About Me

Since I am working on getting my first book published, I thought I'd write up an "about me" page.  Below is what I have so far.   Everybody is free to suggest something to add.   Also, eventually, I will have an author page on Facebook.  In the short description for the about me section, I need something to write there.   A friend suggested "Katie loves to write paranormal romance while surrounded by her Supernatural Funko-Pops and Tarot decks."  Which is all true.   I suggested "Katie loves to write paranormal romance while surrounded by her geeky toys and Tarot decks."   only because geeky toys includes a variety of stuff from light sabers, stuff animals, supernatural pop toys, supernatural spirit board, miniature crap and lots of other stuff. 

I'll go ahead and create an about me page but below is what I'll have on it for now.



About Me

My oldest dream was to see my name on a book cover.   I believe it started when I was in the fifth grade and the teacher taught us about poems.  Our assignment was to write several different poems (using the different styles) and create a drawing for each poem.  I enjoyed doing that so much that I wanted do more.  So my hope was that I would someday have a book published, containing poems that I’ve written. At the time, I didn’t think I could write a story by myself. I guess my brain wasn’t ready for it yet.  That didn’t come until the eighth grade where the English teacher asked me to join the creative writing club.  She also had a guest author in class one day. I wish I could remember his name but one piece of advice he gave was to write what you enjoy reading about.  If you like ghost stories, write a ghost story.  If you like romance, write about romance.  Write what you like because if you don’t, then writing will become a chore and you’ll come to hate it. 

For that reason, I write paranormal romance novels.  I love that genre so much because it includes such a wide variety of topics.  Nowhere else could the hero be a tormented shifter/vampire/ghost/fairy, etc and the heroine could do whatever the hell she wants.   So I strived to create stories people would like.  I’ve written countless books and up ‘til now, none of them have been published.   

Enough babbling.  Here are some facts about me.  I’m single, in my mid-forties and work full time as one of the helpdesks that involves software and helping sort out issues.   Also, I have rheumatoid arthritis which is a painful disease involving the joints that disables a lot of people.   I consider myself lucky that I can work and I can still type and do what I love.   

Editing sucks

I don't know how book editors do this for a living.   I'm reading through my book yet again and have still found errors.  One error was a previous one I had put a mark through but didn't correct.  Another error was I used the word 'it' instead of 'he'.  Makes a big difference in a sentence when you use the right word.   Other things have been small errors like a dropped period or one letter too many.

Granted, there aren't as many errors now and I know the chances are slim that I'll catch every single error.  Knowing this, I have to say that if I published my book today, I'd be okay with it.   There aren't that many errors and readers can actually read it without cringing or having to mentally correct a sentence.  It's readable. 

I don't know if I'll have my aunt go through it one more time or not.  It may not be needed but I fear she'll find something that needs correcting. silly, I know.  

Also, for any readers I have, what are your thoughts on grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and readability of books?

The Perfect Time

Instead of posting info on all my completed books, I'm going to skip ahead to the last completed one and I believe the best of the batch.     This book is different then the rest I've written and when I reread it, I fell in love with it all over again.   Right now, I'm editing it and working on corrections.  Can I just say that punctuation sucks?  Punctuation is not my friend.  It's a pain getting the book corrected.  However, I believe in having a book that readers will like and can read without cringing at errors. I've read too many books myself that not only have wrong words and misspellings, but just too many mistakes for the book to be enjoyable.

So yes, I'm working hard on getting this particular book corrected so that it looks right.    This book is called The Perfect Time and I know it'll be my first book to be published.  I just don't know when yet.  Below is the quick synopsis or blurb I wrote about it.    What do you think?  Would you read this book just based on this blurb?




The Perfect Time

When an infection hospitalizes Sarah, she begins speaking a strange language.   Sally, her best friend, records what she said and gets it translated with shocking results.   Once Sarah is released from the hospital, her friend tells her about the episodes of her speaking in tongues.   She learns she’s lived before in sixteenth century Scotland and was married to an abusive Laird.  Her 16th century version has secrets that may cause harm to her and the blacksmith known as Tanner.  Little did she know that the choice made in the sixteenth century would have repercussions today. 

Questions to ask...

I thought I'd come up with a list of questions to ask a published author in case I ever get the chance.    So I came here to start a new post and now I can't think of any questions.   sigh..

Let's see.  Um...

1. Do you have any suggestions for somebody who works full time and wants to be published? Good thing I don't have a contract with deadlines. 
2. Do you do any fact checking on your fiction books?  Or since it is fiction, do facts matter?
3. When writing a book, I've heard that you shouldn't edit it as you go.  Don't worry about punctuation and spelling errors so much and just write.  Do you believe that's true?   I can't help but make corrections as I go.  I really can't.  It'll bug me if I know there's a mistake and I left it alone.  And yes, I do read the book several times and make my own corrections.  Man, I suck and make a ton of typos.
4. How many books did you write and finish before you were published?  I have 8 so far.
5. How many books did you abandon because you thought they were utter crap?  I have many. :)
6. Book covers are important.  They say you can't judge a book by its cover and it's true to a point.  However, as a reader, I know I look at the book cover and tend to skip those that just have a title and nothing else.   Having said that, do you believe the cover should always have a hunk and a woman on it?  Or do you think scenery is alright?    It's not like you should have a picture of an airplane on the cover and have the book be historical fiction. The scenery has to tie into the book but I don't think it's required to have a woman with her bodice ripped and some drop dead gorgeous hunk leaning over her.   hmm.. drop dead gorgeous hunk. I may rethink that.
7. How did you find your group of beta readers?  Are they family or friends?

I may edit this list of questions but these are what I came up with after a brain fart.  Now, if any readers know any authors who would want to answer these questions, feel free to share this page with them.  

Fourth book Synopsis

Hello all.  After a break in posts here, I'm back with another synopsis.    This fourth book is a ghost romance story with a happy ending.     Now my previous books were vampire books so this one is different.  no vampires in this one.  I had fun writing it.   Below is my attempt at a synopsis.  What do you think?  Would you read this book?


My Eternal Love

After an exhausting two year battle with the courts, Evelyn is finally able to relax and enjoy life again. With a new home, she’s ready to start a new chapter of her life away from the prying eyes of reporters.   When objects start to appear on her pillow, she’s sure her friends are playing a practical joke on her. That is until she comes face to face with a ghost.  Forced to believe that ghosts do exist, she struggles with what to do next.  A reporter finds her though and threatens her safety. 

Can she overcome her skeptical nature to do what must be done?  When her life is threatened, who will save her?