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Q&A with author Savannah Scott

Hey everyone! I took a short break from doing blog posts, but now I’m back and I’m so excited to feature romcom author Savannah Scott! Aka- Patty Scott. She is such a delight and you’re in for treat!

Savannah-I love your romcom series Getting Shipped! However, I just recently discovered you have some other romance series as well! Can you tell us more about those and what made you shift to romcoms?

Thank you! I’m so glad you love the Getting Shipped! Series. I started writing non-fiction as a part of my heart’s passion to support moms and women. I never imagined writing fiction professionally, even though I had written short stories in high school and college. 

In 2019 I got this idea for a character. I was driving through town, and I saw a photographer taking pictures of a series of buildings and I thought, “She’d make a fun character.” Over the coming year, I’d imagine her story unfolding. In April 2020, during the pandemic, I decided to write Kat’s story, and that became my first clean romance, Love’s Second Chance (under my real name, Patty H Scott). I ended up writing a series of five books (The Unforgettable Love Stories) and then another series of four books (The Calloway Inn Series) over the following eighteen months.

Through the process of writing each book I grew as a fiction writer. I’m diligent about improving my craft. I study and practice to improve. From book one, I knew I wanted to incorporate humor into my writing, but writing humor is next level. To be able to convey what feels funny takes a set of skills I have in real life, but I wasn’t sure would translate onto the page.

I started planning to shift into romcom and by Dec 2021, I wrote and published my first book in this Getting Shipped! series. I decided on a pen name (Savannah Scott) because romcom will cross lines that some of my clean romance readers won’t want to read. I’m really careful to protect and serve my readers as much as I’m able. I still keep all my books closed-door, but the characters and situations, and even the kisses and physical attraction between my characters in romcom goes further, so I delineated with a pen name.

What is your favorite trope to write about?

I love so many tropes. I really enjoy the banter in an enemies-to-lovers. I also enjoy the challenge of making the characters relatable and drawing readers to cheer for the characters even when they aren’t at their best. I also love writing second-chance romance (my first of those was in Battleshipped). I love characters having a backstory together and needing to overcome past hurts to make their way back to one another.

What are some of your favorite and least favorite scenes to write?

I think wrecking my characters emotionally is hard for me. I feel like my characters are real people. Having them separate, experience misunderstandings and get angry or hurt is hard. I want to skip that part of a story sometimes, but the book and characters deserve the full ARC, so I go there. Sometimes I want to over-explain the reasoning as to why they are acting so off. And I have to go back and delete the superfluous writing. Readers are smart. They want to figure out and project a little into characters. So, even though leaving things nuanced and open-ended during painful parts of a story can be hard for me, I know it’s best for the story. I just want to get to that HEA!

My favorite thing to write is banter between two characters or monologue from an outspoken character. And I love writing kissing scenes. And elderly characters or children because they can say things we all think and don’t dare say out loud. I also love writing a fresh analogy or simile. I sometimes really put myself through a mental workout trying to come up with a new way to describe something we’ve all experienced and read before. The heart falls. How do I tell that in a fresh way? The heart breaks. How do I say that without being redundant? The dialogue between characters is so fun to write for me. I actually picture or hear (hard to say how I witness it) the words and I’m like more of a scribe than a composer.

What do you love most about being an author?

Oh gosh! EVERYTHING! I love the fellowship of authors. I’ve met some of my dearest friends in the writing world. I love the bookstagram community. What a surprise and a blessing to be able to directly connect with such avid readers and have them love on my books and me, and to be able to love and support them right back. I love being able to craft stories and to see people delight in my stories. I get messages about how my book helped someone escape at the end of a long week, or how a moral in one of my stories spoke to a reader. That’s the best thing ever. Being able to create and to feel like my gift with words reaches others and makes their day better is not just a cherry on the sundae. It’s the whole dessert—complete sweetness.

How did you decide on Savannah as your pen name?

I liked the idea of having two S’s. S.Scott. So, what was that first S going to be? I came up with about five or six names I liked. I bounced them off my existing reader group and one rose to the top. Then I asked my husband, who can be somewhat chill and noncommittal until he really has an opinion. Right away he said, “Savannah,” which was the same name my readers picked. I love the name. It feels like it fits. It’s odd, though, signing books “Savannah” when my name is Patty. If a person knows me well, I sign Patty in parentheses under the pen name.

How do you juggle being a wife, mom, and writer?

Let’s be honest. I do the juggling thing really poorly at times. But I have a whole book called Slow Down, Mama: Intentional Living in a Hurried World that tells my story of going from overly busy to properly busy and how women can make room for what matters most. I don’t watch much TV. As in, an hour a week, sometimes two (This is Us, hello! … and before that it was Downton Abbey). So, at night I write when others are in front of their TVs. I also write throughout the day, grabbing time at scheduled intervals. And I keep my notes app open so I can jot thoughts or lines when they come to me throughout the day.

I am pretty diligent about planning and figuring out priorities, and I give myself buckets of grace. It’s okay to eat spaghetti or quesadillas and salad for dinner. It’s okay to send my husband out for tacos. It’s okay to wipe the counters and sweep and not do a deep-clean. Something must give. What won’t give: motherhood and connecting with my husband. Those things trump everything else. They may take a back burner certain days, but on the whole, I put my significant relationships ahead of my writing.

While reading through your blog I learned that you have a passion for moms and pouring into their hearts. As a mom myself (of 2 boys) this is something I know we all need. Tell us how this came about!

I love motherhood. The Army used to have an ad: the toughest job you’ll ever love. Move over Army, motherhood already has that title.

Over time, as I grew as a mom and faced some serious hardships in our journey, I felt the call to minister to moms. So, I started Slow Down Mama. My first book actually was a co-authored book about parenthood which never got published. I wrote that book during a two-year collaboration with a prominent expert in parenthood. (Long, long story.) In the meantime, I wrote a shorter book equipping parents with principles for raising teens.

Then I realized my call was more about supporting mama hearts than giving practical how-to input. I shifted and before the pandemic I had been speaking about once a month to mom groups and leading occasional retreats for women. In this arm of my life, I have my blog and my three published parenting books plus my freebie on how to avoid power struggles.

I just love pouring into moms, but I never wanted to compete to be the next mom guru. I’m happy with the level I sustain in that area of my life. Now I pour most of my energy into writing romcom. But I still do have SlowDownMama.com which is being built with my old content and new content and the Slow Down Mama Patty Scott Instagram page too.

Do you have any quirky habits when you are in “the zone” writing a book?

I’m a really fast writer (according to other writers), pumping out a book every other month. I think my biggest quirk is that I go a few weeks without writing at all for each book. Most writers try to achieve certain word count goals and write daily. I need some time off where I don’t write at all before I can really set myself to the task of writing a story. This is the time my brain is forming the story and I’m not even aware of what’s going on.

I also get away for one long weekend during the writing of each book (not as consistently now as I used to). I go to a cabin or hotel and just write, write, write, write, write. I eat, sleep and take walks (or use the elliptical in the hotel gym) but mainly I immerse myself in writing for a full two and a half days. These getaways have been key to me publishing as quickly as I have. Though, with romcom, I’m thinking I’ll be releasing every three months, not every two. I just want to give each story the attention and work it deserves to be the best I can make it.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

I’m still watching the final chapter of This Is Us. Gah. I hate that the show is ending. If you’re a fan, you feel this with me. I also am watching the original Gilmore Girls slowly, like one episode a week or every other week. I finish reading a book every other day or so. So, what I’m reading changes quickly. For Laura’s character I watched a few seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette (because she loved the show … and then I was just intrigued). For an upcoming book, my main character is super-into tabloids and Hollywood gossip, so I’ll submit myself to that stuff. I’ll be reading BuzzFeed and ENews for a while to get a feel for Shannon’s obsession with all things famous and trendy.

For my own personal reading, I really love romcom but also women’s fiction and contemporary romance.

In clean romance, I recently enjoyed Meet Me in the Margins and Sweet Right Here. I’m about to read The Next Worst Thing by Sara Jane Woodley because it was highly recommended by a friend. I’m listening to a British romance called Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens. Like most British romance, it’s more descriptive and women’s-fictiony than American romances tend to be. And I just finished the Annika Martin Billionaires of Manhattan series on audio. I have been fan-girling over the narrators of that series. Neva Nevarre, here’s looking at you. And Jason Clarke’s voice makes me swoon. Those stories have more steam to them than the books I write. Annika is insanely talented as an author, and I adore her romcoms. She is funny and has such a way with words.

What is one word someone would use to sum you up?

Encouraging. It’s the word others have used when I asked them, so I’ll take their word for it. I’m fun, but serious too. My life is about building people up and caring deeply about what others are experiencing, and then shining hope into those places that feel broken or hurting so they are a bit more bearable.

It has got to be the most amazing feeling to finish a book! How do you celebrate?

I wish I celebrated more. I usually celebrate by loosely plotting the next book! Honestly, I do an inner happy dance, and then I usually text one of my closest author friends, Kiki Oliphant (Emma St Clair) and tell her something like DOOONNNNNEEEE! And then I move forward. The next story is like a dog scratching at the door to get in, so I have to open that door. I want to. That way I can play with the dog! This question made me realize I want to do a better job at pausing to really celebrate.

And finally, for those who aren’t familiar with your Getting Shipped! series, tell us more about those books and what we can expect in the future!!

Getting Shipped! is my favorite project to date. Even though I love my non-fiction and my clean romance, I feel like I came home as a writer in this series and in writing romcom. Romcom is my lane.

In the Getting Shipped! series, each book is a stand-alone, even though they build in order and chronological progression and characters overlap.

We have: Courtshipped, the prequel novella, which was written second, not first, and is available through March 2023 through the Prolific Works Sweet and Swoony promo. That book is set in an Italian restaurant, so come hungry and prepared to either eat out or cook as you read. It’s an insta-love story, but everyone says even though they may not be a fan of insta-love, they have loved the story. I mean, hot Italian, funny pug dog, outspoken best friend, all set in Covington KY … it’s a must.

The first published book in the series is Friendshipped. It’s a Friends-to-Lovers story and is a slow-burn. There are a lot of laugh-out-loud scenes in the book. It was my first book to write coming out of clean romance, so it’s cleaner than the others in the series in terms of heat. But there’s tension and we really get to meet the community in the sweet fictional small town of Bordeaux, Ohio (pronounced Bored-Ox). I love Lexi and Trevor’s extended friendships and all the small-town elements in the story. Lexi joins a dating app, and her dates are comedic tragedies. The romance between Lexi and Trevor is sweet. Cinnamon rolls, nights laying on a blanket watching stars, living next door to one another, working together …

The next book is Battleshipped. It’s a second chance romance with an enemies-to-lovers flavor. Rob and Laura were high school sweethearts until Rob broke things off to go to college (on the worst day of Laura’s life). Now Rob’s been back two years (six years after their breakup) and he wants to repair the damage and win Laura back. This book takes on the theme of forgiveness and working to earn back trust while still bringing the laughs and, of course, we’re still in Bordeaux, getting to enjoy that small town more with each book.

Townshipped will be out early to mid-June. It’s Aiden’s story. He’s the older brother to Trevor (from book one). Aiden’s a single IT consultant who lives on a small farm he bought about five years ago. People always teased Aiden that it wasn’t like a woman was just going to land on his doorstep and fall in love with him … so, just as you might imagine, THAT happens! Mallory grew up in upper crust of Boston society, but never quite took on the trappings of her status. She was engaged to Buck. Two weeks before the wedding she finally realizes she can’t go through with marrying a man she likes but doesn’t love. Mallory takes her honeymoon alone to get away from the aftermath of her announcement … and somehow, she ends up, you guessed it, on Aiden’s doorstep.

There will be at least two more stories in this series after Townshipped. One will be Shannon and Duke’s story. Duke is one of Aiden’s best friends, and he helps run the local garage with his dad. He’s a fun-loving man with a streak of roguishness in him. Duke’s secretly in love with Shannon who is his other best friend, Chris’ little sister. Shannon is one of the core group of friends in the series. She has had a thing for Duke forever, but she hasn’t even told her closest friends, despite them all suspecting it. So, this is a brother’s best friend romance. And it will be out August or September 2022.

The last book I have planned in the series right now is Jayme’s story. She’s the last woman in the core group of friends in Bordeaux. She is a fantasy romance author who also writes fortunes for fortune cookies for a living. Jayme’s a sweet, upbeat person who sees romance around every corner, only she doesn’t want it for herself after having been seriously burned in a past relationship. Jayme plans to rock the old-maid thing in her older years. When the new doctor moves into town, he needs a tutor for his learning-challenged daughter. Jayme takes the job. This doctor is shut off, dour and detached due to some backstory we’ll see unfold. Enter Jayme’s sunshine to his grump. This is also a bit of an age-gap romance.

I have thoughts of doing a Christmas novella set in Bordeaux too. I’ve had readers request certain pairings of other side characters. I will only write that novella if the characters come knocking for one. I don’t plot stories. Stories come to me.

Beyond Bordeaux (after Getting Shipped! has sailed off into the horizon) I have ideas for some fairy-tale retelling romcoms, some vacation-themed romcoms … and more. We’ll see what’s next after Getting Shipped!

Thank you so much for all these sweet questions, for loving my books, and for supporting me as an author.

Wow! You have so much in the works Savannah and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time for this interview. I just want to say that I admire you for pouring into mamma’s. I had women pour into me during some of my toughest years when my kids were young and I can’t tell you how much that blessed my life. So from moms everywhere I’d like to say THANK YOU!

You guys, I’ve read the first two in the Getting Shipped! series and they are ADORABLE 😍- my review will be up soon for Battleshipped. To keep up with Savannah/Patty follow her on IG here.

Q&A With Author Brooke Burroughs

You guys, I’m so happy to feature Brooke today! I love following her travel adventures on IG (she has an airstream!!)-Also, how adorable is she?!

Hey Brooke! I’ve been so excited to do a Q&A with you. I read The Marriage Code right before it came out in 2020 and fell in love with how you described Bangalore with all of its traditions, customs, and especially the food! I read in your bio that this story is based on some true events, would you share with us?

Thank you! The Marriage Code started out as a memoir of my experience moving to Bangalore, India and meeting my husband. Everyone kept saying, “Your story would make a great movie!” and because I’d always been a writer (and didn’t have the aspiration to be a Hollywood producer) I wanted to try and write about it. So there are definitely events that inspired the book—like my move to Bangalore, meeting my husband at the office, a vacation in Kerala, and the many, many drool-worthy meals! I had no idea how varied Indian cuisine is until I moved there. And of course, I included some of the challenges my husband and I faced being a couple coming from different cultures, and with his family’s wish for him to marry someone within his community. Luckily both Emma and Rishi, and my husband and I all had happy endings!

In your latest book, The Name Curse (which I adored by the way 😍), the characters are hiking an Alaskan trail. I’m sensing a travel/adventure theme in the stories you tell…are you an avid traveler? Is this what inspires your stories?

I do love travel and adventure, so I’m not surprised that’s an emerging theme. I have always wanted to write love stories featuring women who have a sense of adventure, even if they don’t know it yet (much like Bernie in The Name Curse). I’ve lived in three different countries aside from the US, and love to explore new places. During the pandemic when international travel felt a bit risky, we took a lot of road trips in our airstream and camped (well, “glamped”) around the US to appease the travel bug that kept urging us to get out of the house. I love hiking, exploring, and still hope to live outside the country again. There is so much to learn about other cultures, and in turn, learn about yourself when you’re in an unfamiliar setting.

What was the feeling like after you published your first book?

Finally getting your first book published is every writer’s dream, so the feeling was absolute elation! One thing I never anticipated was the response from readers. While I am quite familiar with the joy that sinking into a good book brings, I’ve never been one to reach out to my favorite authors and let them know how much their words affected me. But that has definitely been one of the most rewarding parts of having a book out there. Every time someone read The Marriage Code and told me that it made them cry seeing a STEM heroine, that it resonated with their own life, or that they had to order nonstop Indian takeout while reading it—that was the best feeling!

How long have you been writing?

Even when I was little I had an urge to tell stories. I remember getting a Snoopy diary for Christmas when I was in third grade and started writing in it; I still have it, and its tiny lock that keeps the trials and tribulations of a nine year old top secret! My niece has also recently unearthed an illustrated story of my family that I wrote in first or second grade on construction paper that is bound with yarn. Those were the origins of my writing, and eventually it turned into poetry and short stories in high school and college. I didn’t start anything novel length until I started drafting The Marriage Code though!

What does a day of writing look like for you?

Ah, my dream day! I still have a day job, so I usually write in the mornings on weekdays before work, and one reason I look forward to the weekends, is because I wake up and have a day of writing ahead of me. I usually go sit outside at one of my favorite coffee shops in Austin to write for several hours. Sometimes another writer friend will join me and we’ll brainstorm, or work through any story challenges we’re having. Then I’ll finish the day off by reading whatever book I have on my nightstand. Those are the best days!

Do you have a book recommendation that you think everyone should have on their TBR?

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is one of my favorite romcoms (as it probably is for everyone!). There are so many amazing books out there it’s hard to pick just one! But that one I enjoyed so much I re-read it two more times right after I finished it.

I can tell from some of your posts that you’re a dog lover 💕Tell us more about your fur babies!

I have a 5 year old Great Dane, Rani (which appropriately translates to “queen” in Sanskrit), and a 10 year old boxer, Ike. They are the best dogs, and often my writing assistants, giving me company in my office while I’m working on a book. Actually, Ike was the inspiration for Bernie’s dog in The Name Curse!

How do you enjoy spending your free time?

I spend a lot of time trying to make a dent in my TBR pile because there are so many amazing books that keep coming out, I feel like I can’t keep up! I also love traveling, whether that’s going to visit my in-laws in India, exploring a country for the first time, or camping at a state park for a weekend. I also love Bollywood dance, and am part of a group here in Austin.

Let’s do some THIS or THAT!

Mountains or beach: Ooh this is a tough one, but if I had to pick one place it would be the beach because I love the sun and the sound of the ocean.

TV or reading: Reading FTW!

Fancy or casual: Default casual, but I also love dressing up in sparkly things for weddings or dance events!

Fly or drive: Depends where I’m going, but if it’s in the US, driving can be part of the adventure!

Background noise or silence: I love the background noise of a coffee shop to write.

Dinner or dessert: Wait, isn’t dessert just the end of dinner? LOL (so, um both?)

Scary movies or funny: Funny, all the time! Scary movies give me nightmares.

Readers (me 😂) want to know if you have another book on the horizon? I have to say, I’m super excited for what you come up with next!

The project I just finished is a romcom inspired by the small town in Kentucky where I grew up. I wanted to write something about the area because it’s gone through so many changes in the past several years. Also, it was an opportunity to highlight some of my favorite parts about growing up there. This story is about a woman who always wanted to escape the place she’s from, and when she returns for her sister’s wedding, she gets roped into actually planning it with the groom’s son who happens to be her high school nemesis.

I’m so appreciative that you took the time to do this Q&A with me, I love getting to know you better! Man, I would enjoy being able to travel like that, but I’m such a homebody. So for now I’ll just live vicariously through you 😍. I’ll be anxiously waiting to hear more about your newest book! Thanks Brooke!

Friends, if you want to follow or learn more about Brooke then check out her info below 👇🏻

Website: www.brookeburroughs.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/brookeburroughswrites/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brookeburroughsauthor/

Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@brookeburroughswrites

Q&A With GiGi Blume

Hi Gigi! I’m so glad to have you on my blog and to get to know you a little better! As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of romcoms. I recently read The Friend Act and fell in love with your characters! Tell us a little more about your books!

Thanks for having me. I love your blog.

I’m happy you liked The Friend Act. It’s part of my Backstage Romance series which is inspired by Jane Austen’s works. So far I’ve covered Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park. My next Austen-inspired book will be Northanger Abbey but I don’t have a date for that yet.

I read that you used to be a professional wedding singer! That is such an interesting job, what was it like? How did you get from that to writing books?

The singing gig was a natural progression of what I’d been doing for years, having been in bands and choirs my whole life. While I love singing, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I remember writing the screenplay to Batman the Musical in fifth grade. Because of my desire to write for the stage and screen I joined the drama club in middle school and fell in love with theatre and by extension, musicals, singing, and playing guitar. Now it’s kind of come full circle. I didn’t so much get from singing to writing as a transition, but rather one phased out as the other moved to the forefront.

Tell us about your love of musical theater and how has that inspired your writing?

Musical theatre is such a huge part of my being, I can’t help but write about it. I think if I ever write about aliens in space, musical theatre references will still sneak in there.

I recently found out that you design book covers as well and they are beautiful! How did this get started for you?

Gosh, I’m such a Jack of all trades. (and master of none) I just love art so much and used to do chalkboard art for a local coffee house. My friend, author KG Fletcher (she’s also a singer/actress) asked me to design one of her covers a while back and I completely turned her down. I didn’t think I had it in me. But she was persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I caved and made her cover. But I told her, “Never again. That’s a one time thing.” Famous last words. I think I’ve designed five covers for her now. LOL. And in learning how to use photo editing programs and Procreate, I decided to start a cover design business for the frugal indie author. It’s fun and a good distraction when I have writer’s block.

What was the first book you published and how was your experience?

My first published book was Confessions of a Hollywood Matchmaker, the prequel novella for the Backstage Romance Series. There was a huge learning curve so overwhelming, I think I blocked the experience from my memory. When I look back to that time, I see myself as a little kid who had no clue what she was doing. It kind of makes me cringe, especially when I look at my super lame marketing from those days.

What do you do when you are in a writing slump?

I love to listen to the autumn acoustic playlist on Pandora while I take walks. The music gives me inspiration for scenes. Sometimes though, I just need to zone out to Netflix and give myself a break.

What do you want readers to know about you?

Um, I guess that even though I have a stage performing background, I’m not an extrovert. I’m one of those people who hides when someone’s at the front door. So don’t come over because I’ll pretend I’m not home. LOL

How about some favorites!

Musical? GAH don’t make me choose! Phantom Sound of the Godspell Pirates

Food? French fries

Movie? Pride and Prejudice 1995

Book? Pride and Prejudice

Author? Jane Austen (Are we seeing a pattern here?)

Show? Midsummer Night’s Dream

Scent? Almond soaps and lotions

Person? My son and daughter.

Describe your perfect day.

Sleep in. Hubby makes my favorite breakfast. Hang out with my awesome teenagers. Walk along the beach. Read a book. Finish the evening with Shakespeare in the park or some other theatrical show.

Finally, tell us more about your new romcom series coming this year!

I’m over the top excited about this series. It’s a spin-off of The Friend Act where we get to know Francesca’s six irresistible Latinx brothers. They’re hard working, fiercely loyal to family, and if they can ever slow down for romance, watch out ladies. Prepare thyself for all the juicy tropes. You’ll need to grab a fan and a tall glass of ice water because the Precio Brothers are muy picante and when it comes to love, these hotties Mexi-CAN.

*closed door PG-13

AHHH, I love this so much GiGi and I can’t wait to read your newest series! Thank you so much for telling us about yourself and what makes your books so unique in the romcom genre 💕 I absolutely love your niche and your love for Jane Austen!

Friends! If you want to keep up with GiGi and her books then go and follow her on instagram.

Check out her cover reveal for her new romcom, Messy Love below!

Q&A With Author Katherine Center

My introduction for this amazing lady wouldn’t do her justice, so I’m going to let her bio speak for itself!👇🏻

BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and her newest, What You Wish For. The movie adaptation of her novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix and her novel Happiness for Beginners is in production now as a Netflix original starring Ellie Kemper. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, and many more. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Hi Katherine! I can’t tell you how excited I am to talk with you on my blog! Your books are some of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read, heart-wrenching but equally inspiring. How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire have stayed with me on so many levels. What led you to this particular niche in your writing?

I really love stories about how people get back up after life has knocked them down. Those moments, those really hard life moments that just crack us open . . . they’re so hard—but they also give us these rare opportunities to grow and change and redefine our lives. I’m interested in how people get through those hard times—but also in what they learn from them and how they grow from them. So I think I found my way to these kinds of stories because that’s what I’m interested in, myself, personally, just as a human: How we do it. How we rise to life’s challenges and cope with humor and grace. But not only just how we cope, but how we also appreciate life’s beauty and joy. Because we kind of always have to do both at the same time—and that’s not easy. I’m just endlessly fascinated by it all.

What is the most fulfilling thing about being an author?

Getting to think about stories all the time. Getting to study them and figure out how they work. Getting to pay attention to what I myself love and long for in stories—and then trying to figure out how to do that for other people. There’s a great quote from Julia Child: “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” That’s me. I never, ever get bored with stories. I’ll be studying them my whole life long.

What does your day look like when you are in the middle of writing a book?

When I’m writing the first draft of a book—sort of building the scaffolding of the story—it takes huge, vast amounts of concentration. I need long stretches of time—days!—when I can get lost in the story and think about nothing else. I’ll go out of town (to Galveston Island) for 4 or 5 days at a time and do a big chunk of writing (50-100 pages), and then come home and read them over and mess with them and let them settle. Then a few weeks later, I go again and do the next section. This rhythm works for me—pushing forward and then settling for a while. That’s always the hardest part: figuring out what the story IS. Once I know what it is, telling it is pretty easy.

Tell us about your book cover designs! They are always so bright and positive and keep with the same theme. I know immediately if it’s one of your books without looking at the title or author!

I got so lucky with them, didn’t I?! I hit the jackpot when Macmillan, my publisher, asked the brilliant designer Olga Grlic to design my covers. That red cover with the flowers for How to Walk Away is the cover that started it all, and I feel like it captured something about my soul. I know the covers won’t always be exactly the same—they’ll have to grow and evolve, but I hope we’ll always keep some version of flowers.

Do you have a favorite book that you’ve written that holds a special place in your heart?

I love them all in different ways. How to Walk Away was my first book to ever hit the New York Times bestseller list. The Lost Husband was my first book to ever get turned into a movie (Hi, Josh Duhamel!). Things You Save in a Fire was a book I wrote with a ton of input from my (volunteer firefighter) husband, and so that one will always be close to my heart.

Your books are becoming movies!!! First The Lost Husband, now Happiness for Beginners, and possibly Things You Save In a Fire?! How has this experience been for you and to what extent are you able to be involved in the process?

It’s so amazing, I can hardly even describe it. I love movies, so it’s just like some kind of crazy magic to watch my stories come to life in this whole new way. I recently got to visit the Happiness for Beginners movie set and attend the wedding of one of my own main characters! The movies are of course often quite different from what I saw in my head when I was writing—but in some ways, they’re better. That kiss O’Connor gives Libby at the famers market in The Lost Husband movie? Better. I can’t take credit for that overalls-pull! That was director Vicky Wight, who is clearly a kissing genius. I was there on the day they filmed that kiss, and it just blew my mind to think that a kiss I wrote for two imaginary people in my head was now, like, happening in the real world with real people. It’s thrilling beyond description.

What are you currently reading/watching?

I just finished reading an advance copy of Christina Lauren’s new book, Something Wilder, and I also just finished Emily Henry’s next-summer book, Book Lovers. Both were absolutely delicious and so much fun to read. Those writers are both new discoveries for me in the last year or so, and I’m in love.

What’s your favorite way to unwind?

I’m a big fan of unwinding! I dance around in the kitchen a lot when I’m making dinner. I sing at the top of my lungs in the car. I walk the dog after dinner with my husband. I take a lot of bubble baths and read yummy novels cover to cover. I curl up with fuzzy blankets and Korean rom-com TV shows online with subtitles. Korean dramas were my best discovery during the pandemic. So swoony and fun to watch!

Where is your favorite place to travel?

So many! I love road trips. I love little New England towns. I love Europe and the UK. I’d love to go the Fjords. My mom’s family is from Germany, and I’ve never been there, so that’s a definite goal. I’ve been to Japan, but I’d love to see more of Asia. Korea’s on my list big time! And my best friend from college lives in New Zealand, so I’ll be heading that way at some point.

Do you have any family traditions you look forward to every year?

We spend Thanksgiving out at my grandparents’ ranch in Texas every year. It’s usually at least 20 people—my sisters and their husbands and any other extended family and friends we can gather. November is usually cool and lovely in Texas, so we build fires and walk the gravel roads and feast and fall asleep on the sofa. It’s just so fun for us all to be together.

What do you do to celebrate when you finish writing a book?

It always feels very celebratory to print out the final pages of one of those big, beautiful beasts. It’s like, it’s finally real. I print them out and then put them in a big old binder and carry them around for a while. That said, “done” is a slippery concept! Almost as soon as I’m printing it out, I’m circling back to make more changes and make it better.

And Finally! Will you please tell us more about your newest book, The Bodyguard?! It’s one of my (and many others) most anticipated reads this summer!

Oh, I’m so in love with it. It’s a classic rom-com. Usually, I think of my books as kind of half tragedy and half comedy—like, there’s almost always some big, hard life event that the main character has to struggle with and figure out, and there’s also always a fun love story. So it’s a balance between darkness and light. But with this story—which I was writing in 2020 and 2021—I decided I just wanted as much light as possible. There’s some struggle here, and some darkness, and some things to for the main characters to figure out, because you have to have some ballast in a story, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted this story to be as joyful and fun and bantery and swoony and playful as possible. And it IS. It was how I made my own sunshine during the pandemic. I just put these two main characters out on a ranch together . . . and then I just let them tease each other and joke around and banter and fight and fall in love. Man, it was fun. It was exactly what I needed!

You guys! How great is she???!!! Singing the praises of her cover designer and fellow authors-such a phenomenal writer, down to earth, and just all around so sweet to chat with. I want to give a shout out to Josh Duhamel too (Hey Josh!) because I just know he’s reading my blog 😂. Thank you SO MUCH Katherine for taking the time to do this chat with me. Readers!!! GO pre-order The Bodyguard now! It will be released on 7/19/22 and you won’t want to miss it! To learn more about Katherine, her books, and her movies you can check out her blog or Instagram.

Stay tuned for more fun Q&A’s!

XOXO,

Kristyn