Meet Patty Kilson!

Meet Patty Kilson the great author of the children's book Song of the Raven about life and death in the Alaskan wilderness.

To start off, tell us a little bit about your background:

Heather: How long have you been writing?

Patty: I have been writing since I was a senior in High School and took a "Writing for Children" class. Since then I took an additional class at the college level and a few workshops.

Heather: What started you writing for publication?

Patty: I had written three children's stories (one as the result of my class in high school) and wanted to know if they were good enough for publication. I sent one of them out several times but received nothing but generic rejection letters. At the time I didn't understand about researching for the most likely publisher and I doubt my proposal letter was as strong as I could have made it.

Heather: Do you have a set time when you write, or just whenever you get the urge?

Patty: I must confess that I only write when I get the urge. I am not a very committed writer. I go in spurts and will write every day for weeks, then stop for months. I often find that my artwork takes over my creative side for long stretches of time.

Heather: Who is your favorite author?

Patty: That changes as I read new books. Right now I really like J K Rowling because I love the Harry Potter series.

Heather: Have you ever had writer's block, and if so how do you get rid of it?

Patty: Yes I've had writer's block. In the past I've just kept writing sentences, kind of like brainstorming, until something comes to me. I've also stepped back from the writing and instead worked on something else like chapter structures, plot, or research.

Heather: What do you recommend to aspiring authors?

Patty: Keep trying. And get the honest opinions of your family, friends, co-workers, etc. I've found that although my mom loves everything I do, my sisters will be more honest and give me constructive criticism. I also paid for an editor to look at the first chapter of the book I'm currently working on. She gave me lots of suggestions such as how to make my writing more concise and how to avoid repetitive wording.

Heather: How do you invent your characters?

Patty: I haven't written any fiction so have not yet created characters. So far I have one Children's book published and have a factual story about my life living aboard a sailboat when I was in my teens currently at my publishers, waiting for the go ahead.

Heather: Some authors say that they feel as though his or her characters are real, do you feel this way, and what do you think about this?

Patty: I can only answer this from a reader's viewpoint. The characters I've seen others create are very much real to me. I've even found myself wondering what happens to them after the book is over. I'd like to be able to create characters like that!

Heather: Do you have anything in the works?

Patty: Yes. I've written a book about my life onboard the sailboat 'Carina'. I lived on the boat for three years with my parents and sisters. It is at the publisher's right now.

Heather: What would you say is the neatest thing you know?

Patty: I know what it's like to be perfectly happy in life. I've been through difficult times, but overall I love life.

Heather: What was your favorite part about writing your book?

Patty: My favorite part about writing this book was reminiscing with my sisters and parents and researching the places we had visited. I gained such a historical prospective after my studies.

Heather: Has music ever inspired your writing?

Patty: No, I'm not really a music person. I do have favorite music, but it's not something I listen to while writing. Although I did listen to a little reggae to get me in the mood for portions of my book about living in the Caribbean.

Heather: Do you like to write in complete silence or does it have to be noisy?

Patty: I prefer silence. I need to concentrate on sentance structure, flow of the words, and proper grammar.

Heather: Keyboard or pen?

Patty: Mostly keyboard but I carry a notebook when I'm writing so that I can jot down sentences, phrases and words that just seem to fit what I'm looking for. Then I review it later when I actually sit down at the computer.

Heather: What do you think is the hardest part about being an author?

Patty: I dislike book signings. For me that is difficult. I have a hard time "selling" my story. If people are interested I'm more than happy to discuss it with them, but I don't like to be pushy and shove my book into their hands.

Heather: What do you usually do while writing?

Patty: Drink tea or soda. I might also have a snack like popcorn sitting to the side. I often sit back and ponder sentences and words to see how they fit into my story.

Heather: What were the circumstances surrounding your decisions to become an author?

Patty: I have always wanted to do something that puts my name in print, whether it be artwork or writing. I enjoy both. I wanted to do something that would outlive me. My grandkids can take my book to school and say, "My grandma wrote this book."

Heather: Some people say that you need to live life before you write a book, do you think that it's experience that writes a book or imagination?

Patty: I think it's a combination of both. I have always been advised to write about what you know. The more you travel and live life, the more you will have to write about.


I like the colors of: autumn.

The sky is most beautiful when it's: wispy.
My favorite feature of a computer is: spellcheck.
Thing I love most in the world is: nature.
My favorite thing that has been available since the year 1960: computers!

If you want to learn more about Patty, you can check out her blog here - http://pakartalaska.blogspot.com/

Character Wednesday3

This week, I had a last minute vote on which character I would be taking an indeph look at today. To be honest, I completely forgot about Character Wednesday! Good thing I remembered before it was too late. Anyways, the results just came in, and today I will be taking a look at Thomas Meyers; Celia's father! This is bound to be quite interesting since it will bring together a lot of the characters and it will let loose a lot of information not only about Thomas but about many other characters as well, especially Celia. So, grab a cup of coffee and some munchies, this is going to be a long story!

Thomas Ned Meyers grew up just like every other kid in Cabot, Arkansas in the 1960s, his father (Richard Meyers) insisted that he take up a paper route and deliver newspapers to "build character". So he did, but not without complaints. When he turned 12 his father won the lottery changing their life around forever. Thomas was promised 1/4th of that money after his father sees him as a responsible man. As a result of the lottery, the family, (Richard Meyers, Thomas Meyers, and Julia Wetherson-Meyers) moved to Silver Spring, Maryland.

After Thomas turned 20, he went to Harvard where he met Cynthia Howard. His was attempting to become a laywer at his father's request; however, he dropped out early, moved to Monroe, Utah, and started his own Bank and Loan company with Cynthia. By the time is was 23 he was engaged to Cynthia and lost total, and complete communication with either of his parents. December 27, 1982 Cynthia and Thomas married. A year later, Cynthia fell ill with cancer. She did not recover and three years later, she died.

By the time Thomas was 30 his bank and loan company was failing and he was forced to downgrade to a small studio apartment. Thomas met Sarah Lauric when he was 32 and she became a part of his loan company. After that the loan company began stedily becoming more successful. By the age of 35 Thomas and Sarah married with a child yet to come. They moved to a nice house on a nice secluded little street, still located in Monroe, Utah. On Thomas's birthday (April 21st), their child was born, Cecelia Meyers. Thomas called his parents after Celia was born and Tom learned that his parents could not come and see Celia, for his mom (Julia) was in the hospital, she suffered from a stroke. A year later his mother died.

When Thomas turned 38 his father flew from Maryland to Utah, to see Thomas, get caught up with their lives, and upon leaving, Richard gave Thomas his 1/4 of the lottery winnings. Which amounted to 1 billion dollars. They hired a nanny for Celia along with a chef and a gardener. Thomas became infactuated with the nanny (Millicent Potter) and within a year of hiring her, had an affair with her. Sarah never found out, Thomas fired Millicent and that was that, they continued to live their lives.

***

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it's a sad story. But, that's what happened! I swear. Scouts honor! LOL Just incase anyone was wondering, and if you guys weren't keeping up, Sarah Lauric IS Celia Meyer's mother. In the book. That acutally didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Well, the launch to my blog tour is almost here, just another week! I will be featured here: http://harrygillelandwrites.blogspot.com so be sure to drop by and leave a comment or two. Until next week...

~If you think you have everything look over the top of your computer monitor (or laptop screen)~