An Interview with Author Katriena Knights

And now, for a change of pace, I’m trying something I’ve seldom done on my blog before—I’m interviewing an author about her “new” book. I put quotes around the word “new” because although this book was initially published many years ago, this isn’t just a reissue of the same material. Katriena Knights used this opportunity to look at one of her first published books through the eyes of the experienced author of many books she has since become.

And since Katriena Knights is my daughter, I already know the answers to most of the questions asked of authors, and I know she’s answered them many times with other interviewers. I know she started writing before she could actually write by dictating poetry to me—things like “Ode to a Pancake,” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” I know she wrote “books” about talking horses when she was in the fourth grade, and her teacher read them aloud to the class. And I know that if I got any of the above wrong, she won’t hesitate to tell me so.  : - )

So I thought I’d just ask about her latest published paperback—which was also one of her first—and how that process went.

KK: My latest paperback is Dealing With David, which arrived in March from Samhain Publishing. It’s a reprint—it originally appeared from Hard Shell World Factory in around 2000.

1.  It’s not often authors get to go back and take another look at previous books. How did this come about?

Dealing With David had been available at Hard Shell Word Factory for quite some time. It actually sold fairly well in the early days—it made the bestseller list at Peanut Reader back in the day. But the market has changed enough that I thought it was time to try something different with the book and give it another chance to find its market. So I submitted it to Samhain. I’ve published a few books with Samhain and like working with my editor there, so I thought it might be a good fit.

2. What kinds of things did this editor want to change and in what way did she want to change them?

My editor, Linda Ingmanson, felt that Tony, the heroine, was a bit too abrasive, and that David wasn’t alpha enough. There were also some areas where she didn’t feel the motivation or the conflict was explained quite well enough for a reader to fully sympathize with the choices that were made.

3. How did you feel about making those changes?

I focused a bit more on the motivation than the other elements, because I felt that if the motivation would clarify the characterizations. This worked to some extent, but I did do some work with the characterizations when that didn’t seem like quite enough. However, we had some disagreement about David and the “alpha male” issue. I don’t like alpha males. I find them annoying. So I went about that a bit differently. I gave David clearer motivation, and a slightly stronger personality, which I thought walked a good middle line between what I wanted to do with the character and what my editor thought might fit the market. I was pretty happy with the results, and I’m grateful to have an editor who’s flexible about this kind of work. I’ve worked with editors who aren’t, and it’s not fun.

4. Did your rework change your basic feelings about the book? How and why?

I think it’s a better book. I also think it’s a bit more in line with how I feel about relationships and balance and reflects my growth since I wrote the book.

5. Would you do this again with another book if given the opportunity? Which one(s)? What would you change/expand/cut?

I would. I’ve already done some work on some other backlist books that I revised before I re-released them independently. On some of them, I reduced the erotic content fairly significantly since I had added that for a specific publisher. I also did a bit of additional work with characterization and plot work where I felt it needed some tweaking. I haven’t done major revisions on these stories, though. In at least one case where I’ve had an opportunity to re-release a book, I passed on doing intensive revisions because I found it was difficult for me to engage with the book—not because I thought the revision suggestions were bad, but because digging deeply into that particular story brought me to an emotional place I found hard to deal with. That’s based on what’s happened in my life since the story was written, and that was a difficult decision to make.

6. What are you working on now?

I’m working on a few things right now. I have a paranormal romantic suspense I’m doing edits on as well as a non-paranormal romantic suspense that’s in first draft. I’m also working on a sequel to Necromancing Nim, which came out last October from Samhain. And there’s a sequel to Where There’s a Will in the works, as well. On top of that, I’ve been writing quite a few short stories. I tend to work on a lot of things at once in a mostly useless attempt to keep myself out of trouble.

7. What are your writing plans for the future?

I intend to keep writing what I enjoy and try to find people who also enjoy it. I have a whole door covered with Post-It notes with story ideas on them, and ideally I’d like to write all of them. Plus others.

How to Get Out of Bed

I know what you’re thinking.

But if you ever come down (heaven forbid) with a full-blown case of sciatica like I’ve had for the last several weeks, you’ll realize how difficult getting out of bed can be.

Lying in bed is fine. In fact, it’s the only place you can be comfortable, since sciatica makes both standing and sitting painful. The problem comes when you just really have to get up—usually to use the bathroom, though eating breakfast before lunchtime is also a consideration.

So there you are with a full bladder and empty stomach, lying flat on your back on a memory foam mattress that has formed to the shape of your body, holding you like a warm hug—and creating a valley you must somehow climb out of. Here goes:

1.     Slowly, without using your right hip or leg, roll out of the body-shaped indentation in your bed and over onto your stomach. The might require several attempts. Tighten every muscle in your body, because when you finally make it, you’ll be lying on your full bladder.  No! Not your glutes!

2.     Massage the spasms out of your hip.

3.     Carefully slide your left leg off the edge of the bed, groping with your foot for your clogs.

4.     Slip your left foot into the left clog.

5.     Slide the right half of your body toward the edge of the bed. Do NOT use the muscles on the right side of your body.

6.     Grit your teeth and pull your right leg off the bed, because now you have to use those spasmed glutes to lower your right foot to the floor and slip it into your right clog.

7.     Use your nightstand to push yourself to a standing position.  Take your cane, stored nearby over night, and hobble to the bathroom, praying you make it in time.

8.     Say a prayer of thanks that Hubby is an early riser, because you know how ridiculous you must look, and anyone who laughed would have to die. 

      With any kind of luck, you can get to breakfast before ten. 

      Now, How to Climb the Stairs…. 

Writing the Dream, Living the Dream

Anyone who’s read about my novel, “When the Moon Is Gibbous and Waxing,” knows how important dreams are to my writing. The entire first scene is a nightmare I had many years ago. It made me think about stereotyping, passing judgment, love, forgiveness, and the nature of evil. Eventually the main character walked into my head, introduced herself, and demanded I write her story.

Now I’m working on a sweet romance that came to me in another dream. I know the dream was the result of something my mother said to me about a week before she died and is based on an event in her life. But then it took off in a new and strange direction. I parked it in the back of my head. Then a couple of weeks ago, I dreamed the title and couldn’t put it off any longer. It’s about half done, I think.

I keep a notebook of plot ideas. Sometimes an idea can come from a casual comment. Repeating the  quote usually attributed to Mark Twain, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it,” and running across a verse in the Bible about where to find God led to a trilogy of novelettes I’m now writing. (Book one finished, book two started.) So although I also get ideas from things I read in newspapers and books, most of them come from dreams.  Dreams are a vital part of my writing process.

I also find it interesting that allowing my dream room to grow into a published novel led to the fulfillment of another long-standing dream. I was at a mystery writers and readers conference in Chicago last month. My novel had just become available in paperback, and I’d furnished copies to the bookstore. I stopped by to check on sales, and a total stranger walked up and asked me to autograph a copy she’d just bought.

Dreams don't get much better than that. 

Author Offers Free Book to Publicize Donate Life Week

D L Richardson's book Feedback is published by Etopia Press, the company that published my novel, When the Moon Is Gibbous and Waxing. This exciting YA science fiction is about three teens whose life-saving transplants plunge them into a frightening adventure. Check out how to win a free copy to help promote Australian Donate Life Week. And if you aren't a lucky winner, you're still lucky, because you've learned about how donating an organ can save a life and you've learned about this great book.

YOUR CHANCE TO BE PART OF THIS GIVEAWAY OF THIS EXCITING YA NOVEL

Synopsis:

Ethan, Florida and Jake are three teenagers awaiting organ donations to save their lives. When they recieve the organs of a dead spy, they are abducted for information that only the spy possesses. Under threat of torture, the dead spy's memories begin to awaken with the teenagers. Escaping with their lives is only the beginning. They also have to complete the spy's mission or millions of people will die.

Author's note:

While researching for Feedback, I learned about the life of the people and families waiting for organ donations. If anyone needs an inkling of what hope is, read about a person waiting for a second chance at life. Their stories really made me see how insignificant some of my little gripes are. There's nothing 'fun' about needing an organ transplant, however if I can raise awareness of organ donation through creative writing then I'll gladly do it. Why wouldn't I, when, as a writer of young adult, I write hopeful endings.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE GIVEAWAY

So why am I hosting this giveaway? It's organ donation awareness week in Australia. Running from Sunday 24 February to Sunday 3 March, I'm going to run a giveaway of my latest novel "Feedback" for a full month.

About Donate Life Week:

Donate Life Week is a week where the public can discover facts about organ donation, decide on organ donation, and discuss their wishes with their family members. The discussion part is perhaps the most overlooked part. It wasn't until I began researching for my latest novel Feedback did I realise that whatever a person's wishes are, their family needs to know so they can make an informed decision when it really matters.

Now, before you do anything! just remember that organ donation is a personal choice. I totally respect people's personal beliefs. If a person has a religious, cultural, personal, moral, or ethical opposition to organ donation, that's fine. This post may not be for you, but I won't object if you still wish to enter the giveaway. If you don't have any objections or opinions either way on organ donation, then it won't hurt you to have a peek at the facts.

You can check out organ donor details at the Donate Life website

http://www.donatelife.gov.au/resources/donatelife-week-2013

Myths about organ donation:

Most religions support organ and tissue donation as generous acts that benefit people. This includes Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. If you are not sure whether your religion is supportive, speak to your religious adviser.

You're never too old to be a donor. Anyone can donate organs and tissue. People in their eighties have saved the lives of much younger people. Transplant professionals decide which organs and tissues can be used at the time of death after looking at your past medical history, the condition of your organs and their suitability.

You're never too young to be a donor. Anyone can be a donor - young and old. If you are under 16 years you can't register to be a donor, but you can discuss your wishes with your parents.

Medical staff do everything possible to save lives. Their first duty is to you and saving your life. Organ and tissue donation will only be considered after all efforts fail and you have been legally declared dead. Usually, the Australian Organ Donor Register is only checked after you have died.

There is never any charge for donating organs and tissues. Depending on the hospital, your family might be charged for the cost of all final efforts to save your life and those costs are sometimes misinterpreted as costs related to organ donation. Your family will be responsible for your funeral expenses.

Organ donation is about helping save or improve other people's lives. Donated tissues and organs will never be used for medical research unless explicit written permission is given by your family. If any organ or tissue that has been donated is unable to be transplanted and your family are not comfortable donating to a research program, they can choose to have the organ or tissue returned to their loved one's body or respectfully disposed.

Good luck to everyone who enters!
D L Richardson

www.dlrichardson.com

Author Publicizes Australian Donate Life Week With Book Giveaway

DL Richardson's book, "Feedback," is published by Etopia Press, which also published my novel. "Feedback" is a YA about three young people whose life-saving transplants cause them to be swept into a frightening adventure. She's giving away copies of Feedback to publicize Donate Life Week in Australia. Enter your name in the drawing here: http://dlrichardsonauthor.blogspot.com.au/ Better yet, make sure your name is on your local donor list and buy her book. : - )

"The Kabrini Message"--Following Another's Dream

Marie Carhart didn't write "The Kabrini Message." Her brother wrote it, and many years after his death, she discovered it in her mother's things. Read their story here:

Thank you so much for inviting me to visit with you today, Angela and to share our story with you and your readers!

It was late one night in the late spring 2011 when I was in my attic searching for old family photos for a project for my son’s upcoming wedding.  I found the photographs—but I also found something else.

I discovered it as I was digging through a box of photos that had come from my mother’s house.  My mother passed away in 1994, and I must have received the box of photographs and mementos shortly after that—but I had not gone through it until this particular late night adventure.  Inside the old box, I came across a large manila envelope, marked in my mother’s handwriting:  “Joe’s Book”.  The manuscript was dated 1987.

I vaguely remembered, many years earlier, hearing my mother talk about a book that my brother Joe had written.  She was typing his hand-written manuscript for him.  I don’t believe I ever heard Joe speak of it himself; and I had never heard any more of the book until now.

I tossed the envelope aside to bring downstairs, thinking it might make for good summer reading and that was the beginning...

Joe was a brilliant man—quite possibly a genius.  However, (and I say this with great love and affection) it seemed to me that he never followed through on anything.  When I first found The Kabrini Message, I wasn’t sure if he had ever attempted to get it published.  I assumed that he had not—or that he probably hadn’t tried very hard.  

The oldest of my three brothers, Joe was twelve years older than me.  The year I started first grade, he started college.  Although there was a large age difference, I do have a few vivid memories of growing up with him.  I remember Joe building his own telescopes as a teen (not from a kit, but from scratch—grinding the lenses himself, etc.).  He was absolutely fascinated with stars and planets, and he spent much of his time at the observatory.

So, as I began reading Joe’s book, The Kabrini Message, I was not surprised to find that it was Science Fiction.  (What else would Joe write?)  Although Sci-Fi is not my usual reading genre, I found that I couldn’t put it down – I loved it!

I was amazed and in awe of the imagination it took to create all of those twists and turns and intricacies.  Most of all, I loved the quick wit and humor in the dialogue between the characters.

I always knew there was so much more to Joe than met the eye, but I never realized just how much more.  All of these wild, elaborate ideas were going on and most of us never knew it.  I always knew there was pretty complex stuff going on in Joe's head, but now I finally know what some of it was.

I’m not surprised that my mother took the time to type Joe’s entire manuscript. She and Joe had a special relationship; she was his “champion of causes”.  She believed in him and always encouraged his greatest hopes and dreams.  Unfortunately, Joe did not seem to believe in himself enough most of the time.

But Joe had many wonderful qualities, too.  He had a fabulous sense of humor and a sharp wit, similar to that of some of the characters in his book.  He was funny and extremely intelligent and although he was not someone to openly show affection, I somehow always knew he loved his family very much.

In January 2010, two months after his 60^th birthday and with so much talent and ability that it seemed he never really tapped into, my brother Joe passed away.

My mother always recognized Joe’s potential, and now I do, too.  And although at the time of his passing it appeared that much of his talent never materialized, as it has turned out, that is not true!  His talent did materialize…literally…and I found it in my attic!

I also now realize I was wrong when I assumed Joe never followed through on anything.  He completed this book.  And I recently learned something else from his wife Gwen—soon after Joe wrote the book, they mailed copies of his manuscript to nearly 50 publishers.  When interest was not immediately shown, however, Joe stopped pursuing it.

So I decided to take it one step further and make sure The Kabrini Message is finally published, as a gift to both my brother and our mother who always believed in him.  I have been “on a mission”…yes, a woman obsessed!  But the journey has been a fun, fascinating and educational labor of love and I am thrilled and so very grateful to say that as of January 18, 2013, more than a quarter of a century after it was written, The Kabrini Message is a published novel!

Joe Egles, author of 
"The Kabrini Message"

THE KABRINI MESSAGE SYNOPSIS:

They had finally made contact.  And the world would never be the same…

Jeffrey Driscoll is a rugged yet charming adventurer with a hidden consciousness: when he gazes through the eyepiece of his telescope, he senses someone is looking back.  Haunted by the stars since boyhood, he sets off on an exhilarating quest that takes him across the planet. Not quite sure what he seeks, Driscoll only knows he must keep moving. Throughout his reckless escapades, Driscoll is often accompanied by Mondo (a childlike, affable young African), Mohammed (a surly, sun-blasted Arab) and Goldstein (a cynical New York Jew), an unlikely trio that never fails to plunge face-first into hilariously perilous predicaments.

When an uptight British archeology professor hires the ragtag crew for a dig on the Greek island of Delos, Driscoll stumbles upon a miraculous find: ancient crystals with celestial coordinates that will connect mankind with the Kabrini, a highly advanced alien civilization.  Driscoll’s groundbreaking discovery ultimately leads to Planet Earth’s first global space effort, the Legacy mission.

Years later, when Driscoll Mining and the U.S. Army complete deep space construction of the Kabrini communications network, the Legacy mission is deemed a success. Mankind finally makes contact…only to discover the Kabrini Message isn’t exactly what we want to hear.  The Kabrini view our civilization as one of heightened intelligence yet no spiritual enlightenment—a dangerous combination. Although the wise alien race has the ability to offer mankind limitless knowledge and staggering technological advances, they fear our barbaric people will only use the information for evil.

As if to prove the Kabrini right, a fanatical terrorist group’s hunger for revenge leads to an explosive turn of events, threatening the Kabrini network; but Driscoll will stop at nothing to save the project.  As his obsession with the Kabrini grows and the Legacy mission spirals out of control, he risks losing it all—his company, his grasp on what’s most important and the one thing he’s ever truly loved: his wife, Carol.

This thrilling Adventure meets Sci-Fi saga takes readers across the globe and beyond, from the jungles of Africa to the Islands of Greece, from the streets of London to the tombs of Egypt, from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, Jamaica, and Vienna, and finally to the deepest depths of space and Earth’s first global space effort, the Legacy mission.

And when humankind finally makes contact, they discover the Kabrini “message” isn’t exactly what they expected to hear…

BUY LINKS & CONTACT INFO.:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kabrini-Message-ebook/dp/B00B2CEN12
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/the-kabrini-message?keyword=the+kabrini+message&store=ebook

Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/kabrini.message?ref=hl

Blog:  http://kabrinimessage.blogspot.com/

Brand New Updated Video Trailer!:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMnnm_MnmV8

Twitter:  @KabriniMessage

Thank you so much for having me today, Angela and for allowing me to tell our story.

Make a Decision--Stay out of Jail

Most young people who are jailed wound up in trouble with the law because they failed to make a decision.

They just went along with the decisions others made—others who made decisions to rob filling stations or beat up on that person they thought dised them. Not sure if that statistic still applies, since it was quoted in the ‘70s, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

One of the things I did in my checkered educational career was tape textbooks for blind students at the local community college, and it came from a social work text that belonged to a young man who was planning to counsel prisoners.

That text and this week’s prompt, added to a comment Hubby made on the way home from Panera (my favorite place for breakfast) on Monday, made me think about decision-making. It’s one of the most fundamental acts we have to learn to do—and do well—before we enter the adult world, yet nowhere are we taught how to do it. Possibly for that reason, many of the people I know whose lives are less than satisfactory have made a series of perhaps not bad, but not really good, decisions. I remember reading a magazine article once when I was a teen that suggested making a list of the good things and another of the bad things about any particular action we were considering. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. For one thing, it didn’t take into consideration others who would be affected by the decision.

The particular book I taped used a decision-making paradigm that consisted of concentric circles. In the “bull’s-eye” was the decision maker, the person who would be most affected by the result.

In the next circle, the decision makers put the names of those who would experience secondary effects from their decision: wives, children, parents….  In the third circle went the names of those who would suffer tertiary effects: close friends, co-workers… .THEN they made their columns, a pro column and a con column for each person.

No longer can you come to a decision because it makes you feel good. Now you have to think about all those who might suffer—or benefit—from your actions, and in what ways they might suffer or benefit. You might even be inspired to talk to them about it.

I think this paradigm is a much better approach to decision-making than any other I’m acquainted with, even though that’s all I can remember about it. It’s relatively simple, but forces the decision-makers to realize their actions have a ripple effect on their world and what those effects might be—unlike the old two-column method. 

Do schools now teach decision-making? What kind of paradigm do they use?