Kathryn Nolan's Blog, page 10
November 23, 2020
Good deed for the week
This week raises awareness around two very important issues - it is Hunger and Homelessness Week and also Transgender Awareness Week. ❤
I worked in the field of homelessness for eight years, so this week is near and dear to my heart. The pandemic has led to some of the highest rates of food insecurity and housing instability. Thanksgiving is always a good time to spread a little monetary love if you're able, so I've linked two food programs that Rob and I support here in the Philly area.
Transgender Awareness Week is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community. It's important to lift up our transgender friends and loved ones all year round, but if you're looking to spread a little monetary love, I linked two organizations doing great work for the trans community.
I'm a former fundraiser, so trust me when I say that every dollar matters and every gift has a huge impact, no matter the size. ❤❤
Thank you for making the SEXY SHORTS sale a success!
THANK YOU for making the SEXY SHORTS sale such a success! My little smutty book of smut hung out in the top 100 in the Amazon free store all five days - and currently has a cute orange banner even though its back at full price. I hope you enjoyed all of those, uh, threesomes
November 14, 2020
A surprise sale!
SEXY SHORTS is free for a limited time only! And it's got a beautiful (and hot) new cover! (see below)
This book is a collection of thirteen filthy short stories - plus one novella! It's the perfect escape for the weekend. And it's guaranteed to make you blush (in the best way possible). The stories are romantic and dreamy, taboo and dirty, hot and sweet. Some read as short fantasies, others are full stories.
All are absolutely delicious. I'm not lying when I tell you that I blush when I open up SEXY SHORTS to a page at random
November 13, 2020
One romance author, three crime fiction authors, and hot coffee.
On Election Day, I was extremely lucky to volunteer as a poll watcher at a location in my neighborhood in South Philly. Our job was to make sure lines ran smoothly, answer voter questions, pass out PPE, sing, dance, keep spirits up, and make sure folks had food and water if they needed it.
For those who followed along on my Instagram stories, I took this picture around...I don't remember actually As volunteers, we were there from 6:30 am to 9:00 pm, so I was essentially delirious and dehydrated at this point. And yet the day was filled with hope and energy!
John Lewis talks about this a lot in his memoir, 'Walking With the Wind' - about the tiniest, tedious, tasks that make up the fight for justice and our democracy. They are not glamorous, or shiny, but they are crucial to pulling the levers of change and freedom.
Tuesday was not glamorous. Everyone was there in the freezing cold for 14+ hours, doing tedious work that protects our democracy:
-the poll watchers,
-Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (who stood with us, chatting about how she loves working with AOC, and handed out soft pretzels like a queen)
-the Food for the Polls folks who served chicken wings to everyone
-the fearless poll workers
-the Judges of Elections
-the poll protectors
-the reporters
-La Colombe coffee that brought cold brew for us all
-Common (who performed in West Philly!)
-Joy to the Polls who sang and danced all day
-and the long lines of voters who stayed in line, kept their cool and did the thing.
Three volunteers came to work the afternoon shift with me, and when I told them I was a romance author, they said, "No way. All three of us are crime fiction authors!" Which made the day even more fun, chatting author-biz stuff, and writer's block, and learning about another genre. They were awesome!
One volunteer angel, Craig, hung with us all day (he's in his 80s) making pot after pot of hot coffee and bringing it to us in styrofoam cups on his TV tray. He kept being like "now I've got a nice French Vanilla creamer, would you like that?" (). That hot coffee literally saved us when the sun set and the temperature dropped - as did his cheerful, positive spirit.
I would do this again in a heart-beat -- and if you've ever wanted to get involved in local elections, I highly recommend volunteer shifts like the one I did. Help is always needed, plus you get to meet and hang with your neighbors.
(And yes, I wore my Ripped Bodice sweatshirt all day!)
I got fake-engaged at my writer's retreat
I just got to spend a glorious few days in the Poconos with Lucy Score and Mr. Lucy, where we hunkered down in a cozy house with a beautiful lake view. It was the perfect writing weather: foggy, cloudy, chilly enough for blankets, and a peaceful lake.
I brought along my WIP, a second-chance romantic suspense novel (YEAH!), and got to spend 2.5 days plotting, daydreaming, researching, and making a lot of Pinterest boards of what I think each character's house looks like on the inside (I always end up just ordering new curtains when I do this).
The first morning, Lucy and I went to go visit the beautiful lake and soak in some creative inspiration. We took this adorable picture (see below) and Lucy shared it in her Facebook group (Binge Readers Anonymous!). Quite a few readers pointed out that this picture looks like a very typical engagement announcement. Obviously, after we looked at the picture a second time, we realized that it does, in fact, look like Lucy just asked me to marry her and I'm showing off my (real-life) wedding ring.
October 16, 2020
The entire Codex series is coming to audio!
The entire Codex series will be coming to your ears!
Tantor Media is in the very early stages of audio production of BEHIND THE VEIL, UNDER THE ROSE and IN THE CLEAR. Once narrators have been selected, and a release date has been announced, I will share with all of you immediately. But I can't speak to when that will be... yet.
I am as excited as Humphrey Hatcher gets talking about Sherlock Holmes! Here are just some of the things you'll be getting to HEAR!!
The sexy Krav Maga scene between Henry and Delilah
Freya and Sam's first kiss
The secret underground tunnels and the Empty House dinner!
Victoria Whitney just....being herself!
The, ahem, closet scene in BTV
Freya and Sam's sexy bicker-arguing
Humphrey and Reggie!!!!
Sloane and Abe's first kiss at Midnight Apothecary
Sloane and Abe's multiple run-ins with guards and fights and fires and sharing one bed for safety purposes!
The Codex team hanging out, bein' cute.
....and so much more. I AM BESIDE MYSELF with happiness! As soon as I hear more, you will be the first to know.
Stay safe out there and get the damn book back.❤
October 15, 2020
A girl and her van.
I spent Tuesday through Thursday afternoon camping along the Susquehanna River (one of my favorite places in Maryland). I packed Van Morrison on Tuesday and then enjoyed the utterly decadent feeling of going grocery shopping for a trip where I didn't have to eat while keeping a wild, barely domesticated coyote from eating my food right out of my hands/mouth (I love you Walter!!)
This is what I brought: Two Robbers Hard Seltzer (orange/mango flavor), sour gummi worms (my favorite snack), all the donuts, ramen noodles, soup, mini-croissants, trail mix, dried fruit, bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, crackers, like four different types of cheese, pretzels. Okay I think that's it. Guys, this is like $75 worth of food for one person for 2.5 days and I had ZERO regrets!
Once at the campground, I spent too many hours building the RESPLENDENT campfire you see below (like 90% of the campfire was me burning my precious copy of The Philadelphia Inquirer, but still it counts). It was chilly, so I cozied up in the van and read for a million hours, leaving a window cracked "for the ambience" (I'm an idiot) and then waking up freezing in the morning and buried under every blanket I owned.
But!! Like most folks, I'm a sucker for crisp, autumn weather, and early October holds a special place in my author's heart. The smell of the campfires at night, the crunchy leaves, the changing colors, the smell of cooking, the blue sky, the fall breeze...it was just perfect and made me want to write 100 different stories about cute witches stirring their cauldrons and flirting with other cute witches (or something). Essentially, it's witchy season and I'm ready.
I spent two days hiking along different trails - which I rarely do by myself, since I'm usually being pulled by my 25-pound coyote. So it was lovely, and quiet, and the trees were gorgeous, and the river was just exquisite. My blankets were cozy, the fire was warm, the books were incredible and I felt rested for the first time in awhile.
I usually go on outdoor expeditions to inspire creativity around my different writing projects - I always get good ideas on the hiking trail. But I was, to be honest, so wiped out after finishing the draft, it was also just lovely to sit quietly, look at the leaves, and feel my writer brain decompress.
October 12, 2020
Thank you for making the Bluewater Billionaires sale so successful!!
You guys! You made Emily, Cameron, Luna and Daisy so proud last week! All four Bluewater Billionaires books were on sale - and thanks to you, spent a decent amount of time on Amazon's Top 100 charts. What a wild ride!
To celebrate, Lucy, Claire, Pippa and I all went live on Sunday night for a hilarious hour of chatting. Click that button if you need to laugh a little this Friday!
Watch our livestream!
October 11, 2020
ICYMI: Join our book club!
On Thursday, October 29th I'll be hosting a book club in Kathryn Nolan's Hippie Chicks - and I'd love for you to join along!
We're reading Juno Rushdan's EVERY LAST BREATH and oh my god this book is amazing. I'm reading it right now and its the perfect escapism. Fast-paced thriller plus romantic suspense plus hot chemistry = everything!
If you loved UNDER THE ROSE, then think Freya and Sam but with much higher stakes and a lot more angry angst. I'll include the blurb below, but Maddox and Cole are both lethal, covert agents who must partner up to stop a bio-threat. But also, they are former lovers and until recently Maddox believed Cole to be dead...
It is supremely hot and sexy, you guys. Also the Fated Mates podcast listed EVERY LAST BREATH as one of their top romance reads of 2019!
We are participating in this as part of Nana Malone's #brownnipplechallenge, which brings together romance authors and readers to amplify BIPOC authors and voices through virtual bookclubs.
Juno Rushdan is a brand new author to me and I'm so glad we're going to talk about this book in October!
September 18, 2020
Dispatches from the writing cave (Part 3)
Total word count as of today: 65,000-ish
Days left until deadline: 7
Ooooof.
It has been a week, you guys. I was rolling right along on this draft (they kissed and it was REAL! HOT!) and then got to the 65,000-word mark and had a (right on schedule) writer-ly meltdown. There was a lot of brow-furrowing, and staring out the window with a puzzled expression, and desperately reading back through my pages of plot notes.
And then there was, like, a rollercoaster of super anxious anxiety and THEN I figured out there were a few elements missing from the beginning that need some tweaking so I can move past this 65k mark. So although it pains me to go backward and carefully re-edit the beginning (for the third time) it's all part of the big, beautiful process of crafting the unique love story of Fiona and Max.
It was not fun at all, but it happens every time. Ask my husband and all of my author friends, who have heard me reach this exact point in every draft for the past twelve drafts. (!!!) If the first draft is you, the writer, telling yourself the story, then the second draft is where you hack away all those messy weeds to find the garden underneath. The weeds are just as important as the garden - both shape the process. And I think the reason why I got stuck is because I'd left in a few scenes that I just LOVED from the first draft but really, probably, aren't right for Fiona and Max. We call this "kill your darlings" and it is hard, but they'll have to go.
And in the mean-time, after all the brow-furrowing, last night I turned on my favorite Justin Timberlake album(s), drank a marshmallow-coffee stout (just try it) and had the best time tweaking the re-tweaks and watching these two sexy jerks fall in love. Ugh, they're cute. So so so so cute.
