Transformation Thursday

As part of YA Reader Appreciation Week, I’m happy to host author Catherine Stine, writing new adult romance as Kitsy Clare.

Catherine Stine/Kitsy Clare

I was always, always into writing big-time, but in my twenties I was also a serious artist who attended art school. In fact, while I was writing away quietly in my studio, I was showing my paintings in NYC and all over the east coast. I painted still lives with giant clocks and hedgehogs, and I wore funky outfits like a pink suede skirt with a semi-see-through crochet top, and paint-dappled orange overalls with clashing red leather shoes. Clothes are one of the things I love to describe. Hey, I’m a visual writer, painting with words.

So it made perfect sense to write a novel series about the art world. I love to write about it, because, believe me, there are some colorful artists and really wacko art dealers! Art is a big fake-out game while at the same time it is deadly serious and cutthroat. Oh, and artists (and writers) are some of the sexiest beasts around!

Sienna, my leading lady and the narrator of the Art of Love books, shares certain qualities of mine. She is talented, but a little insecure, passionate, dedicated and ambitious. She dives in wholeheartedly, and as a result, she gets into a bit of trouble now and then. Okay, huge, deep trouble!

Since it’s fiction, I get to put my characters into worse dilemmas than I ever had to face—with even hotter guys (Though I’ve hung around some hot guys for sure). In fact, most art school drawing models were doggy—or just plain weird—like one dude who dressed in a ratty clown suit.

Here’s an example of a real dilemma: an artist friend of mine actually got attacked by his art dealer! They were fighting over one of his paintings, and the dealer ripped my friend’s shirt right off his back. Oh, yes, I have more stories up my sleeve. For instance, Caz, Sienna’s boss and love interest in Private Internship, works on his sculpture practically naked and swinging from chains. Tarzan anyone? And he has a shocking secret socked away in his locked studio that Sienna winds her way into.

Private Internship launches on Sept 29 but preorders are open now