Good Morning, Booklovers!
Welcome to the Coffee Chat. This week’s guest author if Kat Jorgensen, with her cozy mystery.
Nice to have you visit the blog, Kat. What may I get you to drink?
KJ: I had to give up both coffee and tea. Boo. Now my drink of choice is water. Boring but true.
Ally: We always have bottled water. While I get our drinks, please introduce yourself to readers.
Bio:
Kat Jorgensen is the mother of three adult children and three grandchildren. She lives in Richmond, VA with her two handsome black cats, Sam and Milo. When she’s not writing, she pursues her love of knitting. Her book stash and her yarn stash compete for space in her home.
Something unique or unusual about you: “Not really unique, but I’m allergic to dairy. Not lactose intolerant, but a real allergy complete with wheezing and all of the other nasty side-effects. It makes life challenging.”
Author Contacts:
Website: www.katjorgensenauthor.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Jorgensen/e/B0060ZHHI2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1592150269&sr=8-1
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/search/authors?search=Kat%20Jorgensen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katjorgensenauthor/notifications/
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Jorgensen/e/B0060ZHHI2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1592756980&sr=8-1
Newsletter sign up: https://katjorgensenauthor.com
Kat Jorgensen is the mother of three adult children and three grandchildren. She lives in Richmond, VA with her two handsome black cats, Sam and Milo. When she’s not writing, she pursues her love of knitting. Her book stash and her yarn stash compete for space in her home.
Something unique or unusual about you: “Not really unique, but I’m allergic to dairy. Not lactose intolerant, but a real allergy complete with wheezing and all of the other nasty side-effects. It makes life challenging.”
Author Contacts:
Website: www.katjorgensenauthor.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Jorgensen/e/B0060ZHHI2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1592150269&sr=8-1
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/search/authors?search=Kat%20Jorgensen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katjorgensenauthor/notifications/
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Jorgensen/e/B0060ZHHI2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1592756980&sr=8-1
Newsletter sign up: https://katjorgensenauthor.com
INTERVIEW:
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KJ: I wanted to be a writer from the very first time someone read a story to me. Words were magic. They could make you laugh or cry. They could soothe you or cause you to feel a wide array of emotions. Books were like good friends. They never let you down.
As a child, I entertained my friends and family with my stories. And I’m still doing it as an adult. Best job ever!
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
KJ: People are so interesting. The characters I write about are, of course, totally fictional. I borrow from real people. A trait from someone here. A look there. Mannerisms. Things said. Nothing, and no one, is safe. Friends and family are given fair warning.
What I find really interesting is when someone who knows me picks out a character and swears they know who it is based on. All of my children thought the Granddad character, with all of his lectures, was modeled after their dad. But he wasn’t. He’s actually very loosely based on my own father. My sweet husband thought the sexy male leads were modeled after him. Sorry. That wasn’t true either. Higgins, the cat in my series, is a composite of all of the cats I’ve ever had in my life. And Becca is a lot like me. I just exaggerate qualities for entertainment purposes.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you can pass on to other writers?
KJ: Best writing advice is to find something that interests you and write about it. And keep writing. Write every day. If you’re serious about your writing, treat it like a job and not a hobby. Read a lot. Across all genres. Take writing classes. Study your craft. Always keep learning. No matter how much we think we know, we can always learn more.
I’m still learning about marketing. But one great tip is to never spend more on advertising than you can afford to lose. That comes from Mark Dawson. I think it’s great advice. Ads might work. And they might not. So have a monthly advertising budget and keep to it until you know what’s working and what’s not before you adjust your budget to spend more.
Ally: What’s the most meaningful thing a fan has said about your book?
KJ: I have the best readers. Many take the time to write to me. And that makes me feel great. My first goal as a writer is to entertain the reader. If I’ve done that, I feel like I’ve done my job.
Two memorable things stick out in my mind. The first was when a reader told me my book, Your Eight O’clock is Dead, reminded her of Janet Evanovich’s writing. She found it laugh out loud funny.
The second one was from a reader who wrote me after surviving a particularly bumpy plane trip. The massive turbulence had frightened her, but she read my book during the flight, and it got her mind off of her fears.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
KJ: My next writing project is Your Lights are Out, book #3 in the River City Mysteries.
Instead of presents under the office Christmas tree, amateur sleuth Becca Reynolds discovers the very dead body of one of the doctors she works for. One end of a strand of holiday mini-lights is tightly encircling the psychiatrist’s neck and the other end is peacefully resting between her grandfather’s cranky cat’s paws.
The book will be out this July. I had a lot of fun writing this one.
Ally: Which of the quick questions did you choose to answer?
KJ:
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KJ: I wanted to be a writer from the very first time someone read a story to me. Words were magic. They could make you laugh or cry. They could soothe you or cause you to feel a wide array of emotions. Books were like good friends. They never let you down.
As a child, I entertained my friends and family with my stories. And I’m still doing it as an adult. Best job ever!
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
KJ: People are so interesting. The characters I write about are, of course, totally fictional. I borrow from real people. A trait from someone here. A look there. Mannerisms. Things said. Nothing, and no one, is safe. Friends and family are given fair warning.
What I find really interesting is when someone who knows me picks out a character and swears they know who it is based on. All of my children thought the Granddad character, with all of his lectures, was modeled after their dad. But he wasn’t. He’s actually very loosely based on my own father. My sweet husband thought the sexy male leads were modeled after him. Sorry. That wasn’t true either. Higgins, the cat in my series, is a composite of all of the cats I’ve ever had in my life. And Becca is a lot like me. I just exaggerate qualities for entertainment purposes.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you can pass on to other writers?
KJ: Best writing advice is to find something that interests you and write about it. And keep writing. Write every day. If you’re serious about your writing, treat it like a job and not a hobby. Read a lot. Across all genres. Take writing classes. Study your craft. Always keep learning. No matter how much we think we know, we can always learn more.
I’m still learning about marketing. But one great tip is to never spend more on advertising than you can afford to lose. That comes from Mark Dawson. I think it’s great advice. Ads might work. And they might not. So have a monthly advertising budget and keep to it until you know what’s working and what’s not before you adjust your budget to spend more.
Ally: What’s the most meaningful thing a fan has said about your book?
KJ: I have the best readers. Many take the time to write to me. And that makes me feel great. My first goal as a writer is to entertain the reader. If I’ve done that, I feel like I’ve done my job.
Two memorable things stick out in my mind. The first was when a reader told me my book, Your Eight O’clock is Dead, reminded her of Janet Evanovich’s writing. She found it laugh out loud funny.
The second one was from a reader who wrote me after surviving a particularly bumpy plane trip. The massive turbulence had frightened her, but she read my book during the flight, and it got her mind off of her fears.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
KJ: My next writing project is Your Lights are Out, book #3 in the River City Mysteries.
Instead of presents under the office Christmas tree, amateur sleuth Becca Reynolds discovers the very dead body of one of the doctors she works for. One end of a strand of holiday mini-lights is tightly encircling the psychiatrist’s neck and the other end is peacefully resting between her grandfather’s cranky cat’s paws.
The book will be out this July. I had a lot of fun writing this one.
Ally: Which of the quick questions did you choose to answer?
KJ:
- memorable book you’ve read: All the Light You Cannot See and The Book Thief.
- an author (living or dead) you'd love to take to lunch: Janet Evanovich. I’ve actually had the pleasure of sharing a meal with her and her editor. It was so much fun, I’d love to do it again.
- an item on your bucket list: Visit the UK, especially England, Ireland and Wales.
- Print book or ebook: Ebook – ebooks have solved a lot of my physical book storage issues. But I have plenty of print books too.
- If you were a color, what would it be? Yellow. Although blue is my favorite color. I’m pretty much a sunny, positive person and I think yellow represents that well.
- favorite quote – “When people show you who they are, believe them – the first time.” Maya Angelou.
Your Eight O’Clock Is Dead (River City Mystery #1)
Genre: Cozy mystery with romantic elements
Becca Reynolds is having a bad day. Her grandfather's lecture (#405: Eat a Healthy Diet or Die Not Trying) makes her late for her job at Daley & Palmer, the psychiatric group where she works as office manager – her title not theirs. But she knows her day has taken a really bad turn when she finds the firm's eight o'clock patient dead with Dr. Daley's letter opener opening the patient instead of the mail.
With the fledgling firm in danger of an early demise, Becca appoints herself the unofficial investigator since the police seem to be looking in all the wrong places.
The case takes Becca from the sordid depths of the Russian mafia to the upscale West End of Richmond, Virginia (known locally as River City) and even to her own back yard. In the course of the investigation, she finds herself in hot water, hot danger and with dreams of hot men.
Buy Links:
UBL: https://books2read.com/eightoclock
(available at Amazon, BN, Apple, Kobo and more)
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