Category: Books (Page 18 of 81)

ELIXIR SAVED Update & Author Events 2019

April 29, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s been all ELIXIR SAVED and author events on the blog lately and today’s no exception. I’ve been compiling the mess of a draft that is ELIXIR SAVED and it’s been slightly terrifying. It’s been 8ish-year process to write this thing, it’s got three point-of-view characters, and it turns out that the manuscript is currently over 117,000 words!!! Yikes!

It’s been a journey to say the least. I haven’t quite written THE END yet, which I was hoping to do before I started the first round of revisions. But I realized I needed to read through what I already have in order to write the ending, which is weird because I’ve known the major events of the end pretty much since I started writing the story. Some things you can’t force, I guess. As I’ve been organizing the draft, the pieces of the end are already starting to come together in my mind.

I’ve also been busy scheduling and planning events for the spring and summer. This Saturday, I’ll be at the Author Expo and Book Fair at the public library in Torrington, CT from 12-4 p.m. That means I’ll be missing the New England SCBWI conference this year. 🙁 Hopefully I’ll get there next year.

Then in June I’ll be part of Pirate Day in downtown Milford, CT. It looks like I’ll be doing two presentations about the local pirate lore, one in morning before the pirates arrive by boat and one in the afternoon on the town green. There are a ton of fun activities throughout the day for the whole family. I’ll have PIRATE ISLAND for sale, games to play, and picture opportunities when I’m not speaking. It’s going to be a really fun (and busy!) day.

I’m also part of the CT Authors Trail this summer. I’ll be at the Voluntown Public Library in August for that. You can check out my Events page for all the updated details on where to find me. And I’m always happy to have people reach out to me for events and school or library visit; check out my Author Visits page for details on that.

As for the boys, we had a fun spring break a couple of weeks ago. We’ve started making our plans for the summer. I’ll have to do a picture post soon, so you can see what we’ve been up to. What have you all been up to lately?

Writing The Story Keeping Me Awake At Night

April 1, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

I wrote something new recently and very different from anything I’ve written before. It came to me in a rush of excitement and creativity in a way I’ve never experienced before.

I’ve had ideas come crashing in, images or characters or some spark that leads to a story. But this was different. In the past, the ideas have been pieces of something bigger that needed a lot more thought to turn into a full idea.

This time, it was like I was possessed by the muse. It was literally keeping me awake at night. The idea, and moreover the emotion of the story, was a wave that kept churning inside me and wouldn’t let me focus on anything else until I let it out. And it came to me in such a fully formed way.

Not to say that it was easy to write. It required a good amount of research, but the research was just as exciting as the writing. Writing it felt like putting two parts of myself together that I hadn’t found a way to fit in the same context, even though the story is nothing about me in any way. It melded two of my passions that I’ve been trying to figure out how to intersect but had never been able to do so before.

I know this all sounds kind of vague, and I’m purposely avoiding specifics here on the blog for certain reasons that I’m being quiet about right now.

But I wanted to share the enthusiasm I’m feeling right now. Much of the writing and submitting process can be a slog. You face plot points you don’t know how to solve, characters that aren’t fleshed out enough, a voice that doesn’t stand out enough. Then there are the rejections…don’t even get me started.

This, right now, how I’m feeling. It makes all those things worth it. So I just wanted to let you all know that. Thanks for listening!

Upcoming Author Events 2019

March 11, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s been a quiet year for author events so far (which is okay with me, given the lousy weather in New England in the winter and the busy fall I had). I’ve also been a bit quiet here on the blog this year because I’ve been busy writing, writing, writing. But I’m excited to announce two events for this year with hopefully more to come.

The first one is only a couple of weeks away! I’ll be attending the Local Authors Fest at the Public Library of New London on Saturday, March 23 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. There will be a whopping 50 authors in attendance! Grabbed a signed book, enter the raffle, take a photo with an author, and listen to a select group of authors speak about their books and writing journeys. There will be children’s books and adult books in all types of genres, so something for everyone. I’ll have copies of my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUNDand my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND, and some book swag too.

I’m please to also announce that I’ve been selected as one of the authors in this year’s Connecticut Authors Trail. I’ll be at the Voluntown Public Library on Monday, August 5 at 6:00 p.m. to talk about my writing journey and PIRATE ISLAND. I’ll have more details about this event soon and CT Authors Trail finale event at Mohegan Sun in September.

If any educators and librarians are interested in booking me for a writing workshop or talk, I have spots open for this year as well. Check out my author visitspage for more details or email me at KatieLCarroll @ yahoo.com (minus the spaces).

So Close to “The End” in the Second Elixir Book

February 27, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

The cover of Elixir Bound by Katie L. Carroll.

Many of you know that I’ve been working on ELIXIR SAVED, a companion novel to my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND. Some of you know I’ve been working on it a very long time (see my blog post from 2017 “Why Is It Taking Me So Long To Write The Second Elixir Book?” for some of the reasons). It’s been so long that I wasn’t even sure when I started it, so I took a look back some of my earliest computer files for SAVED and see at least one dating back to 2010.

That’s just the oldest computer file I have on it. I have no idea how long some of my handwritten notes and ideas go back. The truth is that SAVED is the original book I had in mind when I first conceived of the Elixir world, and that was way back when I was still in college, so we’re talking 2003 probably. So a really (insert swearword here) long time!

The good news is that I have all three (yes, that’s three!) point-of-view characters written right up the to climax of the story. They’ve all been in different places for most the story and now they’re finally coming together for that final battle. I know some of the things that are going to happen, but I’ve left some room open for the characters to surprise me. And it’s so intimidating.

I thought once I got the characters to this point that I’d dive right in to finishing this draft. But I find myself hesitating to put the words down, finding that I need some time to think through more of the details. The vision I have so far for these final scenes is kind of vague and fuzzy in spots and I can’t quite pin down what those parts are going to look like. I might not figure that out until I start writing it, though.

Then I start wondering if it’s really that I’m not sure how to finish off the story or if it’s a matter of cold feet. I’ve been working on this story for so long, it’s weird to think about not working on it. Believe me, I have plenty of other projects that I want to start once this one is done (hello, my pretty middle grade witchy book!). And it’s not like finishing this draft means I’m anywhere close to being done with the story (hello, rewrites, revisions, and edits!). So it’s not that I’m afraid I’ll have nothing to do after. What is it exactly that’s holding me back then?

Part of it is definitely worrying about not doing the story justice, an extra large concern when one of the characters is inspired by my sister Kylene. Like I won’t even be close to bridging that gap between what I’ve envisioned for the story and what ends up on the page, which is always a concern with any creative pursuit. Though, it’s not like I need to have it there with a draft anyway…that’s what all those rewrites, revisions, and edits are for.

So why do I have a nervous bundle of energy in my stomach when I think about writing “The End,” something I’ve been striving for all this time? It makes me think about when I’m getting close to finishing a really good book. There’s that urge to read as fast as I can in order to find out what happens. But there’s also this urge to slow down and take it all in. Because once the book is over, that’s it. Sure, you can reread a book, but it’s never the same as the first time.

The End handwritten on a torn sheet of notebook paper.

Perhaps I’m just needing to be in this moment of almost-finished for a little bit before I get there. To take my time to be in the moment and appreciate it before it’s over…to keep those butterflies of anticipation alive a little longer.

Then I need to finish the book because, damn, that many years of working on it is enough already!

Training My Brain to Read Audiobooks

February 11, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

You all know I’m a big reader and a big fan of all types of reading. Hardcovers, paperbacks, ebooks; literary or commercial; adult, YA, middle grade, picture book; graphic novel, verse, non-fiction–I love them all! But there is one format that I haven’t personally been able to get into: audiobooks, which is kind of disappointing because they have recently had a surge in popularity (see the article in Publishers Weekly “Audiobooks Revenue Jumped 22.7% in 2018” by John Maher) and are more readily available than ever.

That time The Bedtime Knight audiobook was a #1 new release!
Picture books are a great way to break into audiobooks.

My lack of audiobook readings isn’t because I don’t think it’s “real” reading (who gets to decide what “real” reading is anyway?) or because it’s not a good way to experience a book (I think some books are actually better in audio form); it’s because of the way my brain works.

I’m a visual learner, always reading along (if that’s an option) while listening to someone speak or read directions. I often watch movies with the closed captions on when I’m at home. My brain absorbs information better when I can see it, so listening to audiobooks is hard for me. I’ll get 15 minutes in and all of a sudden I’ll be like, “Wait! What’s going on?” because my brain spaced out and I haven’t been listening for the last 10 minutes.

I also find listening to be an important tool both as a parent and a writer. I need to be able to hear what the kiddos are up to even when I can’t see them, so going around the house listening to an audiobook isn’t a great option. And I like to be able to hear what’s going on in the world as I observe it in order to inform my senses as a writer.

But I do feel like I’m missing out. So in order to work my way up to a full audiobook, I’ve started listening to podcasts. They’re much shorter than books and they come in all sorts of different topics. So far I feel like I’ve done pretty well with them. I can mostly stay focused and actually pay attention to what’s being said, and they fit really nicely into my daily routine. I like to listen when I’m doing laundry or grocery shopping. I’ve found having them play aloud works when I don’t have to worry about disturbing anyone else and having just one earbud in when I’m in a situation where it would bother others to hear what I’m listening to.

It’s also definitely an avenue I’ve been thinking about getting my own books in. Middle grade in particular is a space where audiobooks are very popular, so I’d love to have PIRATE ISLAND available that way. But then there’s the issue of time and not having enough of it to navigate a new project.

What’s your opinion on audiobooks and podcasts? Any great reads you’ve listened to lately?