Author Insight welcomes novelist Kathryn Meyer Griffith. Ms. Griffith has had a long and varied writing career, and she has some terrific insight to the topsy-turvy world of publishing.
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Hello Kathleen….I’m glad to be here at Author Insight! And hello to all you readers and authors out there as well!
What prompted you to become a writer? When I was a child I loved to read. I read everything – especially science fiction, historical romance or spooky stories – and eventually, in my early twenties, I started to read books that I thought could have been written better. So I started writing my first novel. It took me twelve years (and three novels that I rewrote over and over) before I actually sold my second manuscript to Leisure Books in 1984…a romantic horror called Evil Stalks The Night. Those were the days I used a typewriter and because I was self-taught as a typist it took forever…and lots of White-Out. Thank goodness for computers!
How long have you been writing and in what genres do you write? I’ve been writing for as long as my only child, James, has been alive…which is a good way of keeping track. Thirty-six years now. I’ve been published for over twenty-four. I started writing in the horror genre (and always unconsciously with a big dose of romance) and of my twelve books (ten published and two to come out soon), six have been romantic horror, four have been murder mysteries or suspense, one has been historical romance and one a romantic ancient Egyptian time-travel.
When did you have your first sale? It was in 1984. My first book sold was actually my second written manuscript. Evil Stalks The Night. I sold it to a publisher called Towers Publishing and after two years of back and forth – those were the days of only snail-mail, no e-mail – revisions and stuff, it was ready to go to print when Towers went bankrupt. Luckily, a new company bought out Towers – Leisure Books – and asked to see and then publish it.
What is the most challenging aspect of being a writer? Hanging in there over the years, the rejections, set-backs and all the unexpected things life and just living can throw at you. I’ve had a book all ready to be released, cover printed out and final galleys turned in, and six weeks from when it was supposed to go to the bookstore shelves my publisher decided to reorganize. I lost my editor and the new editor dropped my book completely. Funny thing is the computers never cleared the book and people still e-mail me asking where to get my book Predator…it doesn’t exist. It never came out. Maybe someday I’ll rewrite it and try to resell it, but I was so disgusted with the whole mess I stuck it in a drawer and it’s still there. Want a laugh? It was 1993 and the book was about an American Loch Ness Monster in Crater Lake. My new editor said: “No one wants to read about a predatory dinosaur.” Three months later Jurassic Park came out. The one truth I’ve really learned is that different people perceive stories and books so subjectively. One person will love one of my books and another person will hate it. There’s no telling. Same with reviewers. You have to develop a thick skin to criticism, a sense of humor and an open mind…in the end you have to write for yourself because you love it. It’s the journey sometimes that gives me the greatest joy and not always the destination.
What is the most rewarding aspect of being a writer? When some reader contacts me and says how much they loved my book or say that they read one of my earliest ones, sometimes many years ago, and never forgot it. It made them happy. Mostly, when I am writing I feel content with the world and myself. It’s great therapy. The rest of the world doesn’t matter when I’m at my computer or thinking about my books. Lastly, for some reason people think writers are smart or special (ha, ha) and I let them just go on thinking that. But I’m just a person, with all the weakness, needs, wants and fears, like them.
Tell us about your latest project. Which one? I’m just finishing up editing and promotions on the five projects (three novels and two short stories) I’ve contracted over the last eight months to the e-publisher The Wild Rose Press and when I get done with them (soon I hope…got one book left to go) I’ll be doing a major rewrite on an end-of-days and Rapture series novel called Before The End for an agent who said she would look at it again if I revised it a certain way. I don’t have an agent right now and have been searching for a new one for years. They’re hard to catch.
What projects do you have coming out in the future? From The Wild Rose Press: Egyptian Heart, an ancient Egyptian time travel romance, available now; Winter’s Journey, a suspenseful romance novel came out on April 4 (paperback to come out October 3, 2008); The Ice Bridge, a murder mystery contemporary romance (the one I’m going into edits on now) to come out as well in the next few months; and two romantic ghostly short stories, In This House, came out January 9, 2008 and Don’t Look Back, Agnes, first in a ghostly romantic series, came out March 12.
What refreshes you creatively? Going for long walks in the woods or being with my husband and big family; jamming musically with my brother, Jim, a songwriter/musician (who performs songs for all my book trailers). Just living my life. Having fun.
What do you wish you knew then that you know now? That writing is a life-long journey, a way of life…and that it’s possible (more likely than not) to never get the fame or fortune you crave when you’re younger from it but that the smaller joys will someday mean just as much.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Just what I said above. You must write because you love to write and not because you think it will make you rich or famous. And…have patience. Lots of it. Writing and all aspects of the publishing business can sometime take years. Accept rejections and try to learn from them. That’s hard because we’re all just human. But you have to learn it. Oh, lastly…don’t ever give up. Persistence is so important. Keep writing no matter what. Enjoy your writing and your journey and the friends you make along the way.
Thank you Kathleen Fuller and everyone. Please go to any of my websites to see all my self-made book trailers with original music by my singer/songwriter brother, Jim Meyer. It’s been fun!
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Don’t Look Back, Agnes, a romantic ghostly Miniature Faery Rose… out March 12, 2008
Egyptian Heart, an ancient Egyptian Time Travel Romance Novel by Kathryn Meyer Griffith
from THE WILD ROSE PRESS Available Electronically Now ; Paperback May 30, 2008
In This House, a romantic ghostly Faery Rosette…coming out on January 9, 2007
The Ice Bridge, a contemporary romance with a touch of murder mystery… coming out in mid 2008
See all my new covers and self-made book trailers; some with my singer/songwriter brother Jim Meyer’s original songs!
Copy and paste the links below for more information about Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s books.
http:// www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG
http://www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://www.previewthebook.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://www.jacketflap.com/K.Griffith
http://www.shoutlife.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://Goodreads.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
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