About author, Kristina Knight: Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police—no, she wasn’t a troublemaker, she was a journalist. When the opportunity to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head, she jumped at it. And she’s never looked back. Now she writes magazine articles by day and romance novels with spice by night. She lives on Lake Erie with her husband and four-year-old daughter. Happily ever after.
INTERVIEW
Hi, Isabella! Thanks so much for having me here today!
It’s my pleasure having you back. Now, for the interview:
You knew you were a writer when…: I wrote my first book, over summer vacation when I was 12. It was a girl power version of The Three Musketeers, with a little romance thrown in for good measure!
Salty or sweet? Ummm…yes?
What is the writing/editing/publishing process like for you? Probably a little weird, but it works for me: as I’m developing a story idea I will create an outline of events…as soon as I start writing, that outline is blown out of the water, but its important for me at the beginning stages. I write first drafts fast, and many times they include things like [INSERT SEX SCENE HERE] or [THIS MOTIVATION IS CREEPY, FIX IT], those places are what second drafts are for! I’m still new to the publishing world, but usually a couple of rounds of edits, cover art suggestions and we’re ready to send a new book out into the reading space.
What message do you want to send to you readers? That they can do/be/achieve anything they want. There are so many people, even people important to us, who poo-poo our ideas or goals. But if something is important to you, know that you can get to that goal. It takes a lot of hard work and determination sometimes, but you can get there.
How do you come up with the titles of your books? Titles are a bear for me. Usually I send out a panicked email to my critique partners that says something like, “I can’t call this book HawtVetCowboy any more…what should I call it?” And we brainstorm and come up with ideas that my publisher changes anyway…
Where’s your favorite writing location? I love Starbucks in the morning. Give me my iPad, a smoothie and lots of noise and I’m a happy writer.
Are any parts of your books based on anything true? Kind of? A lot of times real-life happenings will inspire a scene or a conversation, but I’m careful not to ‘out’ the real-world inspirations…
What is your favorite word? Kerfuffle. I love that word, it kind of dances off my tongue.
If you books were turned into movies, who would you want to play the parts? This is a tough one! I always have ‘faces’ in mind as I’m writing, but I like the readers to be able to draw their own conclusions as to what the characters actually look like. But Scarlett Johannsen has been heroine inspiration for me a couple of times and so has David Gandy. I’ll let you all decide who and what books…
How was the social media helped your career? Social media is great. It’s helped me connect with readers, build better relationships with other authors…and basically kept me sane. I’m a full-time writer with a little one at home, so I need an adult outlet now and then. And social media is usually that outlet.
Every writer must have…: Sharpies! Sharpies! Sharpies! They’re good for everything: editing, outlining, storyboarding. Plus they come in fun colors.
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects? I’ve just released my 3rd (and final, sob) Texas Girl book, What a Texas Girl Dreams…and my next book, Mr. Right Now will be out in the fall. It’s a fun, contemporary, vacation romance with a mistaken identity twist and I’m really excited about it!
Additional comments by Kristina: Thank you so much for having me here today, Isabella! I’ll be hanging out all day, so if anyone has a question, shoot!
