Our special guest author today is Kathy Holmes, author of Real Women Wear Red and Myths of the Fatherless!Kathy writes women's fiction with attitude and is a believer in second chances and that every little girl needs to find her daddy which are the prevailing themes in both her books. Her first novel, Real Women Wear Red, is set on a Caribbean cruise which has a companion free ebook, Cyn's Fabulous Guide to Cruising. Her nonfiction book, Myths of the Fatherless, is about her journey to find and meet her father. You can find out more about her books by visiting her website at http://www.kathyholmes.net/.
AUTHOR TALKS: Welcome to Author Talks, Kathy Holmes! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
KATHY: Thank you, Dorothy. When I met my father for the first time in 2002, something happened inside of me and I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. It was important to me to use my maiden name as my pen name and that’s when I registered my domain name of kathyholmes.net. Then I wrote my story in a nonfiction book called, “Myths of the Fatherless.”
AUTHOR TALKS: How long would you say you have you been writing?
KATHY: I did the usual stuff as a kid. I remember telling stories to my younger half-sister. I also tried writing them down but I was the most interested in performing – singing and dancing. I remember writing musical plays that I would perform for the neighborhood kids. Eventually, I became a technical writer professionally, but once I met my father I felt a need to express myself more creatively.
AUTHOR TALKS: Has it been a bumpy ride to becoming a published author or has it been pretty well smooth sailing? Would you like to tell us how you became published for the first time?
KATHY: Every step of the way has been bumpy and I’m still not where I want to be. When I got an agent for “Real Women Wear Red,” my agent was sure she could sell it. I was ecstatic, but I also learned getting an agent doesn’t mean you’ll sell to the big publishers. By the time I got my agent, the chick lit crash came and suddenly agents were finding their submissions were not selling. I eventually did receive a couple of offers from e-publishers, but I didn’t like the terms so I self-published.
AUTHOR TALKS: Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?
KATHY: I’m no longer with my agent so I’d rather not say who she was. But she gave me a real gift. She believed in my writing and said I had a poetic and lyrical rhythm to it. That was a real eye-opener for me because I had just discovered the paternal grandmother I had never met was a poet.
AUTHOR TALKS: Can you please tell us about your book?
KATHY: While there are three main characters (Cyn, Sandy, and Millie) from three different generations each telling their point of view, my book really showcases the contemporary woman at any age. The cruise ship setting allows the three women to interact with one another and discover their unexpected connection revealing more than one secret, but underneath you realize that women are the same at any age and really want the same things. And that aligns with my mission to support women at any age to be the best they can be and that it’s not about the age, it’s about the attitude. And that’s why I call my fiction “fiction with attitude” because “attitude is just how you see things” as my paternal grandmother used to say.
AUTHOR TALKS: Do you plan subsequent books?
KATHY: I have a proposal for sequels to “Real Women Wear Red” because there’s really so much more to discover about these characters, especially Millie’s daughter Robin, who is only introduced and never met on the page. But I’m also working on several other books so I’m not sure when I’ll actually write the book. Perhaps if readers fall in love with the three women and demand it, I’ll make it top priority.
AUTHOR TALKS: Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
KATHY: I have most of my writing energy in the morning but the muse can strike at any time. Often, when I’m working on a plot, my subconscious will awaken me in the middle of the night to write a scene.
AUTHOR TALKS: Can you tell us where you can buy your books?
KATHY: You can buy my book through all of the usual online book stores, such as amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and books-a-million. You can also ask your local book store to order it for you. But the best buy is from my publisher since there is the least amount of distribution markup with them. I have links to all of these channels on my web site.
AUTHOR TALKS: Any final words of wisdom for those of us who would like to be published?
KATHY: As that same paternal grandmother used to say, “Never give up in spite of age or the naysayers.”
AUTHOR TALKS: Thank you for coming, KATHY! Good luck to you and happy sales!
KATHY: Thank you, Dorothy.
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