Kate Johnson's Blog, page 10

Quoth

The very wise and lovely Julie Cohen calls the self-doubt stage of writing a book 'the crows of doubt'. You know, the bit where you're convinced the book you're writing is terrible, that the characters are one-dimensional and unsympathetic, that your plot is nonsensical and has more holes in it than Blackburn, Lancashire, that none of your jokes are funny and that your mystery plot isn't

New year, new book

Happy new year! Did you have a good Christmas? Stayed at home, did you, or...oh yes, and how is your sister? Mmm-hmm, oh dear. Well, it's going around this time of year, isn't it? We've all had it too. Did you do anything for New Year? No, fairly quiet one this year, a few drinks then I went to a friend's. Yep, of course I had the traditional hangover! Went for a lovely walk in Southwold the next

A couple of Christmas gifts...

Firstly from me, a few minutes of Richard Armitage at his glowering best as Sir Guy in the BBC's Robin Hood. This was the character who sparked off my need to write a big, tough, unrefined man...sigh...who eventually became Harker in The Untied Kingdom. This is from the Children In Need appeal a few years back...if you ask me they should have said he'd take his shirt off if enough was raised.

Winter warmer

Its pretty chilly here in Blighty, so I'm warming myself up with some mulled wine, adapting a recipe for glugwein from a Finnish friend. Here's what you do:

Get a bottle of vodka. Pour out a measure or two. Save it for vodka tonics later on.

Add to the vodka: a crushed nutmeg (not ground as its too gritty); a couple of cinnamon sticks; the grated peel and juice of an orange; a teaspoon or so

Christmas cards

I bought my Christmas cards earlier this week. Usually, I choose cards with cats on, but this year my eye was caught by this design:

Because who doesn't need to take a moment to calm down during the festive season?

You might also notice the image on the top of the box, which is the Help for Heroes logo. I always like to buy charity cards, and after researching and writing The Untied Kingdom, my

Short Story Contest

My lovely publishers Choc Lit are holding a short story contest where, by writing about chocolate, you can also win chocolate!

We're looking for short stories of up to 1,500 words in which the central theme is chocolate - eating it, drinking it, cooking with it, or anything else.

PRIZES
1st prize £200, publication on the Choc Lit website and Choc Lit's authors corner blog and a box of

Amazon's Top 100 Customer Favourites

A bit of a self explanatory title here...because I've just found The Untied Kingdom on Amazon's Top 100 Customer Favourites of 2011.

Thanks, Amazon customers!

Cover for Run Rabbit Run

Drumroll!

Yes, here it is, the one we've all (well, I have) been waiting for! We've been through quite a few incarnations: photographic, cartoon, silhouetted figures; dark and gritty, pink and fluffy... but I think this, the final version, is perfect. Just the right blend of sexy, fun, and dangerous.

What do you think?

How to edit a book

Step one: receive email from editor with comments and report on book. Read it, and be immediately outraged that she can find anything, anything at all, wrong with your book.

Step two: drink a lot of wine and tell yourself it'll look better in the morning.

Step three: Look at it in the morning (somewhat blearily). It doesn't look better.

Step four. Reason that the editor's job is to find fault

Playlists

Popping my head briefly out of the Editing Cave to talk a bit about playlists. Now, when I was writing The Untied Kingdom, music became almost like a character in its own right. Eve is constantly singing, playing the guitar and the piano to entertain the others and communicate her feelings, and her repertoire goes from Beethoven to Sheryl Crow.

In Run Rabbit Run, there aren't any musicians, but