What's New:

Middle Ground (Awaken #2) copy edits have been packed up and shipped off to Boston and I'm praying for their safe arrival. I don't have a confirmed release date scheduled for this book yet, but it's still looking at fall, 2012.

Now I have ample time to focus my holiday attention on: overeating, frantic shopping, NCAA basketball, NFL (mostly the Packers), and catching up on reading. Current book is The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, by Mark Hodder. I have given up my social life and sleep in order to keep reading it (as good books always force you to do).

Event coming up: I'll be at Klindt's Booksellers in The Dalles, Oregon from 1-3 pm on December 21st for a multiple author signing event. Be there or be lame.

Lastly, First Comes Love is coming out in LESS THAN FIVE MONTHS. It's still way too long away in my impatient head, but it's coming...

As promised, here are two more songs from the FCL playlist:

Number 7.


Number 6.


Number 5:



Number 4:



Number 3:



Number 2:



Number 1: My Lie, THE WHITE BUFFALO (Sadly, I couldn’t find a copy of this song to share. Just look for it. It’s brilliant).

Meet Gray and Dylan

It depresses me that I have to wait until May, 2012 to share First Comes Love with all of you. Just for fun, I'm going to interview Gray and Dylan over the next few months, to give you a sneak peak into these characters.

So, Gray and Dylan, I have one question for each of you to answer to help readers get to know you a little bit: If you could write a book, any book, what would the title be and why?


Dylan: I would write a book called, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Unabridged Version.”
Gray: I’m pretty sure that’s a classic children’s song.
Dylan: Yes, it’s a song—with gaping holes in the story. I would expand on it. There is so much potential there for an amazing epic adventure. Okay, your turn. Book title?
Gray: The Tao of Ms. Pacman.
Dylan: The video game?
Gray: Yeah, it would discuss ways the video game relates to life.
Dylan: What do the pellets symbolize?
Gray: All the experiences you devour, depending on which path you take. But just like the game, you have ghosts challenging you. They get in the way of your pellets. So, you can dwell on the ghosts, and miss the pellets, or you can focus too much on gobbling the pellets, but then the ghosts will eventually trap you.
Dylan: What do the bouncing fruit symbolize?
Gray: Opportunities.
Dylan: So, what about the pellet that makes you invincible? How does that apply to life?
Gray: I thought I just had to come up with a book title.
Dylan: I would argue that Donkey Kong has more life lessons implied in the game dynamics.
Gray: Dylan, I love you, but sometimes you put the n in annoying.
Dylan: There are two n’s in annoying.
Gray: Exactly.
Dylan: Well, you put the t in awesome.
Gray: What?
Dylan: Exactly.
Gray: (sighs).

MUSICAL COUNTDOWN CONT'D

So, last month I shared the first couple of songs that inspired FIRST COMES LOVE. Now I'm adding two more, as I'll continue to do each month until this book is released. I can't believe I have to wait six more months for this book to be in print!! Ahhhhh, it's painful. I CAN'T WAIT FOR ALL OF YOU TO KNOW GRAY AND DYLAN. Okay, on to the ear candy:





Number 1: My Lie, THE WHITE BUFFALO (Sadly, I couldn’t find a copy of this song to share. Just look for it. It’s brilliant).

Number 2: To Be Young, RYAN ADAMS




Number 3: Such A Pity, WEEZER




Number 4: Mysterious Ways, U2




Number 5: Joy Ride: THE KILLERS

The Morph

So...just a heads up, I will be morphing my "HOME" page on my website with this blog, since updating them separately is redundant and life is too short for repeats.

For any up-to-date information, keep coming here, to my blog, where I promise to post something remotely interesting at least once a month.

The home page of my website will list my books and any contests/giveaways, but otherwise will stay fairly uniform.

Cool? Cool. Thanks for understanding. And Happy Halloween. I am gearing up to watch Troll 2. I heard it's not even about trolls, so I'm intrigued.

Get Unplugged AND Tell Me About It

Attention fellow readers. Earthlings. Peeps. Fans.

As many of you know, the sequel to AWAKEN, MIDDLE GROUND, is coming out in 2012. To celebrate, I’m hosting a contest and my challenge is simple:
Get unplugged. And tell me about it.

When I say unplugged, I don’t mean you have to walk around your house with a candle as your only light source, and cook food over a fire pit in your backyard (however, it would be very impressive if you go to that extreme). I’m saying, try to turn off your electronics for a few days, especially your phone, your computer (Facebook, email, online social sites) and yes, even your television (video games included).

Step 2: Tell me about it. Write a couple of paragraphs (no more than 400 words, please), describing your experiences. Were you bored? Lonely? Did you feel isolated? Did you have physical withdrawals? Was it liberating? Scary? Did your friends start planning your funeral because you hadn’t posted your Facebook status in twelve hours? Also, how long did you go unplugged? What devices did you avoid using? I know many of you are in school and need to use computers, but then try to turn your phone off. Leave it in your room for a week.

Why do this to yourself? 1) Because it’s a challenge and I double dog dare you, 2) Because MY THREE FAVORITE ENTRIES WILL WIN AN ADVANCED READING COPY OF MIDDLE GROUND, which means bragging rights and a copy of the book months before it’s released.
Also, with permission, I’ll post my favorite essay on my website.

To submit your essay, just cut and paste it into the “Contact” box on my website. Be warned: this is an honor system, which means I trust that your essay is a truthful account of what you did. So, please be honest in your response, because lying is just lame.
This contest ends March 1st, 2012.

Good luck! I look forward to hearing from you.
~Katie

FIRST COMES LOVE

Since the cover of FIRST COMES LOVE has been unveiled and ARC’s are now circulating, I think it’s time to say a few words about this book.







FIRST COMES LOVE started as a creative writing exercise. I wanted to write a love story from the male perspective. What started as ten pages quickly turned into two hundred. I simply fell in love with my characters. I fell in love with their story.

FIRST COMES LOVE flips perspectives between Gray and Dylan, but really, this is Gray’s story. It’s his issues to work through. It’s his perspective on death, friendship, family, love, sex, and his struggle to move on and follow his own path. The chapters are set up as stages that I think are necessary in building a relationship: First Meet, First Try, First Challenge, First Listen…

This book is very setting driven. It could not have been written without Arizona, California and New Mexico (all the places you’ll be taken to). This book also could not have been written without the help of Bob Dylan, The Killers, Counting Crows, U2, and Ryan Adams (all referenced in the story, by Gray).

I need to point out, especially to my current readers, this book is very different from AWAKEN. My agent and editor both finished reading it and said, “We love this! But, where did it come from??” (They were expecting futuristic sci-fi). Well, just as I read many different types of stories and genres, I want to write all different kinds of stories. I want to write realistic fiction, sci-fi, fantasy…any random idea I get in my overly imaginative head.

The publication date for FIRST COMES LOVE is May 8th, 2012.

Performing Surgery

Yesterday I finished my first round of edits for MIDDLE GROUND, and promptly celebrated with a beer at Flat Tail Brewery. How would I describe this book? Intense. Will I give you a sneak peak into the story? Sure. Here are ten words in the book (in this draft, anyway):

Chickens
Sandboarding
Mewling (love that word)
Detox (is that technically a word?)
Anonymous
Scrubs
Cacophony
Ninja
Precarious
Equinox

Have I peaked your curiosity? Now you're going to agonize over how chickens will play a role in this book and let me tell you, they play a HUGE roll.

Can I just say that rewriting is beautiful and wonderful and challenging and painful all at the same time? It's like performing open heart surgery on my characters (and I'm not the most delicate surgeon). There is so much to cut, rework, reconnect, disconnect, clean, swab...and great material can come out of it (fingers crossed). Each word is like a blood vessel, the sentences are veins, the paragraphs are arteries, the chapters are organs. It's bloody intense.

I'm sure I'll have about ten more drafts to go before I'm completely satisfied, but the major surgery is out of the way. Hopefully it's just some nips and tucks after this.