A visit with Kat Henry Doran

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a fabulous author. Serendipity introduced us, and it’s been a real pleasure getting to know her and her writing work. Kat Henry Doran recently sat down and got the Peggy grilling ( read: nosey questions!). 

Author Interview Questions:

Kat, The Writer, Questions

1. What drives you to write? Creating a logical and intriguing story based on the age-old question, “What if . . .”

2. What genre(s) of Romance do your write, and why? For the last few years I’ve stuck with straight [meaning no suspense or mystery or h/h in jeopardy], fairly sweet [meaning no overt sex acts but plenty of tension] romances. For me they are fun and take me out of myself.

3. What genre(s) of Romance do you read, and why? Romantic Suspense. I want to see how the experts like Nora Roberts and Sandra Brown plot things out and create plausible endings.

4. What’s your writing schedule? I write when I can which is not everyday. Plus, I need to feel the compulsion to write and that unfortunately doesn’t strike very often anymore.

5. Give us a glimpse of the surroundings where you write. In the living room on my love seat with files of notes, reminders and magazine or newspaper articles beside me. The TV is running so I can watch my favorite shows or old faves in videos. Right now I’m on the seventh or eighth rerun of “Spotlight”. The plot and actors captivated me from the first viewing. Each time I watch it I see something new.

6. Are you the kind of writer who needs total quiet to compose, or are you able to filter out the typical sounds of the day and use your tunnel vision? See my response to #5.

7. Do you listen to music while you write? It depends on the story and charcters. With one novella I wore out a Best of Gershwin CD. With my WIP I’m doing Motown girl groups.

8. How did you come up with the plot line/idea for your current WIP? It was during a visit to one of my favorite places on earth: Saranac Lake, NY, a small tourist town in the Adirondack Mountains, best known for successful treatments and cures for Tuberculosis prior to the development of anti-tubercular meds and is a few miles from Olympic history [1980 Miracle on Ice]. I drove around to familiarize myself with favorite haunts, took more than a few pictures and realized I had to set my next book in this place. Within hours I’d found the perfect location for the heroine’s home and place of work, a few secondary characters, and places for her and the hero to dine, shop and take their son to play.

9. Which comes first for you – character or plot? Characters. Always. Because if I don’t fall in love with them and respect them, there’s no reason for a book. For me, everything else is built around the characters.

10. What 3 words describes you, the writer? Imaginative, dreamy and driven. (Peggy here: love that description!)

Kat, The Person, Questions:

1. Tell us one unusual thing about yourself – not related to writing! I am a retired nurse-paralegal, currently recovering from total hip replacement surgery. I could not walk without the aid of a cane and heavy duty pain killers for most of 2015. Today I can do almost anything—except dance the samba—and am completely pain free. It is wonderful and I’m so grateful.
2. Who was your first love and what age were you? His name was Bill and I was 15.
3. If you could relive one day, which one would it be? The day Bill and I broke up. It’s been 50 years or more and I still think of him. We’ve seen each other over the years—family weddings and funerals—and he’s as attractive now as he was then. I would explain what went wrong, why it happened, then ask him to forgive my thoughtlessness.
4. Do you like a guy in boxers or briefs? Boxers never fail.
5. If you had to give up one necessary-can’t-live-without-it beauty item, what would it be? My nightly facial mask.
6. What three words describes you, the person? Sober. Loving. Relentless.
7. If you could sing a song with Jimmy Fallon, what would it be? Who is Jimmy Fallon?
8. If you could hang out with any literary character from any book penned at any time line, who would it by, why, and what would you do together? Vince Flynn, now deceased, wrote political thrillers featuring an ongoing character named Mitch Rapp. The way Mr. Flynn’s mind worked intrigues me. I’d have a long discussions with him on my three chief concerns:

1. Mitch’s wife turned into a real buzz kill shortly after they married and began issuing ultimatums left and right. She needed to die much sooner than she did.
2. Mitch’s attitude needs a major league adjustment—either from the POTUS [President of the United States] or the Director of the CIA.
3. Mitch needs a woman in his life. Someone with a brain and a mouth. Maybe an ER or ICU nurse who values her career as much as he does his and who is comfortably living on her own without the need of a man with a super ego, yet offers the great Mitch Rapp exactly what he needs. Maybe she could deliver the needed adjustment. Actually, I’ve just described myself back in the day. Sigh.

 

Bonus round

I love the Actor’s Studio show on Bravo, so this is my version of it:

1. Favorite sound. My grandchildren just goofing around.
2. Least favorite sound. My grandchildren whining.
3. Best song every written. Rhapsody in Blue.
4. Worst song ever written. It’s a Small World After All
5. Favorite actor and actress. Currently it’s Liev Schreiber, with Daniel Craig a close second, and Dame Judy Dench.
6. Who would you want to be for 1 day and why? The Pope. I’d fix a few Cardinal wagons over in the Vatican, you betcha.
7. What turns you on? My husband’s smile.
8. What turns you off? Persons in power abusing those in a lesser position.
9. Give me the worst 5 words ever heard on a first date. “And then I did this.” OR “Did I tell you I . . .”
10. What’s your version of a perfect day? Sleeping late and waking on my own not to an annoying alarm clock. Coming to the living room and finding a pile of crossword puzzles to work on. Having an unending supply of fresh, dark roast iced coffee at my elbow. The Food Network or Say Yes to the Dress are playing on TV.

 

VENGEANCE IS MINE, Kat’s newest book

Blurb: 

            Ever fantasize about going back to study hall to confront the school bully? The mean girls? The brainless jocks who made your life miserable?

For Dru Horvath, former gypsy orphan turned Pulitzer Prize winner; Rafe Archangeli, the Scourge of Summerville who is the recently appointed head of a multi-million dollar trust; and Fiona “Fat Aggie” Thorpe who recreated herself with an A-list modeling agency, the opportunity to exact vengeance is too good to pass up.

            Will they find vengeance against those who tormented them?

Or something more important?          

Buy Links

Create Space:             www.CreateSpace.com/5939143

*Amazon:                  http://www.amazon.com/dp/1522757694

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1522757694

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1522757694

http://www.amazon.de/dp/1522757694

http://www.amazon.es/dp/1522757694

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/1522757694

www.amazon.it/dp/1522757694

 

 

Biography:

Legal nurse consultant, forensic nurse examiner, victim advocate. Kathy Cottrell has been there and done that, many times over. Writing under the pseudonyms of Kat Henry Doran and Veronic Lynch, she travels to the wilds of Northern New York State, the wonders of mother nature at her best on the shores of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River to create stories of strong women and the men who love them.

When not writing she’s sewing – and occasionally serving as chauffeur to the four best things in her life: Meredith, Ashlin, Owen and Kiernan.

Join Kathy, Veronica, and Kat at:

email: WildWomenAuthors@yahoo.com

blogs: www.WildWomenAuthorsx2.blogspot.com

www.ApronsWithAttitude2.blogspot.com

www.Goodreads.com/author/show/4496125.VeronicaLynch

http://www.Goodreads.com/author/show/2905614.Kat_Henry_Doran

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007251675720