From now until the end of the month, enter the March Mayhem contest
sponsored by Joanne Renaud, Kat Laurange, Donna Thorland, Lynne Connelly
and Kat Parrish. Details and entry form here.
Introducing Kat Laurange, author of Somebody Brave, published this week.
I am in awe of what
you get accomplished. I’m connected to you on Good Reads and every time I log
on, you have read two or three more books and reviewed them. With a freelance
career and a young son, and other commitments—how do you do it? Do you ever sleep?
(I am totally onboard with your petition to have the day extended to 72 hours).
Wow, thanks! I've gotten pretty good at wedging things like
reading into the interstices of daily life and responsibility--you can get a
surprising amount of reading done in little five minute bites.
Do you listen to
music as you work and if so, what was in your playlist for this book?
I try to find music that suits the mood of whatever I'm
working on. A lot of writers use movie soundtracks, but I can't do that--that
music already belongs to a different story, you know? My playlists usually end
up a weird mix of Japanese rock (I love Gackt), bluegrass, and indie music.
AP or Chicago Manual
of Style?
AP ALL THE WAY. And yes, I deplore the Oxford comma
(but I'll still use it if it's truly, absolutely and entirely necessary)!
If you could live
during any era in any place, where would it be, and what is it about that
time/place that attracts you?
I'd like to be a pioneer: so I guess either
back in the 1800s when the American frontier was being explored, or else
sometime in the future when we start colonizing other planets. The adventure
and the hard work really appeal to me, as well as the idea of both being far
away from the parent civilization and starting something new. Interplanetary
colonies probably don't need artists, though, so I'll probably have to learn a
new skill before they let me go to Mars. :D
Which came first,
the pictures or the words? Or did you always write and illustrate your own
stories?
Pretty much for as long as I can remember!
When I was about 7, my parents gave me a laptop (this was in the mid-80's, so
you can imagine this little kid pecking out stories on a huge brick of a
machine), and I wrote stories about my stuffed animals and their adventures,
and drew pictures to go along. When I get stuck for an idea in my writing, I
can usually turn to my sketchbook and knock some things loose from my
backbrain--often, things I hadn't even considered in the forefront of my mind!
So the drawing informs the writing and vice versa.
