It's that time again and this week I welcome fellow Indie, Kathryn Brown. If you haven't read her books, why not? What are you waiting for? Check out her Amazon page here.
We settled with our decaff teas and huge chunks of fruitcake - more of that later - and here's what she revealed.
So, Kathryn, as a farmer's
wife and busy mum, how do you manage your writing time? I'm in awe of you!
I can only write during
the day and during the week when my daughter, Amy, is at school. She leaves early
in the morning and doesn’t get home until 4.30pm so I generally get a full day if
I need it. However, at certain times of the year, the farming calendar can be quite
overwhelming which means I have to don wellies and abandon pen. Well, computer and
notebook ... During lambing, however, I do take the note book and sometimes a Dictaphone
into the night shed. It’s so peaceful in there at night and is the perfect location
to think.
Dream time.
What's your ultimate goal as a writer?
I have a few ambitions
where my writing is concerned but one in particular, and the one that would make
me a very happy bunny, is to have one of my books made into a television production.
I thought Discovery at Rosehill, my debut novel, would have made a great drama series,
being about ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Maybe one day I’ll think
seriously about writing for television but I suspect it isn’t an easy market to
crack.
Tell us about
your ideal writing day. It can be as wild and far-fetched as you like!
To have the house
to myself, peace and quiet, no one knocking on the door, no visitors, no phones
ringing, lots of chocolate biscuits, several bottles of water, and a brain full
of ideas. I’m one of those people who needs absolute silence in order to function
to 100% capacity. I work from home, as a writer and a farmer, and unfortunately,
we have a number of friends who haven’t yet grasped that when one is ‘at work’,
it usually means one cannot be disturbed. I get many phone calls from my mum for
example, and end up asking her (politely) to either ring in the evening or let me
ring her back. She’s usually telling me about Auntie Margaret’s out-of-date Muller
Lights which can be quite inconvenient when I’m in the middle of a big sex scene.
Then the next time mum rings, which is usually around 12pm as she assumes I break
for lunch then, she makes a point of apologising for disturbing me. I do love my
mum, she’s such a fruitcake.
I know exactly what you mean about people assuming that because you're at home, you're not working! I could rant about that all day! So, as a fellow
ranter, tell us one thing that drives you round the bend about writing.
Apart from the rant
I’ve just had above regarding unwelcome visitors and phone calls when I’m trying
to work, I think that would have to be the marketing side of being an Indie author.
Bloody hard work doesn’t cut the mustard. Marketing and promotion doesn’t come easy
for me because I’m not one to blow my own trumpet, and let’s face it, when we’re
trying to get our ‘product’ out there, blowing one’s own trumpet is pretty damn
important. I do try though, and most likely bore my Twitter followers and Facebook
friends to within an inch of their lives. And then there are those followers and
friends you’ve known for years on social media, the lovely ones you’ve chatted to,
had a laugh with, awed at each other’s cats with, and then bang, they unfollow and
unfriend because they’re sick of your self-promotion. Yet these people don’t have
a book to promote, they are not an indie author who relies on this new age of technology
to make a 25p royalty, nor do they understand that you’ve worked damned hard on
the publication you’re trying to get out there and of which you’d like just a little
support to help reach an audience. So I guess disloyalty drives me round the bend
about writing. And lots of other things of course, but we’ll save that for another
day.
I couldn't agree more - marketing and promoting is SO boring and takes us away from doing what we love. Moving on to reviews, how do you deal with a bad one? Are you a sulker or a shrugger?
Good question! I used
to be a sulker in the early days. I guess you could say I was lucky with my debut
novel as it received only four and five star reviews (there I go, blowing my own
trumpet), but the second, Nightingale Woods, after five days of free downloads where
every man and his dog jumps on the ‘free’ bit, the one and two star reviews came
rolling in, and it was a bit of a shock to the system. Not saying I’m the next JK
Rowling of course, but none of us like those one and two stars, do we? Some of the
low rated reviews are usually just an excuse to slag the author off, and it always
amazes me when a reviewer says, “I wouldn’t normally post a review but ...” then
they rant on about how they absolutely hated your book and it was utter bum-fluff.
Maybe they should stick to watching Jeremy Kyle and leave reviewing to normal people.
So now, I’m a shrugger.
Oh yes, I like to shrug. As authors, we need to remember we can’t please everyone.
Bedknobs and Bachelors contains a fair bit of strong language and some rather risqué
sex scenes, nothing explicit, just humorous. If someone who doesn’t like language
in a book gets hold of this one, then I doubt they’ll enjoy it much. Then again,
they’d be hard pushed these days to find a book that doesn’t contain language. And
as my fruitcake mother once pointed out, “Sex sells, Kathryn, sex sells.” At aged
70, I was quite impressed.
LOL! My 86 year old mum asked me why I couldn't have written '50 Shades' - you've got to love them!
QUICK FIRE ROUND
Planner or Winger?
Both
Night or Morning
?
Both
Doer or procrastinator?
Both (comes with being
a farmer!)
Writing/first
draft or editing?
Definitely writing
first draft. Can’t stand editing!
Tea or coffee?
So long as it’s decaffeinated,
either.
Hands together please for Indie author Geoffrey West as we chat about what makes him tick as a writer. 
