I’ve stretched my long arm out a bit to include Harrison as part of northwest Arkansas. K.D. McCrite answers my 11-Questions this morning. I particularly liked the answer to #10.
If you are a woman writer who resides in northwest Arkansas and you’d like to have your interview posted to my blog, let me know this week. Unless someone else steps forward, next week I’ll begin on the men writers of this region.
Author name: K.D. McCrite
Latest title:
Confessions of April Grace: In Front of God and Everybody (May 2011); The Deed in the Attic: an Annie’s Attic Mystery (June, 2011) Confessions of April Grace: Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks (December, 2011) The Unfinished Sonata: an Annie’s Attic Mystery (early 2012)
1. I’m always interested in the writer’s process. How often do you write? Do you have a daily word count goal? Give me an overview (or detailed if you really want to go there) of your writing life.
I write every day, but do not have a set word count. If I can meet my deadlines several weeks ahead of time, I save myself a lot of stress. I take a little time before I start writing to ponder what I’m about to do. Sometimes I walk or take a drive and try to visualize the scene. It’s good to think about all aspects of scene, how all five senses are engaged. Then I write.
2. Do you also work a full-time non-writer job or career?
Not any more, thank the good Lord, and my husband. I’ve been a librarian and I’ve been a mental health caseworker.
3. How supportive has your family been of your writing time? Have you ever had to fight for your right to write?
Growing up, I had met with a lot of resistance from my evangelical family. Not sure why they were so dead set against me pursuing a God-given talent, but they were. My
husband is very supportive of me.
4. How long does it take you to write (from start to finish) a novel?
It varies from book to book. If I did not have TV or Internet or pets, I’d finish my books a lot more quickly.
5. What route to publishing did you take (agent, traditional, self-pub), and how long did it take from finish to publication?
My first books, I found a publisher on my own. I now have an agent and I thank God for her every day. Time from finish to publication varies. For the “Confessions of April Grace” series, it seems to be about six months or so from the time the “final cut” is approved until I have a book in my hand. I believe it’s about the same, give or take a month or two for Annie’s Mysteries.
6. Is there a theme, or premise you’d really like readers to connect with in your latest book?
I try to have a little “lesson” in each book I write, but mostly, I just want to people to have a good time reading my stories. My current published books are mostly heavy on the humor, but I do have some darker tales out there that my agent is shopping around. I’d love to see those in print. They’re heavy and deep, definitely some underpinnings of angst and desire in them.
7. Where are you going now, are you working on a sequel, or something entirely different?
I’ll keep writing the April Grace series as long as anyone will buy them. I love those stories. I’d like to balance my lighter writing with something darker and more serious, but at this point, I’m going with the flow to see where it takes me. I do have an idea for another series that my agent encourages me to put together. I’ll probably do that in the next couple of months.
8. Where do you find inspiration for your stories and novels?
There is no situation where I don’t see the possibility for a story. My brain seethes with “What ifs” all the time. In fact, sometimes I wish I could turn off my
imagination.
9. With all the focus lately on authors providing a lot of their own self-promotion, what are you doing in this respect?
I do whatever I need to do. There are so many “indies” out there, trying to sell their books to the world, that unique promo is hard to create. It’s like paddling a canoe in a swimming pool full of swimmers. The best I can do is write a story that rises above the pack, and make sure others know it’s out there.
10. Who or what would you say has been the biggest influence on you as a writer?
Odd as it sounds, I believe the nay-sayers early in my career gave me impetus to prove them wrong. The “I’ll show you!” mindset. I knew I had the goods, and if I did not persist in writing, it would just prove they were right in saying I couldn’t do it.
11. Where can we find your book? Is it available in e-format as well?
The “Confessions of April Grace” books are available everywhere books are sold, and all the usual online places. You can get the Kindle version, too. Books for the “Annie’s Mysteries” series are written exclusively for the Annie’s Attic Mystery Book Club and are not available in stores. However, they can be found from time to time on ebay and such places. I believe Amazon may have used copies periodically. Of course, anyone is welcome to join the Book Club, and I try to keep a few on hand.
