Author Interview ~ Kathleen Y'Barbo

RITA and Carol award nominee Kathleen Y’Barbo is now the best-selling award-winning author of more than forty novels, novellas, and young adult books. In all, more than one million copies of her books are currently in print in the US and abroad, and her books have been translated into Dutch, German, and Spanish, to name a few. Her next historical novel, THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK (Waterbrook,), releases in June 2011 and has been named a Top Pick by Romantic Times magazine and given 4 1/2 stars.

Kathleen holds a BBA from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School and a certification in Paralegal Studies, and is a member of the Texas Bar Association’s Paralegal Division. In addition, Kathleen also served exclusive publicist for Glass Road PR and Books & Such Literary Agency. A tenth-generation Texan, Kathleen Y'Barbo recently added her own hero in combat books and is proud to be a military wife even if it did mean giving up her Texas drivers license.

Did you see yourself becoming a writer as a child? If not, what did you dream of being?

Not at all. I was a voracious reader but never imagined I might one day actually write a book.

How long did you write before you sold your first book?

I wrote fulltime for four years and completed eight 100,000+ word novels before I sold my first book. And, no it wasn’t one of those eight books.

Many of the people who follow our blog are aspiring writers themselves. Can you share your favorite writing tip with them?

My favorite writing tip is to keep writing. Just put your rear in the chair and put words on the page. I promise if you show up, God will too. And what happens, eventually, will be beyond your wildest imagination.

Now for the readers…many times, it’s easy for them to connect with the characters in a book, but not so much the authors themselves. Share something about your day-to-day life that might help a reader to feel as though they know you a little better.

The daily life of a writer isn’t all excitement and glamor. Surprise? When I was single, every day was different. I might write all night for a week at a time then switch to writing daytimes in a coffee shop the next week. Now that I’m married, my schedule is must more regular in that I ususally write for a few hours in the morning, stopping when my husband comes home for lunch, and then a few hours in the afternoon. Once he’s home, I try not to get caught up in anything that involves the computer unless he’s otherwise occupied (meaning watching BBC’s Top Gear or playing Zelda-LOL!).

Now that you are published, do you still experience rejections? If so, how are these rejections different or similar to the ones you received before becoming published?

Of course there are still rejections.

Published authors get them in the form of line edits, book reviews, and sales numbers, just to name a few.

Tell us a little about your latest release:

An aristocratic astronomer out to save his family and a Denver heiress out to take on the world meet their match in THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK, the latest historical romp in the Women of the West series from Kathleen Y'Barbo. From Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show's London debut to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the mining town of Leadville, Colorado, join Charlotte Beck and Viscount Hambly as they discover that sometimes love arrives at the most inconvenient of times. Read a sneak peek of the first three chapters at http://bit.ly/iWVjM8 to see why Romantic Times magazine gave the tale 4 ½ stars and named it a June Top Pick. In stores on June 21, or pre-order now at http://amzn.to/lWngDt!

If you could only share one line from THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK, which one would you choose and why?

Of all my favorite lines in the book, I’m going to have to choose one from Viscount Hambly’s point of view. From his first meeting with Charlotte Beck, where she literally landed in his arms in the garden of a London townhouse , the American heiress with the noble pedigree has been nothing but trouble and vexation to him.

“Beck or not, she’s caused quite the scandal. It’s one thing to play at riding in a coach and quite another to stand behind a galloping cowboy in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show with your skirts flying.”

And as just a little bit of a cheat, I’ll offer my second favorite line, also spoken by Alex Hambly:

“Are you done roasting corsets or are there other items in your bag left to burn?”

Writers often put things in their books that are very personal—like a funny story that happened to them, a spiritual truth they learned through difficulty, or even just a character trait that is uniquely theirs. Is there something in THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK that only people close to you know is about you or someone you know?

Actually, yes. Early on in the writing of the book, my husband gave me a list of obscure and somewhat odd words with a challenge to see how many of them I could fit into the novel. If you read the scene in the earl’s London library, you’ll find at least four of them. :-)

Readers often talk a lot about the hero and heroine of a story, but today I’d like to know something about your villain. Does he or she have a redeeming quality? Why or why not?

Interesting question. In the first draft of the novel, I actually had a villian in the form of a woman who vied for Alex’s attention. As it turned out, there was plot enough without including the lovely Kat, a fellow astronomer whose intentions went beyond stargazing. As villians go, however, she was great study in contrasts. Smart, witty, and funny, the only negative was the fact that she would stop at nothing to rid Viscount Hambly of any attention Charlotte Beck might show him.

What kind of research did you have to do for this book? Can you share some articles or website links you found particularly helpful?

Thanks to my children’s generous Christmas gift, I was able to do my London research by actually going to London and walking in the footsteps of my characters. At the time of my visit, my cousin and her husband lived in a flat in a ninetennth century building in Kensington, I had ample opportunities for experiencing that world.

Tell us what new projects you’re working on.

I just wrapped up a contemporary novel titled DADDY’S LITTLE MATCHMAKERS, my first in a Texas beach-themed series for Love Inspired, which releases in January 2012. Book 2 in the series is my next project, just as soon as I finish a historical proposal my agent and I are very excited about.

The most common thing I hear when people learned I’ve published a book is, “I’ve always wanted to do that.” Faced with this statement, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in this business?

DO IT! Seriously! Take the Nike approach and Just. Do. It. The thing about writing books is that when all is said and done, you either sat down and wrote or you didn’t.

What is the one question you were afraid I would ask…and how would you answer?

What a question! Okay, I was afraid you’d ask how much I weigh. The answer is just a smidge over 100 pounds. And, yes, I write fiction!!! :-)

Kathleen is giving away a copy of her book, The Incovenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck. Be sure to stop by The Borrowed Book on Friday for your chance to win!