poem, every painting and product, wears the beauty and scar of everything that came before. Nothing is new, so everything is new.

On a more practical level, I'm a reporter-publicist-poet, which makes for a writer who is deadline-driven, story-focused and tender-hearted. And I favor searchers and seekers, the broken and lost — people with art and grit.

3.
Why do you write?

I write to make sense of the clamor. I crave clarity, the stretch of finding my way from head to heart to hand. The act of writing is compulsion and companion, and almost always sweet relief.

4.
What is your writing process?

Resist, retreat, react, scratch, stir, sift, sort, give up, give thanks, breathe, repeat.

Blog Tour Backstory: The writing world is so vast, yet so small, and sometimes we're all in this soup together.

I was kindly invited to go "on tour" by poet Jessica Goodfellow, author of The Insomniac's Weather Report, a poetry collection enjoying a recent re-issue. Jessica shares poetic insights and ideas on her blog, Axis of Abraxas.

Now, the tour bus rolls merrily along with stops at the writers I've invited. Go forward. Do not stop, swerve or slow. Drive ahead to meet:

• Amber Keyser, writer of fiction and nonfiction for tweens, teens and adults

• Sarah Sloat, sly and wry editor and poet.