Kate Roth's Blog, page 16

Cameo Contest!

It's contest time!! Here's how you can get a character named after you in my newest novel, Reckless Radiance.

Share my Facebook author page with all of your pals and tell them to 'like' me!Be sure to let me know via Facebook wall-post, Facebook message or email to authorkateroth@gmail.com which new 'likes' are your friends. 
The person who brings in the most new 'likes' will make a cameo appearance in my new novel!

Rules and Conditions:

Winner must already 'like' Kate Roth : Author Facebook pageNew 'likes' must still 'like' page at the time the contest ends to be considered countedContest ends January 1, 2013 10:00pm EST

Please feel free to post any questions in the comments section or on the Facebook page.

My Second Event!

Tonight I'll be signing copies of The Low Notes at an event for the second time in my career. This summer I had my very first signing and I had a great turn out and it was a blast! 

This evening I'll be sharing my night with an incredible author and someone I look up to in so many ways. Julie Young is the author of  multiple non-fiction titles including Historic Irvington, A Brief History of Shelby County Indiana , A Belief in Providence : A Life of Saint Theodora Guerin and The CYO in Indianapolis & Central Indiana . 

Back in 2008 when I was ready to get back in the writing game there was a listing for a class called "So You Want To Write A Book?". And yes--that was exactly what I wanted to do! I signed up and there was Miss Julie Young at the front of the classroom. The class was informative and fun and most of all it got me excited about the possibilities of what writing could do for me.

Like any two people who meet and don't hate each other in the modern age, we became Facebook friends. A few years later I reached out to her and asked her to take a look at something I had written. From there we had a few meet ups where we talked writing and she gave me some solid advice about what my next move should be. And then it seemed we started talking more about life in general. We talked work and family and our shared love of music and celebrity. 

Julie quickly became my friend and our 'meetings' now consist of a glass of wine and conversations that take us into the late night hours of any old weeknight.

I'm so thrilled that Julie and I will be hosting this book signing together and that the woman who was once my teacher is now someone I can call friend and fellow author! 

If you are local to the Indianapolis area please come out and visit us at Bookmamas in Irvington. All the information is listed on the Events page of this blog and can also be found as a shared event on my Facebook page. Be sure to visit Julie on her website!

Top Ten Tuesday : Holiday Movies

Let the holiday cheer continue!! Here's a list of the top ten movies I LOVE watching each December. This was so hard because I think I actually have a top 15. I had to leave out Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Holiday in Handcuffs and Die Hard. SOOO HARD!

10. The Holiday

9. Scrooged

8. The Polar Express

7. Love Actually

6. The Muppet's Christmas Carol

5. White Christmas

4. The Santa Clause

3. Home Alone (and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

2. Elf

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Note : For those of you who can't believe you eyes and think I have made a serious oversight...I personally am not a fan of the movie A Christmas Story. I don't like it so it doesn't make the cut.

Work In Progress

So glad to have that name back on my screen. Can't wait for you to meet him!!
Before I ever typed the name Kevin Reed--I had Russell. Back in 2008 when I was getting back into the writing game after a long hiatus a Maroon 5 song sparked an idea in my head. That first idea has transformed many times and today I'm left working on an almost five year old manuscript, finishing it and perfecting it for publication.

I recently titled the novel Reckless Radiance and I can honestly say it's all I think about these days. The passion I had for it in 2008 has returned with even more fire burning for my story. It has been scrapped and rewritten twice and now in its final version (version 3.0) I feel confident that it will be a book I will be incredibly proud to share with my readers.

Send me good vibes! Cheer me on on my Facebook page and Twitter! Here's to 2013--the year of Reckless Radiance!!!

Top Ten Tuesday : Favorite Holiday Songs

I've got holiday fever!! I've turned on the Christmas music, I'm baking up a storm and I've been decking my halls since Thanksgiving. However you celebrate, there's one thing we can all agree on--this truly is a time to share goodwill and cheer. As the weather gets yuckier and the year comes to an end let's be thankful for what we have, mindful of those who have less and kind to all.

This was a hard list to narrow down but here are my top ten holiday tunes!

10. Twelve Days of Christmas Medley by Straight No Chaser 

9. Hey Santa! by The Wilson Sisters (aka Wilson sans Phillips)


8. Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes

7. Mele kalikimaka by Bing Crosby

6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by James Taylor

5. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon

4. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Bon Jovi

3. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey

2. Oh Holy Night by Nsync

1. Celebrate Me Home by Kenny Loggins

Why I'm Glad I Failed NaNoWriMo

50,000 words in 30 days. That's the challenge of National Novel Writing Month and I FAILED. Not just failed by a little. We could call this one an epic fail.

I started out with a story that I thought would excite me and evolve into something amazing. I challenged myself to do something different from my usual genre and it didn't end up working out.

I'm glad I failed because it was a nice lesson. Deadlines are not encouragement for me. Deadlines are stress and more stress in my life is debilitating to my writing process.

Since giving up on NaNo I've written 3,000 words of a project I had been telling myself I needed to get back to. I spent dinner a few nights ago explaining the entire plot to my husband which totally proved to me that I had a beginning, middle and end (and even hubby thinks it's a good story!).

I'm not going to give myself a deadline for this project. I'm just going to tell myself that I can get it done. I can write a little (or a lot) every day until it is complete.

NaNoWriMo is clearly not for me but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good challenge and a good lesson learned.

Top Ten Tuesday : Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I had a T.T.T. on here! With Thanksgiving just a few days away I thought it would be a great time to list a few things I'm thankful for this season.

10. My Day Job : Some of you may not know that I spend the majority of my days making a living as a hairdresser. I have a great group of amazing clients and I truly enjoy the creativity that hair styling allows me. I'm thankful for the fact that I enjoy my job, the people I see every day and that I have been able to be successful.

9. Fellow Authors : Facebook and Twitter have helped me 'meet' some incredible fellow authors who are supportive and helpful with tips. I have a few authors I call 'friend' and those relationships are even more treasured. I am thankful for Britni Hill, Julie Young, Christine Johnson, Adam L. Garcia, Caitlyn Duffy, Katie Andrews Potter, all the Rebels and tons more!

8. 2012 : This year has been so full of amazing opportunities and exciting endeavors. I'm thankful that in a year that is supposedly ending on December 21st I've been able to make sure I beat the clock on achieving a few of my dreams.

7. Readers : It's sometimes still hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that people are reading my book! From getting emails, reviews and requests for more novels I am beyond thankful for readers of The Low Notes.

6. Words : I'm thankful for words. Simple as that. Words are my life and without them I would have a lot less joy.

5. My Friends : I have an astounding group of friends. They are some of the most fun, strong, hilarious and supportive people I know. I am thankful for relationships that feel like family created by fate.

4. My Family : Two siblings, three sister-in-laws, one brother-in-law, three nieces (and one on the way), one nephew, mom and dad, the in-laws and everyone beyond that--you are all amazing and I would be so much less without you.

3. Sampson : My first (and for right now, only) baby! He puts up with me typing away and he sits by me for long hours while I drink my coffee and work. Thankful for my furry child.

Photo of Sam courtesy of Eliza Marie Photography
2. My Husband : Unending support, unconditional love and unpredictable fun! Adam makes me a better person and he has treated me to an amazing marriage for five years. I am so thankful to have found and married my best friend.

1. My Health : Without this I would be nothing. I am thankful I can stand on my feet all day and do hair. I am thankful my fingers work tirelessly writing novels. I am thankful my mind is clear and full of ideas. I am thankful to see the beauty in the world, smell the fragrances of the seasons, hear and be inspired by music, feel the keys beneath my fingertips and eat, sleep and breathe love, life and passion.

This holiday season, no matter how you celebrate, take a moment to ponder your own top ten list of thankfulness. Bonus : I am thankful for anyone who takes the time to read my blog, so thank you :) Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

NaNoWriMo Day #9

Nine days in and I have to say I feel like I'm losing a bit of my momentum. As of last night I was just 15 words over where I should be which I know I should be happy about but starting out I was a good 1,000 words ahead. That was a nice buffer to have!

I like my story. I like a handful of my characters. Others I could probably do without and some, quite honestly I feel like I don't know at all. It's a very different type of story for me and though I like writing about something a little darker and with a little more meat to it I still find myself getting the most excited when I'm developing the love triangle. DUH.

I'll check back in at the halfway mark and hopefully I'll have a better handle on things. But even if I don't I still believe this is a positive experience, a great challenge and I think it spark me to keep writing quickly and consistently through the end of the year. You never know, there may be another book out by The Low Notes' one year anniversary!!


NaNoWriMo word count as of 8:50am 11/9/2012 : 13,345

Split Personality

I've been writing since middle school but for a period of time after I left college I stopped writing consistently. Then in 2008 I had my first idea in a very long time. That idea was NOT The Low Notes. Before The Low Notes I was working on a paranormal romance. I adore the genre of paranormal and I've always liked writing and reading it.

The idea started out as a vampire story (because what was hotter in 2008 than vampires?!) but eventually morphed into a story about angels who walk the earth. The story is still collecting dust on my hard drive and every now and then I take a look and edit it a bit. One day I'll finish it. After I took a course on novel writing it became clear to me that the first novel I had in me was The Low Notes.

But I haven't yet lost my love of paranormal. Specifically, young adult paranormal. Last night I was inspired and started working on something of the YA para variety and I have to say I'm a little scared. I know there are lots of authors who cross genres but it's a scary jump. I just keep telling myself that I can't be confined by a certain genre...I have to tell the stories that strike me. And trust me readers, I've been struck.

J.K. Rowling's latest release, The Casual Vacancy, is certainly a different kind of book for her but she has already made more than a name for herself so she's in the category of I-do-what-I-want. Stephen King is in the same boat. He writes less and less horror all the time even though that's what he's known for.

I suppose I could classify what I'm doing by looking at Meg Cabot. She started writing romance (under pen name Patricia Cabot) and then made the leap into YA, middle grade and paranormal. She writes across genres successfully.

So here's hoping my readers have split personalities just like me. An eclectic taste for an eclectic author.

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month! The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. Can you do it? Should you try?

A few years ago I tried NaNoWriMo but failed pretty miserably. That isn't stopping me from taking the plunge this year. I'll be working on a YA novel that I've been thinking about for a while. Fifty thousand words by December 1st or bust!

I love the idea behind the challenge. It's a fantastic way to jump start an idea and to get the creative juices flowing. There's no rule that says the finished work has to be ready to publish. It's just about accomplishing a goal.

Writers tend to have a lot of ideas about what they need to do to be able to write. I'm one of them. I make excuses as to why I'm not able to work. But it's as simple as this...just write. If we take the time to sit and write, a little every day, we can accomplish what we set out to do.

Now, editing is a whole different story. 

I'll be posting my progress throughout the month of November and fingers crossed I'll have 50,000 words just after Thanksgiving. If you are interested in learning more or signing up for the challenge you can visit the official NaNo website here.

Get your pens or keys ready!