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Jo Ann Schneider is the author of two novels and is a mechanical designer. Like many authors, her writing magic happens all places — on trains, in airports, and with Diet Coke in reach. She blogs about writing, YA, and books on her website.

We spoke to Jo Ann about the differences between writing and editing, and what it feels like to see your book go on sale.

Check out Jo Ann Schneider's books on ReadThisNext.

How do you get in the frame of mind to write?

I can write pretty much anytime, anywhere. Some of my more brilliant work has been penned (or typed) in waiting rooms, at airports or in train stations. My secret is headphones. Once I pop those ear buds in and hunker down, a little man in my brain says “engage” and I’m in writing mode.

The funny bit is that there doesn’t even have to be music playing. As a matter of fact, after an hour or so my album or playlist ends, and over half of the time I never get around to starting another one.

At home I toss Pandora on and just let it go. No, that was not meant to be a Frozen reference. I promise.

Do your writing sessions last a certain length, or number of words, and how do you know when its time to stop?

I’m overly obsessed with goals. I kind of feel bad for my husband, but he knew what he was getting into before we got married.

Anyway, I always have a long-term writing goal that I’m working on. For instance, right now my goal is to finish my manuscript in process as well as have the rough draft for part 2 completed before the end of the month. I will look at how many chapters I need to get through to make my insane delusion happen, break it down into weeks and days, figure out how many writing sessions I’m likely to get in before then, and that’s where my daily or sessionly goals come from.

I know it’s time to stop when I start adding the last letter of one word to the beginning of the next. That means my brain is twitching and my fingers are trying to type on their own.

Or if I fall asleep. That’s usually a sign … to go get more Diet Coke.

Do you drink, eat or snack while writing? Any fuel of choice?

No. No snacks. If there is food within reach, I will type maybe twenty words, pause, retrieve said snack, eat it, re-read the twenty words I just wrote, re-type ten of them, type ten more then get another bite of yummy-ness.

Water and soda are the exceptions. Dirty Diet Coke. With the pebble ice. I’ve got my husband convinced that he is the one who wants to go to Sonic and get a bag of the pebble ice. Go me.

Do you have an job in addition to writing?

I’ve been a mechanical designer for a handful of lighting companies for fifteen-ish years. That means that we get a crazy sketch from either our designer or a customer, and my job is to figure out if we can actually build it. Metal parts have to touch one another in order to stay together—customers don’t always understand this concept—and it’s not advisable for glass to be the primary support in any light. Once we figure out if we can build it, I put drawings together for our shop. This is what I tell people, I don’t make things pretty, I make the pretty happen. Within reason.

I wrote my first six books—don’t ask about them, they’re craptastic—and published my first two traditionally with this job. In the summer of 2014 I got to go part time, so now I get to write for 20 hours a week. Which still isn’t enough time, by the way.

Writing vs. editing?

Creating a story is like trying to do my Kempo forms in the dark with a 25 pound weight vest on as well as ankle and wrist weights. With my instructor tossing things—and possibly people—at me for fun.

Editing is like driving on the freeway on one of those days with the perfect combination of sunshine and cool weather, with the windows down, my sunglasses on and the wind flipping my hair everywhere. In my mind I look like Cameron Diaz. No one is allowed to tell me otherwise.

What does it feel like to see your book go on sale? 

You know that part in the movie Elf, when the guy in the store tells Buddy that Santa is coming and he totally freaks out? Yeah, that’s pretty much how it feels.

What's your most recent book, and what was the biggest surprise for you while you were writing it?

Right now I’m really living the dream. The story I’m working on is the story I’ve had in my head for more than twenty years. It is a YA post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi series about a girl who loses everyone she knows and then has to face her worst fears to keep it from happening again.