Guest post R.J. Sullivan

So today R.J. Sullivan stops by for his Haunting Obsession Blog Tour.
I asked him to tell us a little bit about his writing habbits/quirks and this is what he had to share about it which includes his little mermaid mug.....


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The Mermaid Mug and a Few Other Things

Welcome to day six of the R.J. Sullivan blog tour. Today I want to thank Bookishly Me for hosting this post and thank Seventh Star Press as always for setting up this opportunity.

So--the topic is personal writing quirks and habits. So let's begin with, anyone who follows me on Facebook knows I frequently begin my day reference that I am drinking coffee in my ceramic Little Mermaid Mug. Let me assure you that every time I post this, it is absolutely true.


I had no idea the first time I posted this a little over a year ago that I was about to birth a legend. I remember the very first time I made reference to the mug, it quickly gathered the most Likes and comments I'd seen on Facebook. And so, being a constant attention whore, I posted something a couple of days later, to find that this bit of self-parody amused others to no end. After a few more posts I received comments doubting the existence of the mug. Of course, with a digital camera, such problems are quickly remedied, and since then, I frequently post about the mug and include the photo to go with it.

Actually, the Little Mermaid has a long history, some of which I have recounted in another blog. Suffice it to say, it's one of my favorite Disney films, and back when first I dated my to-be-future wife, it was shortly before Beauty and the Beast hit the theaters, and Mermaid was still a pretty hot film, hailed as Disney's big comeback after a decade of mediocrity. Add to that, Mrs. RJ's own art aspirations, and with Walt as her hero, we didn't need children to make Disney films a part of our lives.

To the best I recall, the ceramic mug was a Christmas gift. If I had to guess, it was probably a gift from a sister-in-law who lives in Orlando and frequents Disney World. It originally was a matching pair of ceramic mugs, with hot cocoa packets. One mug has since broken, but the other remains and continues in regular rotation, along with additional manly mugs one sporting a baby chick and another covered in red hearts.

Now that I've spent 400 words talking up the mug, I'll discuss my other writing quirks.

I divide my writing time between two similar but distinctly different writing practices. I am a self-employed writing contractor who works primarily from home, (A "temporary" solution to the employment slump now going on five years!) Locally I write for a monthly magazine and produce several articles for a weekly paper, and I handle newsletter and other PR needs of other clients as the ebb and flow of business demands. You can learn all about that at www.copybob.com

So I start my day sorting out deadlines--what needs to be done today? I check my email and Facebook and let the coffee take effect. If I get to rough draft fiction, I often write to music. I have one, and exactly one album that I fall back on to draft to--Everything's Different Now by 'Til Tuesday. Everything else is either too distracting, too fast, or just doesn't work for me.

Aimee Mann--just boring enough to use every day, for decades. I'm sure she'll be calling me any day now demanding to use that as a blurb.

I write on a laptop, a Dell loaded with Window's 7 purchased for the purpose of my business three years ago and still going strong, thought the finger markers on F and J are completely worn away.
 I keep no games on it. I don't need the temptation, because I would lose. Between social media and my writing, that's all it's used for. At the same time, we purchased a desktop in the great room. I thought I'd use both, but I have composed exclusively on this laptop since purchasing it.
I love the laptop, but I can't use the touch pad, so I have an LED mouse plugged in to it, which I use on a Spider-Man mousepad, because that's how awesome people roll.

I have a three-paperback set holding a Webster's Dictionary, Thesarus, and Oxford spelling dictionary. Next to it, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and an AP Style Book. And you know what that means--yep, 99% of the time I go online to Dictionary.com and Wikipedia.

Next to the reference books I have a set of my own books and some of my favorite writing friends, (AD Roland Winterborn and Butterfly Killer by James Ward Kirk).

I have a handful of Cyndi Lauper-focused good luck charms that occupied my last few desks when I was employed full time and which still occupy my work space: A teeny bopper biography from the 80s, and two photos she later autographed.

If I have to listen to an interview on my digital recorder, I need complete silence. Otherwise, I have music on or CNN news. If it's a slow news day, I pop it to FOX or MSNBC long enough to shake my head and confirm that, yes, I'm still solidly in the middle.

And that's pretty much it. I knock off the deadline business stuff first and then I get the rest of my day to do the fun stuff. Today I had to turn in my last article for the monthly magazine before I could work on this.

So this was fun. Not sure how enlightening it was, but definitely fun.

Thanks once again to Bookishly Me and Seventh Star for this opportunity.

R. J. Sullivan resides with his family in Heartland Crossing, Indiana. His first novel, Haunting Blue, is an edgy paranormal thriller about punk girl loner Fiona "Blue" Shaefer and her boyfriend Chip Farren. R.J. is hard at work on the next chapter in Fiona's story, Virtual Blue, coming soon from Seventh Star Press. R.J. is a member of the Indiana Horror Writers.

Find R.J. Sullivan
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About Haunting Obsession:

“She wants to be loved by you…alone!”

Daryl Beasley collects all things Maxine Marie, whose famous curves and fast lifestyle made her a Hollywood icon for decades after her tragic death. Daryl’s girlfriend, Loretta Stevens, knew about his geeky lifestyle when they started dating, but she loves him, quirks and all.

Then one day Daryl chooses to buy a particularly tacky piece of memorabilia instead of Loretta’s birthday present. Daryl ends up in the doghouse, not only with Loretta, but with Maxine Marie herself. The legendary blonde returns from the dead to give Daryl a piece of her mind—and a haunting obsession he’ll never forget.

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