Interview with Author Kathy Kovach

Today, I’m pleased to host Kathy Kovach on Patti’s Porch. I met Kathy at the first Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference I attended in 2003. She talked to me about American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), which was still American Christian Romance Writers back then. It took her a whole year to convince me to become an ACFW member. Guess I’m kind of stubborn sometimes!

About Kathy:

Kathleen, known as Kathy by her friends, believes that if they'd done an ultrasound on her mother while she was with child, they'd have found a writing instrument clutched in her tiny hand. After a lifetime of writing short stories, plays, and poems, God finally released Kathy to write as a career in 2002. This happened at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference where she won first place in the unpublished writers contest for her article "If Anyone Hears My Voice." She also met her editors, Jim and Tracie Peterson from Barbour's Heartsong Presents, who became intrigued with her heroine's profession, a dolphin trainer. By 2006, that novel, Merely Players, became published and went on to place second in the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest (IRCC) 2007. Then in May of this year it was bundled with two other stories by Lynn Coleman and Kristy Dykes under the title, Florida Weddings. In 2007, Kathy teamed up with Mary Davis, Sally Laity, and Jeri Odell for Love Letters, a Barbour novella collection about unique expressions of love, (hers takes place through fortune cookies.) Heartsong holds a readers poll every year, and in 2008, Kathy placed in the upper five of the Favorite New Author category.

After her contest win at CCWC, Kathy became leader of her local critique group, JOY Writers. She joined a local association, Colorado Writers Fellowship, and also a national organization, American Christian Fiction Writers, www.acfw.com. Her affiliation with ACFW eventually led to a position as the Colorado Coordinator, and she just recently moved up as the Rocky Mountain Zone Director.

Kathy lives in northeast Colorado (out where the buffalo roam) with her husband of 33 years. She has two sons, three grandchildren, and two grandpets - all of whom, at one point or another, have taken advantage of the revolving door on her empty nest.

Kathy, welcome to Patti’s Porch. I’m thrilled to have you here! Tell us about the main theme of your book, Merely Players, and how it ties in with the other stories included in the Florida Weddings anthology.

First, here's my one-liner: Merely Players is about a dolphin trainer who masks her feelings while making her ex-boyfriend, now turned A-list actor, jump through hoops to win back her affections.

The main theme of Merely Players, one of the stories in Florida Weddings, stems from Psalms 139:1 "O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me." No matter who you try to be, God knows the real you. My characters wear many masks throughout the story. Bethany pretends not to have feelings for this man who at one time she thought would be in her life forever. Brick's mask cuts deeper as he becomes someone he's not while running from his abusive childhood.

The three stories in Florida Weddings don't tie together by theme at all, other than the heroines escaping/dealing with their past. Barbour Publishing simply puts three stories together based on location. At the time they contracted Florida Weddings, they were okay with three different authors, but now, I believe, they prefer one author for all three stories. This would make it easier to tie a theme in, I would think.

You were working on Merely Players when I met you in 2003. How long did it take from conception of the idea to acceptance of the completed work for publication?

I actually had the idea in 2002 and casually mentioned it to Jim and Tracie Peterson, then the editors for Barbour Publishing's Heartsong Presents line. This was at my first conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, during the early bird class for romance writers. I think I only had three chapters written, but they liked the story because the heroine was a dolphin trainer, an occupation no one had ever attempted before. From that meeting in 2002 until I received my contract at the ACFW conference in 2005, I worked on this book. Okay, at times it was more sporadic than others, but my time away from the project wasn't wasted. I was learning the craft. I bought books, I joined ACRW (as you mentioned above in my intro,) and I became a sponge. Jim Peterson teases me to this day that I felt my story had to be perfect before I could turn it in. Well, it paid off as I had very few edits before it went to print. Merely Players became a reality when I received my first copy hot off the press in December 2006.

Many writers claim that starting their story in the right place is one of the most difficult facets of writing a novel. This is true of me as well. When I read Merely Players, those first paragraphs were nothing like the draft you showed me in 2003. What influenced your decision to craft the introductory lines that made it into print?

Wow, Pat! What a memory! You're right. I had started it differently back then. I launched right into Bethany arriving at work. I decided to add the one-page prologue giving their back story from ten years before to get the hero in there sooner. As simple as that. I heard that Heartsong required both hero and heroine to be together at least by the second chapter. This didn't happen for Brick and Bethany until the fourth. Now, I don't know if that was a true requirement, or if I allowed "people in the know" to influence me. However, it did make sense. Heartsongs are so short, you really must start the romance early on. Hence, I decided to introduce them when they were in high school together at their graduation. Normally, I don't encourage new writers to start with a prologue of back story, but in this case, it was short and accomplished what it needed to. I believe it worked because it allowed me to not only set up their history, but I was able to insert a little mystery as well.

Your book contains a scene with a ten- year old autistic boy. Have you had personal experience with autistic children, or was this an area you had to research?

My only personal experience was through a friend who had two autistic children. One was so severe that I never met him personally. They couldn't bring him to church because he would be too disruptive. The other had a milder form of autism than the character in my book. It was because of these two boys, however, that I became interested in the therapy program at the Gulfarium in Florida. My friend knew about the program, but to my knowledge never used it. So, to answer your second question: Yes I had to research it thoroughly.

Do you use a character chart?

I'm one of those rebel authors who refuses to fill out a character chart before I start the story. However, I do keep track of hair color, eye color, and essentials like that as I write. I did attempt a chart with Merely Players, but the characters had other ideas. I wanted Bethany to be a brunette so bad, but she insisted on being blonde. After I get to know my characters, I can tell you exactly what they have their purse/pockets, what they feel about religion, and their favorite foods without writing it down. These people become family to me. Now, an interesting thing I did do was fill out charts for the non-human characters in Merely Players -- the dolphins. This helped me keep track of certain markings and dispositions. I can still tell you that Kahlua, the young male, had a freckle on his chin.

Do you have a consistent writing routine?

Sigh. I used to. But then my son moved in with his three children and two pets. As Granny Day Care, it's nearly impossible for me to adhere to a routine. But, back in the days when my empty nest was my sanctuary, I wrote every day from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., clocking in and out just like a "regular" job. I have a spreadsheet that I've created just for this purpose.

You have played an active part in the ACFW structure here in Colorado almost since its origin. What are the advantages of ACFW membership over other national writers’ organizations?

American Christian Fiction Writers, is, to my knowledge, the only national group dedicated to Christian Fiction. There is RWA, but that is largely a secular organization. And other groups are either all non-fiction or a mix of both. Most fiction writers know the feeling of talking about their work to a non-fiction writer and being met with a perplexed look as if they were speaking in an unknown tongue. The two styles are totally different entities. But when I'm around my ACFW buddies, either at the yearly conference, online on their excellent loop, or in the forums, I'm among my own kind. I learn point of view, scene and structure, goal/motivation/conflict, and a host of other things that only the fiction writer needs to know.

Besides the instruction, ACFW is also a great place to network. Among our membership are fiction editors, publishers, and agents who monitor the loop and forums, as well as attend the conference.

What is your parting advice to pre-published writers?

Write the story of your heart, then pursue publication. Don't worry about rules and guidelines your first time out. This book will be your SIT (Story In Training.) Okay, I just made that up, but it makes sense. I have a manuscript sitting in my computer that took me 23 years to write. I played with it, experimented, and had fun. Someday, I'll rework it to fit a publisher. You may be lucky enough to sell your first story -- it does happen. But I guess my greatest advice is DON'T STRESS. Writing should be fun, and the so-called rules will become natural as you practice.

Thank you, Kathy, for spending time with us today. Best of luck with your writing career.

Thank you, Pat, for this opportunity to talk to your readers and introduce them to my book. If they would like to get to know me better, my Website is www.kathleenekovach.com.

Speaking Out

I had the opportunity to speak in public twice this past week. My first speaking engagement was at my local Toastmasters meeting. I enjoy Toastmasters and feel it has taught me a lot about public speaking. This was my first speech out of my “Interpersonal Communications” book. It was different from the other speeches I have done in that it involved role play with one of the other members. I had a lot of fun with it and my role play partner was superb. He played the part to the hilt and, even though I had written out the scenario, he added a few lines of his own and increased the drama in the scene.

My next speaking engagement was at my ACFW Chapter meeting. I think I enjoyed that even more because it was about my favorite subject, which is writing. I titled my talk “Making Your Characters Your Reader’s Best Friends”. There were only six people there, but that was fine. This was my first “public” speech away from the structure and familiarity of Toastmasters, so I was glad to speak to a small group.

I was a bit embarrassed when a word I was looking for, about two minutes into my talk, completely escaped my rational thought processes. Couldn’t even think of a reasonable substitute. I’m sure my face got a little red, and then one of my listeners rescued me and supplied a word. I sure was grateful!

In the process of writing that speech about characterization, I came up with a tag line for my own writing. “Freeing characters from their prison and healing the wounds inflicted by the razor wire.” Okay, it may be a little long and need some tweaking, but it will do for now. It is a premise I can use when crafting my stories.

I don’t seem to have that innate fear that many others express about talking in front of others. I’ve heard it said that is the number one fear of most people. However, I still see a lot of room for improvement in the delivery of my speeches. I still tend to write out just about every word I intend to speak. This is not good. Should I lose my place on the page, I can feel myself becoming very flustered. Add to that the fact that I am extremely near-sighted. So, I either have to have the words typed on the page in 16 font at the very least, or I have to have my nose constantly in my papers.

One of the remedies for this is to know my material so well that I don’t have to be constantly looking at the notes. There were times during my talk where I simply wrote “EX: listed the name of the book I was using to make my point, and knew what I was going to say. I don’t have to write out whole sentences, only key phrases. I need to do that more frequently, just capture the key points of the idea on paper without writing out whole sentences that need to be read.

I don’t practice my speeches, even for Toastmasters, but I should. Even if I were to say them to myself in the mirror, I would be familiar with the way the words sound out loud by the time I am ready to do the presentation. I’m sure my speeches would be much smoother in their delivery than they are now.

It is one of my goals or dreams to be able to speak in public about writing. I probably wouldn’t have much opportunity in the area where I live, though. It is a small town and I doubt if I were to give a speech at, say, the public library on characterization, that more than one or two people would be interested. Still, it is an ability I would like to perfect.

One of my goals is to speak at a writer’s conference someday. Of course, I guess no one is going to be interested in what I have to say until I prove myself as a writer. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a speaker introduced at a writer’s conference as “yet unpublished” or even “pre-published”.

So, I will continue to perfect my speech making skills in my local Toastmasters club, give a talk at our ACFW chapter meetings when asked, and write like crazy so I can get published and someday someone will introduce me as a “multi-published author”.

Of course, this is all and only if it’s His plan!

Thanks for reading my blog!