Happy 2021

 If there was one thing 2020 was good for--and there wasn't much it WAS good for--the decline in my freelance jobs left me more time for my own writing. I really branched out this year, writing in my own name and under my usual pen name Kat Parrish. But as the year unfolded and I joined a writer's group interested in boxed sets, I started branching out into subgenres--paranormal cozy, paranormal women's fiction, horror hybrids, science fiction romance. And I started creating new pseudonyms for these different stories. I'm not sure that's a great idea--it's a lot of work to "build a brand" and also it can be hard when one pseudonym gets accolades and the others don't. (Kat Parrish is an internationally bestselling author, thanks to one boxed set and an Amazon bestselling author thanks to another.) 

I'm still not convinced that readers care about these accolades, but when you work at home and kind of ain a vaccuum, the affirmation they give can be balm to the soul. (So far, I haven't seen any increase in sales thanks to being entitled to use the phrase on my covers, but it's fun knowing I am entitled to them.)

I made a lot of plans last year and they were nearly all upended. This year, I'm thinking in broader terms and not making resolutions at all. But that doesn't mean I'm not making plans. I'll be launching a couple of cozy series this year (look for my work as Katherine Moore) and really mazing out on the holiday

stories. (Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving.) I'm going to write more suspense (which is my first love) under my real name. And as for the urban fantasy I love--there will be historical shifters, more about my conflicted werewolf Rezso, a couple of gargoyles, a few fae, and many, many vampires. Because really, can you ever have too many vampires?

So, basically, I want this new year to be more productive than last. We're going to be stuck with the plague for a while longer, so I fully intend to go my part by staying at home, wearing a mask, and writing. 

Guest Post from Mark Rogers, author of Koreatown Blues

TITLE: Three Steps to KOREATOWN BLUES

By Mark Rogers

“As usual, I was the only white guy in the place.”

I had the first line of my crime novel KOREATOWN BLUES. From there the writing flowed; a series of 1,000 word days and a first draft in two months. But it took several steps to get to that first line.

#1

First, there was a solo stint in a one-room sublet in LA’s Koreatown that went on much longer than originally planned. The room had one window that looked out on a brick wall close enough to touch. I could stand it for a couple of nights at a time and then I’d have to escape. I took to going to a Koreatown nightclub a few blocks away. As far as I could tell the club had no name, just a plastic sign out front that said “Wine Beer.”

Inside, the Korean regulars welcomed me and yes, I was the only white guy, which was usually the case the months I frequented the club. They handed me a microphone within minutes of my sitting down at the bar and like that I was singing a karaoke version of “Yesterday.” Much like my protagonist Wes in Koreatown Blues, I began dropping in most nights for a couple of Hite beers and to sing a few songs.

My nights drinking beer and singing karaoke led to a one-sided romance with a Korean barmaid (I held up my side) and lots of glimpses into Korean culture. This served me well when I was writing KOREATOWN BLUES, while research filled in the missing bits.

Some wild things never made it into the novel, like the guy who insisted on playing the drums on my head with his chopsticks, until I raised my fist and called him outside; or the Korean who sang an impassioned version of the love theme from Titanic, “I Will Go On” and then at song’s end pulled out an envelope from inside his shirt: X-rays showing his inoperable lung cancer.

Returning to my roots

My genre is mystery.
It's what I read for pleasure.
It's what I always wanted to write.
When I first started writing fiction, it was crime fiction that I wrote. Sometime the crimes were mixed with fantasy; sometimes with science fiction; sometimes even with romance. But they were always mysteries.
I wrote a long novella as my first mystery and I could not get arrested for it. Then I wrote a shorter novella in the fantasy romance vein and I suddenly started selling books. I wrote a sequel to the fantasy romance and that sold too, as did a couple of novelettes I wrote.
It's nice selling books.
And I very much enjoyed writing them.
But I'm going back to my roots for NANOWRIMO. This November I'm going to write a psychological mystery, my version of the female centric thrillers that are suddenly hot. I have a pretty good idea I think; at least and idea that excites me enough to put my heart into writing every day for a month.
And to celebrate, I bought a cover from The Book Cover Designer, my favorite "go-to" for premade covers.
The designer was Valdas Miskinis  of Book Cover Arts and at no extra charge I was provide three font variations, which was a nice surprise.
Wish me luck with this one.
Because I've missed writing crime.