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Author Interview Katy Duffield Welcome, Katy. Thank you for joining me here for an interview . AF - What inspired you to be a writer? KD - My love of reading made me want to write. It fascinates me to see how different authors string words together to evoke such strong emotions. My dream is to be able to find a small space within this awesome world of writers. AF - Can you tell us a little about your road to publication? KD - I started out writing for children's magazines because I thought it would be a good first step for me and that it would help lead me to book publication-and I'm convinced it did. I learned an amazing amount by writing short stories and nonfiction articles and along the way I learned something else, I found that I really, really liked writing magazine pieces so along with book-length pursuits, I'll continue with my mag writing. AF - What prompted you to write your books? Are they based on true life or are they completely fiction? KD - My picture book, FARMER MCPEEPERS AND HIS MISSING MILK COWS, is strictly fictional. When I was young, I loved reading books that made me laugh so when I wrote FARMER I hoped to make young readers giggle a little as well. My nonfiction books are, of course, based on fact-at least they better be as much time as I spend researching! And the YA novella I've been working on is also fiction. AF- Can you tell us a little about your latest book release? KD - I have a nonfiction book for 9 to 12 year old readers due to be released from Kidhaven Press in late May of this year. The book, POLTERGEISTS, is a part of Kidhaven's Mysterious Encounters series and was quite interesting to research and write. I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. AF - Would you take us through your typical writing day? KD - Right now, my days are anything but typical, but let's see... I don't have a set time to write but I try to write something every day and most days I succeed. It's really important to me to dedicate myself to my writing and make time for it because I know it's truly what I most want to do in life. Since I do some writing assignments, I have to plan to be able to meet deadlines. The rest of my writing has to flow around those deadlines. AF - Do you think about your readers when you write a book? KD - In some cases, yes, but in most cases no. I simply have to write what's inside of me and hope that it comes out as something someone would want to read. AF - What sort of things do you do when you're not writing? KD - I work out quite a bit by walking, running, and taking exercise classes. I also play a little golf and, of course, I love to read. I also enjoy spending time with my family. AF - What are some of your favorite things? KD - Well, they're not things-at least not most of the time ;-) -but my favorite people are my crit group buddies, the Funky Ducklings. How cool is it that I get to share my passion with a group of funny, rowdy, darling ladies like the ducks??? Life is good. AF - Many writers speak about writer's block. Do you ever have that, and if so what are some things you do to get over it? KD - Yikes! I'm afraid to say no because it might come creeping up beside me, but generally, no. I usually have something in mind that I want to work on or write about and I've finally figured out after a whole bunch of years that if you just sit down and write, something will come out-it may be total garbage, but that's okay. Sometimes that's where you have to start-and anything beats the heck out of an empty page. AF - If you could say one thing to a new writer what would it be? KD - Don't be so hard on yourself. Writing isn't always easy-in fact, sometimes it's really, really difficult, but if you love it, you'll hang in there. The best piece of advice I have is when you have what you believe is a finished manuscript, put it in a folder, count off six weeks on the calendar, write that date on front of the folder, put the folder in a file drawer, and do not open the file or even think about the manuscript until that six weeks is up. It's hard to have this self-discipline, but I guarantee you you'll be glad you did it. It's amazing how hard it is to be objective about your own work. This separation will teach you a lot. AF - When it comes to writing what's next for you? KD- Well, I'm not sure. I like to do a little bit of everything. I'm not happy sticking to one thing. I write both fiction and nonfiction, I write for magazines and educational publishers as well as books. I like to keep my options open. I am currently working on another nonfiction book for Kidhaven. It's a biography of Ken Kutaragi, the inventor of PlayStation. It will probably be out next year-I hope it will be a hit with all those video game crazy guys. :-) AF - Are you available for signings, school visits and writing workshops? KD - I do signings, school visits, and workshops, but my schedule has been so overloaded, I've scheduled very few visits this year. Hopefully, that will change in the future. |