Kate McMurray's Blog, page 45

the inside reader + bonus books

Today I am The Inside Reader at Elisa Rolle's blog.

To the left is a quick and dirty snapshot of two of the… uh… six? bookcases I have in my apartment. The book hoarding, it's a disease. I totally will be the old lady you find out about who got crushed under the weight of all the stuff in her apartment. Thank goodness for ebooks; owning an ereader has cut my paper book acquisition down to a small fraction of what it once was (although then the Brooklyn Public Library or the Housing Works...

what happens here?

In my continuing mission to figure out what to throw at this website, I put up a "Coming Soon" page that is… coming soon. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I will hopefully have news about what you can expect from me over the next year or so.

And speaking of said mission, you can use this post as an opportunity to tell me if there is anything you'd like to see on this here site. Blog post topics, information I'm not providing, feel free to tell me.

And now I have query letters to...

mom's day

Halloweeen ca. 1984

I went digging for a few old photos of my mother in honor of the holiday and came up with this one. It's fitting in its way; every Halloween since forever, she's dressed up as a witch. There was a box of old costumes that lived in our basement that had no fewer than 5 pointy hats in it at any given time.

My mom is also a writer, though she writes mostly non-fiction these days. My dad is a scientist. As far as following in parental footsteps, it could have gone either way...

another review

Great review from Elisa:

This is probably the strength of this book, there is everything, prejudices, love, loss, hope, but each of them is woven in the plot without being a sore eyes, the texture is fluid, like silk, and warm, like wool. Noah's character feels real, in his hurting, in his trying to deny that hurt, and in his searching for solace in anonymous sex.

Two reviews in one day! Hey, I'm happy for my little book to get some attention. I'm so thrilled that the book has been...

new review of In Hot Pursuit

It's a gross, rainy day in New York. I've had a bit of a headache all day, so I went out and drank a gigantic latte, which if anything perked me up a little. While I drank it, I sat in a cafe with my laptop. I've heard that there are a lot of freelancers and writers in this neighborhood, so any given cafe in the Park Slope/Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn is bound to be full of people typing away on their MacBooks on a Sunday afternoon. Today was not an exception. I sat next to this woman...

poetry and other non-noveling pursuits

I had some technical difficulties (and a zany schedule) that kept me from doing much writing this weekend, but getting a break from the computer was kind of refreshing.

I learned this morning that April is National Poetry Month. So let's talk about poetry.

My favorite poet is Elizabeth Bishop. Poetry is such a subjective thing that it's hard to say why. I was introduced to her poetry by a high school English teacher—a teacher who had a significant impact on me, who really changed who I was...

low down on the hoedown

When I announced the publication of In Hot Pursuit, the first question anyone asked me was, "So when are you having a party?" My circle of friends needs little excuse to get together!

I finally had a little private book party last night at Madame X, which is a really great bar, should you find yourself in the New York area and in need of libations. They're no strangers to romance writers, either; they host Lady Jane's Salon on the first Monday of every month. (I've never been, because I...

a few random thoughts

Spring is for sure my favorite season. I like to take walks and I like flowers and I think the first couple of weekends of spring, when everyone is anxious to spend time outside, are like waking up from a long hibernation. This was an especially snowy, unpleasant winter, so it's kind of nice to see lots of sunny days in the forecast. I took a long walk through the neighborhood this afternoon, admiring all the flowers blooming. I always forget how many cherry trees there are in Brooklyn until ...

fear and loathing in midtown

New York is so weird sometimes. I had a few errands to run in Manhattan, so I decided to take the subway to Midtown. I don't leave Brooklyn much these days, so going to Manhattan can feel like An Event. And I sure picked a hell of a day! The weather was great. There were lots of spring-related shenanigans in Central Park. As you can see from the above photo, the park was mobbed! Not to mention that iPads went on sale today, so the 5th Avenue Apple Store… let's not even talk about it...

networking socially

I would consider myself, maybe not a computer nerd, but good with technology, for the most part. I've done my own hardware upgrades. I own lots of gadgets (including an ereader). I've designed websites. I'm a Mac user, although I don't know if that says anything about me besides that Steve Jobs owns a tiny piece of my soul.

But trendy things? I think I'm, like, six months behind whatever the new trend is online. But I'm told that the key to marketing one's book is social networking, so I've b...