Happy Monday everybody! Today I am very happy (I know…quite a feat for Monday) to have author Kate Dolan here. Kate is the author of several books including Deceptive Behavior, which was just released in e-book. It’s the third book in the Love and Lunacy series described as a story, “involving an eccentric family who would all probably be reality TV stars if  television existed in Regency London.” Sounds like a good read to me!

When and why did you begin writing?

I had to obey the voices in my head. Really. Well, actually when I started the voices weren’t too demanding. I was thinking “I wonder what would happen if…” and then my story started. That was about 12 years ago. Then about a year into it, when I started to  give up on it, the characters demanded that I come back and finish their story. They were quite stubborn.

Before that, I had tried off and on for years to write but I always gave up because I hated my characters and didn’t care what happened to them. That time, the characters fought back.  And I finished not just a few chapters but a whole book.

What inspired you to write your latest book?
I had so much fun writing these “Love and Lunacy” books. They didn’t have a series name until recently. I just thought of them as my “crazy family” stories.  I started this one during NaNoWriMo (a book-in-a- month challenge) because I think the insane energy of that writing marathon gave an extra boost to the story. I thought it would be fun to base a book on Oliver Goldsmith’s hilarious 18^th Century play, She Stoops to Conquer. But when I veered away from his version, I got stuck. I set the story aside for a few years and came back to it because I really missed the characters. And they deserved to have their story finished.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Don’t judge people by their reputation. My hero has a reputation as being strange and unmanly. He’s really just shy (he stammers when he’s nervous). He’s not interested in traditional male pursuits like riding, hunting and fencing. He likes running and beagling (which is like hunting excepting they chase after the quarry on foot instead of on horseback).

What books have most influenced your life most?
The  Bible. Not as much as it should have, probably. And Anne of Green Gables – she taught me it’s okay to be yourself even if other people don’t quite approve.

What book are you reading now?
I’m always in the middle of a bunch of books, at least half of them nonfiction. I’m reading The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England by Amanda Vickery and for fun, Christie Kelley’s  Every Time We Kiss. And I’m trying to get my hands on a copy of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins  The whole Hunger Games trilogy is amazing.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Figuring out how the characters could regain each other’s trust. Goldsmith’s play is a comedy, a farce really. The lovers just accept the deception, realize they like each other, and live happily ever after. But in real life, we don’t operate that way. We don’t forgive and we don’t forget. So it’s hard to regain trust.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
Keep writing. Show your writing to other people who are not afraid to tell you if something isn’t working and needs to be changed. We don’t learn much from people who agree with us.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this interview! If you’d like to waste more time, visit my website at www.katedolan.com and read my blog or find a book that sounds appealing.

(Note from V.R….her blog IS excellent. Do check it out)

And, I must ask this…What is your favorite kind of coffee? Why is this question at the end??? Coffee has to come before the keyboard. Without coffee, there is no brain function. Admittedly, some or possibly much of my writing looks as if it involves no brain function, but still…

If you really want to know, I usually drink a mixture of a Fair Trade decaf and a small amount of something with a little more unique taste like Café Du Monde’s chickory coffee or a flavored coffee like hazelnut or Irish crème.  Come to think of it, it’s time for a refill. I hope you’ll excuse me…