Five Secrets from Author Kathleen Kaska

Holey moley (you'll get it when you read on.) These secrets are fun and I'm dying to know the answer to #5.  Welcome back, Kathleen Kaska. 

She'll also be a guest on our Cozy Mystery week, April 3-8. Don't miss it.

Hi Kathleen) please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about you, but will after today!

1. I have a personal editor whom I’ll call Evelyn. She resides in my subconscious and analyzes what I’ve written while I sleep. Sometimes she wakes me up in the middle of the night to let me know I misused a word. For example: “Are you sure you want to use the word cockatoo? You can’t drink a cockatoo, but you can drink a cocktail. I’m just saying.” Or she’ll suggest a way to fix a writing problem. “You should consider shortening the first chapter by leaving out the bird-watching story. You can use that later.” Sometimes the message I receive is a reminder. “Did you send the new cover-image for your guest blog post to Leslie?” Evelyn is never wrong. I often wonder why she doesn’t tell me about all my errors and make even more suggestions; then I realize that if she did, I’d never get any sleep.

2. Since I began running marathons four years ago, I’ve secretly wanted qualify for the Boston Marathon. It seems a pie-in-the-sky goal. I’d have to shave off a minute per mile. So I’ll make my secret wish public—and maybe it will come true.

3. While I was good Catholic schoolgirl, I went to confession once a month—as if I had any choice. The nuns marched us from the school to the church and lined us up in front of the confessional. I made my first confession at the age of seven. I couldn’t think of any sins I’d committed so I made some up. If I’d told the priest I hadn’t committed any sins, he might have told Sister Leonardo and she would’ve made my life hell. I left church terrified because I’d broken The Eighth Commandment—in confession! Later I realized the irony of the situation. The absolution I received included being forgiven for lying about lying.

4. My new release, Run Dog Run, was the very first mystery I wrote. I finished the first draft fifteen years ago. It came close to being published several times, but no cigar. I finally put it on the back burner and let it simmer for a few years. The manuscript has been revised and updated so many times I almost have the thing memorized. Two years ago, I updated it again (for technology changes faster than automobile designs) and sent it out. Black Opal Books sent me a contract, and there you have it.

5. Okay, here’s my deepest, darkest secret: I always wanted to be as smart as Hedy Lamarr, as gorgeous as Marilyn Monroe, and as sultry as Lauren Bacall. One out of three ain’t bad. Which one will always remain a secret.

A peek at Run Dog Run:

After five years in Africa researching the decline of elephant populations, Kate Caraway’s project comes to a screeching halt when she shoots a poacher and is forced to leave the country. Kate and her husband, Jack Ryder, travel to Wimberley, Texas for a much-needed rest. But before Kate even has a chance to unpack, her friend’s daughter pleads for Kate’s assistance. The young woman has become entangled in the ugly world of greyhound abuse and believes Kate is the only one with the experience and tenacity to expose the crime and find out who is responsible. On the case for only a few hours, Kate discovers a body, complicating the investigation by adding murder to the puzzle. Now she is in a race against time to find the killer before she becomes the next victim . . .

Buy:
Amazon

Bio:

Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mysteries set in the 1950s and the award-winning Classic Triviography Mystery Series, which includes The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book.  Her nonfiction book, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story (University Press of Florida) was published in 2012.

When she is not writing, Kathleen, a native Texan, spends much of her time traveling the backroads and byways with her husband, looking for new venues for her mysteries and bird watching along the Texas coast and beyond. It was her passion for birds that led to the publication The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane.

Find Kathleen:
Website | Twitter |  Facebook