An Interview with AC Katt

Today we have the wonderful A.C. Katt. Help me in welcoming her to the MFRW Authors Blog.

Where can your readers find you?

ackatt.com

ackattsjournal.blogspot.com

mlrpress.com

ackattspolitics.blogspot.com

rainbowromancewriters.com

Where’s your favorite place to hang out online?

ackattsjournal.blogspot.com

Tell us about your latest book, including its genre. Does it cross over to other genres? If so, what are they? A Matter of Trust is a light BDSM that is also suspenseful.

What can we expect from you in the future? A sequel to A Matter of Trust entitled Jack’s Back, a werewolf novel, I’ll Be There for You and a sequel to my first novel, The Sarran Plague entitled Living With Syn.

How do we find out about you and your books? Ackatt.com, promo

How many readers/fans contact you? mlhansel@gmail.com

Why did you decide to write romance novels? I read so many and my husband was complaining about the cost. One day I finished a novel I didn’t like and told him, “I can do better than that.” He replied, “Why don’t you, it would certainly cost us less money.”

How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing? I include quite a bit of my emotions and experiences in my books and twist them to fit the plot.

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms? I submitted my first manuscript because I finished the book.

Generally, how long does it take you to write a book? I tend towards long and complicated plots, so it generally takes me about three months.

Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow? I have to go with the flow because I write when I find time.

What is your writing routine once you start a book? I write until the muse leaves.  That means I put in long hours when I’m inspired and long hours of frustration when I’m not.

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, outline, or...? I write by the seat of my pants. I have an outline in my head and I follow that to its logical end.

What about your family, do they know not to bother you when you are writing - or are there constant interruptions? Unfortunately, my husband interrupts me constantly.

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries? I take a busman’s holiday and read.

What truly motivates you in general? In your writing? Progressive politics motivates me. I believe in marriage equality, justice for the poor and paying our fair share. In my writing my character’s emotions move me and the plot.

How do you come up with ideas? That’s an interesting question. A Matter of Trust came from a phrase, a bear in a suit. In gay romance a bear is a hairy man who is usually built large and portrayed as a biker or an outdoorsman. That phrase inspired me to write A Matter of Trust.

Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why? In some cases, humor is very important. In A Matter of Trust,  I show Brian Murphy as clumsy. This leads to some comic scenes.

What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels? Do you find them difficult to write? I don’t find love scenes hard to write although they are emotionally draining. I try to make my books plot driven rather than driven by sex scenes.

What kind of research do you do? For A Matter of Trust I contacted a person I knew online who lived the life I wanted to portray. For Shattered Glass I looked at the brutal schedule that rock bands endure while touring and researched various venues. I also researched the locations.  At that time I recently moved from New Jersey to New Mexico and used these locations in my novel under the adage write what you know.

Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre? My main genre is gay romance, however, I vary the subgenre.  The Sarran Plague was science fiction. Shattered Glass was a contemporary romance and A Matter of Trust is BDSM.  I am working on a werewolf story.

What does your husband/wife think of your writing? He supports me completely.

Do you ever ask him/her for advice? Yes, I often ask him for help in research.

Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.) I am married to my husband of twenty-four years. I have four children;  my son, my husbands’ two sons and a daughter. They have given me nine grandchildren, six boys and three girls.  My oldest grandson is studying business at Penn State.

What are some of your favorite things to do? I love to read and my second love is cooking and baking. I invented a great recipe for carrot spice cake.

Do you have a favorite author? Favorite book? My favorite author is Mercedes Lackey and my favorite book is Magic’s Pawn.

Who are some of your other favorite authors to read? Laura Baumbach, Josh Layton, Robin D. Owen and Tom Clancy, a very mixed group.

Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing? A critique partner, Loukie Adlem.

Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.? I am a member of Rainbow Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.

What do you think of critique groups in general? I prefer one on one critiques.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopefully, still writing.

How long have you been writing - have you always wanted to be a writer? I suffered a major illness ten years ago and that started me writing (remember the cost of books?). I wanted to write in high school but got lost somewhere along the way.

How many books have you written, how many have been published? I have had three books published, two are in re-release.

After you've written your book and it's been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it? Yes, because I can’t believe I actually did it. After that I try to critique my own work to see if I could have done better.

List two authors we would find you reading when taking a break from your own writing. Right now I’m reading Enchanted Again by Robin D. Owens. On my to be read list is Cherish by Shawn Bailey.

Among your own books, have you a favorite book? Favorite hero or heroine? My favorite book is always the one I’m currently writing; however, my baby is Shattered Glass.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why? I’d recommend they start with my first book, The Sarran Plague.

What book for you has been the easiest to write? The hardest? The most fun? A Matter of Trust was the easiest to write, Shattered Glass was the hardest.

Which comes first, the story, the characters, or the setting? The characters.

What are the elements of a great romance for you? It has to make you laugh or cry.

What is the hardest part of writing/the easiest for you? The hardest part of writing for me is fighting writer’s block.

Are you in control of your characters or do they control you? It’s a two way street.

Have you experienced writer's block? If so, how did you work through it? God, yes, I growl in frustration until the muse returns.

What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer? Seeing my name in print.

What is the single most important part of writing for you? Telling a good story.

What do you enjoy most about writing? The creative surge that comes from telling a good story.

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing? Politics.

Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers? Keep writing, it gets easier.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work? An emotional connection with my characters.

 If money were not an object, where would you most like to live? Right where I am in New Mexico.

Leather or lace? lace

Black or red? red

Satin sheets or Egyptian cotton? Egyptian cotton

Ocean or mountains? Mountains

City life or country life? suburbs

Hunky heroes or average Joe? Hunky heroes

Party life or quiet dinner for two? Dinner for two

Dogs or cats? Definitely cats

I love pizza with (fill in the blank). Coke Zero

I'm always ready for (fill in the blank). A good book

When I'm alone, I (fill in the blank). Read or write

You'd never be able to tell, but (fill in the blank). I’m actually very shy.

If I could (fill in the blank) I'd (fill in the blank). If I could sing, I’d be on Broadway.

I can never (fill in the blank) because (fill in the blank). I can never play sports because I’m clumsy.

Dessert. Strawberry Cheesecake

City. New York

Season. Fall

Type of hero. Hunky but compassionate.

Type of heroine. I don’t write heroines.

A Matter of Trust

Donald K. Drummond was the Master of all he surveyed; a legend in commercial real estate in New Jersey and by night a Master Dom at the gay BDSM club, Indiscrete. What he couldn't find was a boy to call his own. That all changed when a nerd with taped glasses and worn Dockers barged into his office spilling his bottle of 1985 Bourdeau over his priceless Persian carpet. Brian Murphy came with a host of troubles, the least of which was his grasping Aunt, his invalid mother and his rather tenious position in Donald's mail room.  Can a Dom with issues of his own come to train and trust a needy boy from his own mailroom. It's all A Matter of Trust.

Excerpt – A Matter of Trust

In slow degrees, the tow-headed boy woke up on the hard floor. A faint moan, an eyelid twitch, a soft flutter of pale lashes, and then a blue eye opened face-to-antenna with a cockroach. The Sears Tough Skin jeans he’d opened as his birthday gift two days ago felt wet around the crotch and smelled of both urine and feces. His new plaid shirt with the pearl cowboy buttons was torn and bloody. He swallowed hard, past a dry lump the size of a baseball stuck in the back of his throat. He opened his left eye, the one nearest to the bug. It looked as if his bone stuck out of his shirt, a handhold under his elbow, the right arm bent at an unnatural angle just below the tear. It took a few additional seconds for the pain to hit, long enough for him to realize he did not know how he got here or why. Then it struck, shock abated.

He hurt, bad. Even so, he knew enough not to cry out. He heard Mama pounding on the door of the bathroom and Aunt Mary in the distance, along with the whine of sirens. Then the pain took him away, and he rode it back to safety.

AC Katt was born in New York City’s Greenwich Village. She remembers sitting at the fountain in the Washington Square Park listening to folk music while they passed the hat. At nine, her parents dragged her to New Jersey where she grew up, married and raised four children and became a voracious reader of romantic fiction. At one time, she owned over two thousand novels, until she and her husband took themselves and the cat to New Mexico for their health and its great beauty.

Now, most of AC’s books are electronic (although she still keeps six bookcases of hardcovers), so she never has to give away another book. AC is new to both GLBT and to writing being, as she claims, a late bloomer, however she claims to have found her niche in writing GLBT romance. Her current release is Shattered Glass from MLR Press and coming soon from MPR Press is A Matter of Trust.