Q&A with author Kyra Davis

This summer, the fourth installment of the Sophie Katz series arrived after much anticipation. For today’s Q&A we have the series author, Kyra Davis, here with us to share details about Sophie’s adventures, Kyra’s path to publication, and what’s next for this killer – and comedic – writer.

Hi Kyra. Can you tell us about Lust, Loathing, and A Little Lip Gloss?
Sophie has finally decided that she is ready to make a lifetime commitment to the one she loves…a three bedroom Victorian with a yard. She wants the house so badly she’s willing to deal with her obnoxious ex-husband who is the realtor representing it and she’ll meet all of the seller’s crazy conditions. She’s not dissuaded by the house’s possible dark history or even the accounts by some that it’s haunted. It’s not until people associated with the house start dying that she becomes concerned particularly when she begins to suspect that she might be one of the targets.

What sort of trouble does Sophie come across this time?
Oh, she’s finding more dead bodies and someone seems to want to kill her again. Just another day in the life.

Has it been difficult to sustain the character of Sophie through all her stories?
It’s not hard to sustain the character. Any well-developed character is going to evolve over time. We all have layers and as an author I enjoy exploring different aspects of Sophie’s personality, history and emotional development. The challenge is coming up with new and different ways for her to stumble into a murder investigation.

You have Vendettas And A Little Black Dress up next. What can you tell us about it?
A very important character from the series is going to be shot. Note that I didn’t say they would die (although I didn’t say they wouldn’t either). The point is that lives are going to be turned upside down and Sophie and those around her will be forced to reexamine everything. Anatoly and Sophie’s relationship will also have some twists and turns and the two of them will need to make some pretty big decisions.

You’re very prolific. How do you explain your staying power?
I’m honestly not sure I have a good answer for that. I’ve seen so many amazingly talented authors lose their contracts and their challenges make me appreciate both my good fortune as well as the precariousness of my position. I CAN say that a lot of people relate to Sophie. She’s become a friend to readers all over the world and I think it’s harder to give up on a long term friend (by not passing her up in the bookstore) than resist the temptation to acquaint yourself with a new one (by buying a book with previously unknown characters). In other words it helps that I have an on going series instead of a bunch of unrelated titles.

Tell us a bit about your journey as an author.
I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer until I started writing the first Sophie book (Sex, Murder And A Double Latte). I was just messing around at the time I started penning that story. It didn’t occur to me that I might want to publish it until I was about fifty pages into it. Now it’s more than an idea… more than a dream. It’s a career. I am so blessed to be able to make a living doing something that I love. For me that’s the definition of success.

What advice do you have for writers starting out?
Embrace constructive criticism. It’s hard to hear anything that isn’t 100% positive about a work you have poured your heart and soul into but you have to remember this is a craft. Nothing you ever write will be perfect and if you’re not able to listen when others try to help you improve on your project you're not ready to be published.

How would you say the industry has changed since your debut?
It’s totally and completely different. For one thing half the editors have been laid off as the publishing houses have rushed to downsize in order to survive the recession. Big book tours are becoming increasingly rare even for the most popular authors and bookstores are struggling and are watching their inventories like a hawk. Advances for new authors are down and everybody’s trying to figure out how Kindle is going to play into the equation. Oh, and Chick-Lit has become a dirty word. I realize that none of that sounds good but I have faith that things will work out for the publishing world at the end of the day and so far Sophie still seems to be going strong despite the economic climate and shifting publishing trends so I don’t have a lot to complain about.

How has this impacted your role as a working writer?
As I said, it hasn’t impacted me too much yet. Except for the “Chick Lit” thing. A lot of professional reviewers won’t give my books a second glance because they know that I was part of that whole Chick Lit Mysteries revolution that was “so 2005.” On the other hand I’m one of the few authors who were part of that revolution who has also managed to stay around and remain successful. I actually take pride in that. The funny thing is that because “Chick Lit” is “out” I can explore my characters in more emotional depth with the full approval of my publishing house. It’s okay to be a little “darker” now because they think it helps distance me from the Chick Lit thing. So oddly enough the decline of the very genre I used to champion has allowed me to grow as an author.

How has social media and technology changed the way you connect with readers?
It’s changed it completely. I feel like I know my readers now. I interact with some of them several times a week. I know which of my characters are their favorites and what kind of adventures they hope to see Sophie take part in. It’s really awesome because if you think about it my readers are my employer. They quite literally pay my salary and keep my career afloat. So thanks to Facebook, Twitter and Myspace I can find out what’s going on inside my bosses’ heads. It’s great!

We’ve talked about your upcoming releases. What else can readers expect from you in the near future?
I would really love to write a YA fantasy novel. Hopefully that will happen within the next two years.

How can readers learn more about you and your books?
They can always check out my website: http://www.kyradavis.com/

Thanks, Kyra. I appreciate you taking the time to talk about your latest news and upcoming releases.

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You can order Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss from Barnes & Noble here, where you’ll also see links to Kyra’s other books, including the entire Sophie Katz series.

I hope you enjoyed today’s Q&A with Kyra Davis. There are plenty more author interviews on the schedule, so make sure you bookmark the site or follow this blog – and also be entered into the contest for a signed copy of one of my books!

Also, as previously mentioned, the month of August is an especially busy one for me so I have recruited additional authors to make guest appearances, share news in extra Q&As, and offer tips for emerging writers.

With such a jam-packed blog schedule, this month will go by fast but I hope you are able to enjoy the guest appearances and make each author feel at home. Here’s a tip – authors love comments from readers and are generally very happy to answer questions. So, don’t be shy! Leave your comments and questions, as each author is no doubt going to pop over to see what discussions are going on here.

Thanks for stopping in. Until next time… happy reading!

Q&A with Allison Winn Scotch

If you haven’t yet read Time of My Life from Allison Winn Scotch, now’s your opportunity. Today marks the release of the paperback edition and, thus, we have a special author Q&A outside of our regularly scheduled programming. Allison has a great story about her start as a writer and she’s super fun to chat with, so please join me in welcoming today’s featured author…

Hi Allison. Can you tell us about Time of My Life?
Sure. Time of My Life is the story of Jillian Westfield, a contented but not truly fulfilled, stay-at-home mom who has lingering “what ifs” about her past and her happiness. She wakes up one day seven years in her past and has the opportunity, should she so choose it, to rewrite her future.

Okay, but what’s it really about?
I think it’s really about our capability to make our own happiness and our sometimes inability to accept that like it or not, this is the life we have chosen for ourselves. And if you DON’T like it, what can you do to get back on the path that you once envisioned. To me, this isn’t a book about a woman who wonders about an ex-boyfriend and what might have been (though, certainly, there’s that element), rather it’s a book about how small choices in life can accumulate such that sometimes you wake up and say, “How did I get here? Where did my life go off the rails?” And once you ask yourself that, how you find the strength, courage and insight to regain control of the life you once hoped for.

What are some of the “what-ifs” you have encountered in your own life?
Oh gosh, well, I’m mean, of course I’ve entertained those “what ifs” about past loves, like I think nearly every woman has. But I’m the first to say that I think that’s an entirely normal, human emotion...that sometimes, when things get difficult or murky, it’s a lot easier to want to jump off the train and pretend that another path would have been easier. (I should also say that I’m happily married!) I’ve also had the “what if,” of if I hadn’t been in the right place, right time of meeting my husband (we met at the gym! What if one of us hadn’t joined or I hadn’t introduced myself to him!), and what if I hadn’t left Los Angeles, where I was at one point, to move back to NYC, where my whole life changed, including me opting to pursue writing and meeting my husband. I don’t know, I suppose the “what ifs” could be endless, but that said, I have a wonderful and happy and content life, and I really do fall into the mindset that nearly everything works itself out in life as it should.

Tell us a bit about your journey as an author.
Well, as I alluded to above, I wasn’t always determined to be a writer. I was always good at it, and people always told me I should pursue it, but to be honest, when I graduated from college, it simply didn’t seem viable. I mean, how does someone make money as a writer? It seemed ludicrous. I tried on a few different career hats, and one – doing an internet start-up – led to a bunch of freelance writing gigs (I was doing the web copy for the site, as well as the press releases, which led to being hired by a bunch of the site’s partners). From there, I was retained by a leading PR company to ghost-write for celebrities, and from there, on a total fluke, I was hired to ghost-write a wedding book for The Knot. With that under my belt, I landed some national magazine articles, and one thing led to another. (Though I don’t mean to make this sound easy. It was feast or famine for a while, and I worked MY BUTT off to establish myself.) Eventually, I wanted to try my hand at something other than service pieces for mags, so I wrote a novel that landed me an agent but didn’t sell. So then I wrote another novel, which I loved, but said agent did not. We parted ways, I found my current (and fabulous) agent, who sold that book – my debut, The Department of Lost and Found - in a four-way auction. As I said before, sometimes, life works out as it should.

What advice do you have for writers starting out?
Be open to criticism. I say this all the time, but it’s just so imperative. I think one of the biggest mistakes that aspiring (and established) writers can make is assuming that they’re as good as they think they are. I should know: I thought that initial manuscript that never sold was GENIUS. When I went back and reread it several years later, it was HORRID. Just horrid. Thank goodness it never sold! I’ve been fortunate enough along the way in my career to glean some truly constructive criticism, and if I’d never listened to it, I’d never have grown as a writer. Take your ego OUT of the equation, and try to improve yourself with every opportunity.

How does social media and technology play a role in how you connect with readers?
You know, I’m the first to admit that I was a HUGE Twitter skeptic, but I’ve become a total convert. I think what Twitter does is humanizes you to your readers and humanizes your readers to you. You find shared interests (of late, The Bachelorette!), common ground, funny almost insider-y jokes, and for me, personally, it’s been so much fun to put names and faces to people who read my books. Or don’t read them. Plenty of people don’t, and I like them anyway. I don’t know, it’s weird, this concept of connecting with strangers, but I enjoy the hell out of it. I also run a blog for writers, and again, it’s just been a supercool way to connect with people I otherwise wouldn’t have. Truly, some of my good internet friends are people I’ve never actually “met” in real life.

Tell us about The Happiest Days of My Life.
Well, for one, it’s getting a title change! :) Not sure what that will be yet, but no one was quite in love with that title, so, out she goes. But this book sort of turns the concepts of TOML on their heads: it’s about a small-town guidance counselor who thinks that she has everything in her life that she could ever want. But when she’s granted the unwelcome ability to see into the future, she uncovers a mess of secrets that prove that not everything is as it seems, or perhaps, more accurately, not everything is as she’s CHOSEN to see it. I think it gets to the fact that sometimes, we delude ourselves about what’s truly happening, and of course, it also deals with the theme that I get to with all of my books: that of steering yourself toward your own happiness. I’m a big believer in being responsible for yourself and your future and where your life takes you.

What else can readers expect from you in the near future?
Well, I guess just some promotion of my book. :) No, I’m also still doing celebrity interviews and profiles, so if you fly on American Airlines, flip open the mag, and you’ll often still see my byline. And other than that...? The next book in 2010.

What’s the one question you want me to ask, that I didn’t, and what’s your response?
Hmm, how about whom I’d like to see cast in the movie?

I have a lot of different thoughts as to who could and should play Jillian, and the good news is that the producers agree with my thoughts. On the short list? Keri Russell, Reese Witherspoon, Jen Garner, Anne Hathaway, among others. For Henry? Probably Michael Vartan, though I’d be open to plenty of others – Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Affleck, the list goes on. And for Jackson? Any hot late 20s/early 30s guy: Chris Pine, Scott Speedman, John Krasinski, Bradley Cooper...I could do this forever.

How can readers learn more about you and your books?
Drop by my site: http://allisonwinn.com/

Thanks, Allison. I appreciate you taking the time to talk about your latest news and Time of My Life.

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Remember to visit amazon.com to pick up Allison’s book, or check with your local indie shop to grab a copy of the paperback.

Stay tuned for Wednesday’s regularly scheduled author Q&A since you won’t want to miss Kyra Davis.

If you haven’t noticed, I also added a special post today related to my own news, so read on for more info below about my current newsletter and… the release of stains: early poems!

Until tomorrow… happy reading!