is: April 4,
2012 (Finally got this done! I really
need a personal assistant!!)
When I was in the
Military (1985) a friend of mine had a book that look very intriguing. She said it’s a Romance, I said never read
one! LOL! She lent it to me and I was HOOKED!! It was Savage Autumn by Constance O’Banyon. She is an amazing author!
I began reading a lot
of Romance novels and thought I can do this – yeah ok. I tried to write a Historical Romance, but it
wasn’t working the characters weren’t heading anywhere except to bed every few
pages! That is not a good book at least
not for some. My husband said I will
have to research even if it takes 20 years.
Oh hell no!
So I decided to write
something easier; a contemporary story of what sells bests and they are…? Violence, Sex and drugs and that equals a cop
and a prostitute (And other than her work my characters didn’t spend all their time
in bed! So, thus I started my writing
life and first Novel Right or Wrong. Sadly I started this back in 1986 and for me
there was no personal computer. Got to
love the ‘The pen and note pad(s)’ and then a typewriter – not!
Having never written a
book before I took out my note pad and started to make keynotes of what I
wanted to happen to my characters. So I
made a long list and then the hard work was how to write the first sentence and
believe me it is very hard!
So, how do you start a
book? You open with an intense moment,
screaming, running for your life or a bang! Something to snag the reader and
keep them reading. To me the first few
pages are very important. I still have a
book that I can’t get past the first page, but some day I will! (Cross
fingers).
It was amazing how easy
it was then to create a story. Sometimes
my poor hand couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with what my mind was
spewing out! After spending three years on and off with my first Novel I began
writing my next Novel and have not stopped to do much else.
While in Alabama I
believe I came up with Lure of the
Legend (Originally I called it Mystery Lake - this just wasn't clicking so I changed it). I think the idea came to me after watching
The Jim Henson Hour with a huge White Lion. Something just clicked and
ta-da! Since I really was nowhere near being ready for publishing I just
continued writing.
Next place we had to
move to was Iowa. (Military life-don’t ever get too comfortable where you
are!). Here, I went crazy coming up with
Ideas. One day watching the news they
were talking about someone being Homeless and ta-da! A new idea (So I grabbed pen and paper and
started listed key points to write about.
This book is titled Homeless Love.
One day my husband told
me about a rumor going around, because things get so distorted when told over
and over, but I’m sure it hadn’t lost much of the truth. Basically a young Soldier went off to fight
for his Country and put his life in harm’s way all day every day! Long story short she (Skank loser) found a
new boyfriend and sent a tape of them to her boyfriend/husband. I am sure this sad truth has happened to so
many. I think it is best for the Soldier
to realize he can find better! Thus I
wrote On the Homefront.
I think after my
husband had a car accident (which could have been worse than him just rolling
over and only sustaining bumps and bruises.) I could have been a mother of two
little ones and lost. I came up with my
next Novel – Love thy Neighbor.
My next two Novels, Makeover Magic and By Accident, I have no idea where these two crawled out of! I guess they might be those embarrassing ones
I probably should just keep hidden, but hey we all end up failing one time or
another right!
My next Novel, Domestically Speaking. This one was more of a spark of an idea
from a book I read. Since my first
Romance Novel I was reading them heavily in Iowa. I have almost all of Dorothy Garlock and Jude Deveraux’s
books. If you have not read Sweet Liar
(1992) by Jude Deveraux OMG! I got a
sample book with about four book excerpts and I read Sweet Liar and was
immediately ordering it! And by no means,
and I know people will probably accuse me, but NO I did not complete Plagiarism! I did not copy her book (I am nowhere near
her level), which was extremely intense with its plot of joining the past with
the present. When you read Sweet Liar
then Domestically Speaking you will see that I am not a liar! Jude Deveraux’s books made me laugh. She is truly a great Author.
I did finally attempt
to write a Romance Novel and it turned out so much better! Again, this was another sparked idea this
time from a Movie. I bought the movie
Secret Garden the one starring Kate Maberly, Heydon
Prowse, Andrew Knott, Maggie Smith (Now she is top
notch!). John Lynch (And he
is Yummy ;)). Again
after watching this movie with my son and daughter an idea grew into Phantom’s Desire (Originally Chamber
Maiden, but not hot/sexy enough).
My next Novel Personal Justice came from a news
report on the Radio. I remember being in
my kitchen and the man on the radio say that a purse snatcher was knocked to
the ground and I’m sure there was some rough housing and the ‘Good Samaritan’
beat up the ‘real’ criminal and later the ‘real’ criminal pressed charges
against the ‘Good Samaritan’ for assault and battery! Imagine that! A criminal then cries boo hoo
and well, I never heard anymore about the story, but I’m nearly sure the ‘Good Samaritan’
probably was marked as the criminal.
So now, my quest to be a published Author was
seriously on. I had heard on CNN I
believe about a self publisher and how successful he has been. On and
first and foremost, not long after getting to Iowa we were able to buy a
COMPUTER!!! Now to type all those
written words, chicken scratch at times into a doc.
The self publisher, Dan
Poynter, I had bought his book Dan
Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual. This is a must in my opinion. I had also read Writer’s magazines, The Writer’s
Market, how to get an agent, etc. And I
had never been more discouraged then after reading most of these. A lot of the ‘rules’ of contact were
snide. “If we didn’t ask for your
manuscript don’t bother sending it.” No
unsolicited material. Not many of us
know anyone to help us get our foot in the door. So instead of wasting money on unread returns
and reject letters I focused on self-publishing end of the spectrum.
In Texas, yeah moved again! I heard about self published Walter Swann,
and he was a true inspiration for me.
Dan Poynter helped, but he was on the business end of it all, helping
others. Walter Swann was the real deal
the man who put his heart and soul into his work only to be refused. So he mortgaged his home, bought a truck load
of books and the bookstores said we take I think it was about 40% of the
sales. He said no, and went home to his
wife sad.
They soon devised a plan to open “The One Book
Bookstore!” and it worked! He sold tons
of books, Autographed them and told stories to whoever came to listen. I am sad that I was never able to meet him,
but I did get to talk to him on the phone.
The complaint many would have is that the
grammar was bad the right side of the page was not justified and so on and so
on. In my opinion if you read a book
only because it is published through normal route because you believe it is perfect
in every way then you are missing out on so much! I know a guy who actually edits books that
were published and are on The New York Times bestseller list!
You have to think of a book as the Voice
of the writer. What they feel in their
heart and soul. It is a part of
them. Some can spend years writing a
book and it will never end up in the hands of a reader, because Publishers say
it just isn’t what they are looking for.
There have been many times that I just wanted to burn all of my books
and just be normal, but I wouldn’t let myself fail. It has been a long and trying 25 years since
I started writing my first Novel Right or Wrong.
A book is like a child. You give birth to it, you nourish it until you
can send it out into the world and let it do its thing. We always hope for the best, but sometimes….
Okay, so for the past 20 years I have spent most
of my time devoted to Personal Justice. Problem is is that I couldn’t stop writing and
it grew to Mammoth size. I had a friend
read through it for me and her critiques were pointed and that is what I needed. I had written over 1000 pages. No one will read that big of a book, so by
her suggestion I broke it down into a Trilogy.
She made points that some things didn’t sound believable and I need to
make some changes.
I him-hawed for about 2 years then decided to
just write a prequel in which to explain a lot of things and I think it truly
nails it! My original couple was to have
been Krystal and Zachary, but in book 1, Tony and Nikita stole the whole
book! Their relationship is so tumultuous
and I get a treat every time I do a reread of my books. Think of them as Luke
and Laura (If you are a Soapie). Romeo
and Juliet without all the poisoning and dying (Had to pause went and bought
the Movie from 1968. Silly me!) Bella
and Edward (For the Twilighters).
In January 2012 I learned about http://www.freado.com/
a place for Self Published Authors. I
made my own Video for my book, because I can’t see paying hundreds of dollars
for something so few actually watch. I had very little money and my idea was buy the needed images, create my videos from each book and I did and I love them. They tell the stories perfectly! View
all my book trailers for the 8 ebook Personal Justice series @ http://www.youtube.com/user/SpyderBooks/videos?flow=grid&view=0. You can also
read an excerpt from Personal Justice series books @ http://www.freado.com/users/books/31192/kathleen-brown-spyder. My website is where you can purchase a clothing line that goes with the series! www.Spyder8fly.com.
I also found out about the hugely successful
Amanda Hocking (Bought My Blood Approves – not read yet and Got Hollowland –
Good Book can’t wait to get Book 2- Still poor at the moment.) And also the successful Joe Konrath.
I am done reading book 2 and am now working on
book 3. I hope to be done reading book 4
by May. Then I will have them edited. Bad news I have been unemployed for four years
this June 17th the day after my B-day!
Whoo hoo! So I am working with an
Editor to hash out a deal!
Well, hope I have not bored ya with my long
story, but if it helps get to know me better than that is a good thing!