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1. What inspired you to become a
romance writer?
When I began writing, I didn’t think
in terms of a particular genre. Rather, I wanted to share the stories that
circled in my brain and floated to the surface at odd times--when I was making
dinner, watching the birds at the feeders on my back deck, in the midst of watching
a television show, while listening to music, driving down to see my son and his
wife… Those stories included characters that had captured my imagination and I
wanted to learn more about them, too. So, I started writing. The words seemed
aimless at first, mostly just scenes that weren’t connected, but which seemed
to illustrate something about the character in question. Soon, almost as if
ordered by the characters themselves, I had a story with a beginning, middle
and end.
When I finished the first draft of
my first novel, DREAM CHASER, I realized I’d written a romance that was couched
in a contemporary woman’s struggle to find herself. That surprised me. I’d
never thought of myself as a romance writer, but there it was. In fact, I
should have guessed at the genre long before I finished it, for the wedding
scene of Suzannah’s son and the ending scene, too, were written long before I
finished the story. I laughed at myself and figured, “why not?” So I went with
the notion of creating stories about real people with real problems, who ended
up happily-ever-after.
2. Where do you draw your
characters from?
My characters are drawn from my
imagination, but each of them reflects people I’ve known or situations I’ve
experienced or observed. My friends probably wouldn’t be able to say with
certainty, “oh, that’s me!” because I don’t write that way. However, if my
readers have found themselves in similar situations, I would hope that they
recognize the reality of those situations and that they appreciate how the
characters deal with those experiences.
3. How much has your own life
experiences influenced your writing?
None of my stories are
autobiographical, but each of them include details that I could claim as my
own. Something as unimportant as the color of a particular car or the way a
character describes something, using word phrases I’m familiar with. In
GILLIAN’S DO-OVER, the main character has a white-water adventure that
paralleled my own except for one important detail. I loved going white-water rafting. Poor Gillian’s experience is less
positive, but enabled me to show her in a humorous situation. In CHOICES, my
personal experience with divorce was very different from Melanie’s, but her
concerns about making enough money as a struggling real estate agent mirrored
my own in the early years of my career. Places I’ve visited also figure in
several of my novels. For example, I worked on Mt. Rainier several summers
while I was in college. That made it easy for me to describe the visit Olivia
and Beau make to Paradise Inn in GRANDDAD’S HOUSE.
4. What do you think makes a
successful author?
Success is a coat woven in a variety
of colors. To me, a successful author is one who creates a world that the
readers recognize and might even want to inhabit. That world is real, with all
the foibles that real people encounter. Through their experiences and
adventures, I hope the reader gains insight into how to deal with real world
situations without being preached at. In DREAM CHASER Suzannah finally comes to
realize who she is when she finally realizes how much she has changed. In
CHOICES, Melanie’s children point the way for her when she has yet to decide
how she wants to live the rest of her life post-divorce. And, in HER DAUGHTER’S
FATHER, Gretchen uses her own childhood experiences, and how she overcame those
difficulties, to help both Laine and Nettie move past their early life problems.
5. Why should people read your
book?
When I was in college, I studied
family dynamics. In CHOICES, I opted to explore divorce from the perspective of
a mother as well as that of her children. On its face, the subject might seem
to be a downer kind of book, but it never struck me that way, even when her
teenagers were having difficulties that complicated Melanie’s life. And as the
words flowed, I realized that the primary message of CHOICES was hope--hope
that Melanie could make a life for
herself and her children, hope that her daughter and sons were there for her,
and that she would find love again--in part because little Jeffrey proposed to
Sam and thus precipitated a happily-ever-after conclusion that made me laugh
out loud while wiping away tears. I hope the readers of CHOICES feel the same.
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BLURB for CHOICES:
Melanie
Holmes has her hands full when 15-year-old Keith and 13-year-old Anne, react
badly to Melanie’s impending divorce from their father. Only four-year-old
Jeffrey is his usual sunny self.
Further
complicating her life is her attraction to Sam Hudson, the detective called to
her home when Ken runs off, and Anne is abducted from a strip club.
Sam
is forced to confront his own demons as he contemplates becoming deeply
involved with Melanie’s family after she is seriously injured in the same car accident
that kills her ex-husband. After she returns home, Melanie’s kids tell
her they want to marry Sam, even though he hasn’t uttered the
“M” word.
How
will Sam react when her kids do the proposing for him? Can the long-time
bachelor commit himself to her and her children?
More about Kate Vale:
Kate
Vale lives in the beautiful fourth corner of northwestern Washington state. She
enjoys the slower pace of a small city located between Vancouver BC, and
Seattle WA. Her stories reflect the many different careers she has experienced
and the crises that confront real men and women. Helping her characters get to
a happily-ever-after is a continuing goal.
Awards
received:
2014 Great Beginnings* 1st prize
for DREAM CHASER (the first novel I published) – in cozy mysteries for Romantic
Fiction
2014 Great Beginnings* 1st prize
for HER DAUGHTER’S FATHER (this comes out on Feb 10, 2014!) – in Romantic
Suspense category
Previously, PACKAGE DEAL
won 1st prize in Romantic Suspense Category for books published
in 2012
In addition to the 2013 1st prize
for Contemporary Romance for CHOICES
*All four of these awards
were given by Chanticleer Books and Media. The Great Beginnings contest was for
the first up to 1500 words only. According to the people running the contest,
their intent was to identify titles whose beginnings “captured” the reader,
urging them to want to read more. The other two contests required
submission of the entire novel.
ONLINE LINKS:
BUY NOW LINK:
Createspace.com: https://tsw.createspace.com/title/4315727
Smashwords.com: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/378666
Giveaway: 2 books,
USA only
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