**Author Peek** Interview with Kenna McKinnon
**Author Peek** Interview with
KENNA McKINNON!
INTRODUCING…Kenna.
Before we get started talking about your writing, tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do for a living (if you’re not a full-time writer) what hobbies you have, etc. Whatever you’d like to share to introduce yourself.
Hola, I’m a senior Canadian woman author, have written all my life since I could first print and at the age of five rhymed “stars” with “Mars” to impress my cousin. My first paid article was published only in 2010 and a couple of years later, my debut novel, SpaceHive. Cheryl Tardif from Imajin Books took a chance on me six years ago. That was my first venture into eBooks and eventually print. Since then I’ve had two children’s books released by a small press and was also self-published. I recently signed with Creativia, which I like very much.
Toronto, Ontario was my birthplace. My parents brought me west when I was an infant. We subsequently lived on a small farm in the Peace River country of northeastern British Columbia, Canada. In 1963 I moved to Calgary, Alberta where I met my first husband, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1971. Before his death, we lived in Oklahoma City, USA for three years during the mid-1960s and then moved back to Canada and Edmonton, Alberta, where I’ve lived ever since. I have three wonderful adult children and three grandsons. One of my children, my son Steve, died in September 2012 of aggressive esophageal/stomach cancer.
My interests are quite broad and I’m interested in health and fitness, cooking, drumming, caricatures, church and volunteer activities. I’ve owned my own medical transcription business since 1999 and work at home.
1. What appeals to you about the genre that you write?
I write various genres but prefer mystery, I think, although I don’t read a lot of mysteries. The character of Annie is drawn from my own experiences with schizophrenia. I also like fantasy, which appeals to me because I can use the length and breadth of the universe as a canvas on which to write from pure imagination and, I hope, a bit of science and talent.
2. Are you a plotter or a pantser (one who writes “by the seat of your pants”)?
Both, I would say. I began by writing from the seat of my pants but have more recently begun to write outlines.
3. What is your favorite part of writing?
I think the beginning is my favorite part, where there is a fresh outline and characters/plot to develop. It is quite exciting to me to sit down to a blank page and begin to fill it with a story.
4. If you had to give up writing and do something else, what would you do instead?
I already am a medical transcriptionist and do it well, I think. I don’t know if I would choose transcription. It just sort of happened over the course of my career that I fell into administrative work. I might be a student again and study archeology, but my age makes it unlikely that it would be a viable alternative. I plan to retire in four or five years. I like to travel.
5. What’s your favorite meal of the day?
Lunch, I think. I sometimes don’t eat breakfast but I like salads, soups, the sort of thing one would have for lunch. I also like to cook, and often stock my freezer with meals.
6. Which are your favorite characters to write, the female characters or the male characters? Why?
The female characters because I understand the female characters better than I understand the male, and I also like strong women protagonists.
7. If you had a superpower, what would it be, and how would you use it?
I would like to be very strong and lift vehicles off people who are in accidents, or rescue them from cave-ins or natural disasters.
8. Many writers dream of having the ideal location to write. If you could live anywhere in the world or live a particular lifestyle, where would you be answering these questions right now?
Maui, Hawaii, in a condo overlooking the ocean, with a trade wind stirring the coconut palms and men and women in colorful shirts and shorts surfing in the distance, or riding their bicycles down a scenic road just within my line of vision, eating a fresh pineapple and with a coconut drink in my hand, perhaps sitting in a 1950s style diner.
9. Do you have any rejection stories to share? Reviews that meant something special to you?
Oh, I’ve had a lot of rejection slips in the early days before self-publishing and the internet. All reviews mean something special to me but I think the best was from my sister, who suggested she would like to see a sequel to Blood Sister, and that Annie was a character she would like to see again in a mystery. I modeled Annie Hansen after myself, and a couple of friends, so that meant a lot to me that someone close to me would like her that much.
10. Tell us about your next book & when is it being published?
My next book is a paranormal/fantasy trilogy of novellas called Den of Dark Angels, and it was published in June of this year by Creativia. I’m quite excited about it as it’s my first venture into paranormal. It’s a bit of horror, too, I think, in places. I’m working on a novel about a dragon and a princess called The Smallest Red Dragon, an adult mildly erotic story. That is my WIP. I haven’t progressed very far with it.
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Be sure to come back to read more about Kenna and BLOOD SISTER on Wednesday’s Karen’s Killer Book Bench. Happy Reading!
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Links to Kenna’s website, blog, books, etc.
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2aUO1xA
Author blog:
Twitter:
LinkedIn:
Amazon Author Page:
**SPECIAL GIVEAWAY**: Kenna is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky reader who comments on her **Author Peek** or Karen’s Killer Book Bench blogs.
Thank you, Kenna, for sharing your story with us. Don’t miss the chance to read these books!
