Hi, I’m Kat
A novelist, short story writer, book coach and host of the podcast for indie authors, Pencils&Lipstick.
Sometimes, I try to see how many books I can pile on top of my head and walk without dropping them.
I’m up to 278… How many books can you walk with on top of your head?
Why I Write
Rewriting the Ending
A long time ago I was a little girl with asthma growing up on a farm in Wisconsin. On the days the hay was being harvested, I was kept inside, not allowed to go out for fear I might have an asthma attack.
Inside, I would read the books I could find. Over and over again. Then I would play act them out in my bedroom, rewriting the endings to suit my imagination.
The stories I write come to me in the quiet of the evening. Or from a look that passes between strangers on the bus. Perhaps even from hearing a song or reading the Bible.
Some say writers are creating worlds and characters out of thin air. I beg to differ. We are merely rewriting the ending to a story already told.
More about me…
My perspective is shaped by Saturday afternoons scrolling through an antique shop, conversations with my grandparents, travels to Europe, a curiosity for history and the present moment, for cultures and traditions unknown to me, and just enough rebellious-girl-from-the-80s to make my books unlike the rest.
It shows up in every book or story I write.
When I’m not writing or interviewing authors, you’ll find me chasing the next best latte, hiking some mountains or exploring a new culture.
I turn up everyday, ready to absorb the world around me and form it into novels or short stories. If look for the crack in someone’s smile, the look of fear or victory, then find the story that could have been behind it.
My first book, Stepping Across the Desert, awoke from reading about the Berbery pirates kidnapping Spaniards.
Next, Love came from a trip to the dentist.
You just never know where a story can come out of.
Before I called myself a writer…
I studied dance, then PR, and then linguistics. I tried to work jobs such as waiting tables, an assembly line in a shoe factory, learning to extract DNA from animals in a science lab and executive to a CEO.
But my mind always wandered into stories. And I always found myself counting down the hours until I could get home and write.
The only other thing that stuck was learning languages.
What do I read?
I’m drawn to every type of story. From romance to thriller. More than the genre, I’m drawn to character-first stories. The kind that draw you into their world and won’t let you go, leaving you breathless by the last page.
My shelves are full of book. Classics. Contemporary. Fantasy. Dystopian. Historical. Contemporary.
More than anything, I want a good story.